RIFF ’25: Dream!

Santa Claus must prefer his St. Nick alter ego to an exclusionary extent, because he obviously overlooks children in countries that do not share the Christian tradition—or does he? A little Thai girl named Lek will learn the answer to that question, but it will take her nearly two and a half hours of screentime, as she journeys through eight provinces of Thailand in director-cinematographer Paul Spurrier’s Dream!, which screens today at the 2025 Rhode Island Film Festival.

After the tragic death of her first love, Lek’s mother found herself an unmarried mother, so she accepted Nin’s marriage proposal. In retrospect, that was a mistake, because the old abuse drunkard insists on drinking away any money she makes. When he raises his fist towards Lek, her mother dies protecting her. Wisely, escapes under the cover of night, carrying the only Christmas present she ever received: a one-legged hand-me-down doll, given to her by her school teacher.

For a vividly colorful movie-musical that takes clear audio and visual inspiration from Rogers-and-Hammerstein classics, Dream! veers into some surprisingly dark territory. As orphans go, Lek is especially piteous and vulnerable—and she isn’t even truly an orphan. Maybe she would be better off if she were. Nevertheless, as she treks through the strikingly scenic Thai countryside, her honesty teaches much needed lessons to many of the people she encounters.

For a while, the grotesquely entitled Namwaan “adopts” Lek as her first “friend,” but the younger girl shrewdly recognizes the spoiled princess really wants another servant. She later joins forces with a modern medicine man, until she discovers the truth of his snake oil scam.

In fact, Dream! is an incredible earnest musical fable deeply concerned with virtue and morality. However, the constant one-darned-thing-after-another rained down on poor little Lek starts to feel punishing, both for viewers and for her. Indeed, most audiences will emotionally invest in her, quickly and deeply. We and her just need more respite from the cruel travails of the world. The two-hour twenty-minute-plus running time will also challenge younger viewers.

Nevertheless, older patrons who share a nostalgia for the grand old movie-musical will appreciate the films bigness, starting with its throwback widescreen CinemaScope aspect-ratio. Mickey Wongsathapornpat’s score also sounds huge, in a show-stopper kind of way, but it could have used more intimate ballads for variety. However, the natural grandeur of the Thai landscape is often stunningly cinematic.

Ironically, genre film fans will recognize several cast-members, especially Vithaya Pansingarm, from A Prayer Before Dawn and Mechanic: Resurrection (among many others), who is both frighteningly nasty and sadly pathetic as abusive Nin. Many might also remember Sahajak Boonthanakit co-starring with Pansingarm in Mayhem! and Only God Forgives. This time around he plays a relatively good guy, Namwaan’s father, who appreciates Lek’s heartfelt decency, but maybe lacks the conviction to do something about it.

Striking Rescue, Starring Tony Jaa

Bai An is clearly making decisions on an emotional basis. He set out to kill the Chinese businessman he blames for the death of his wife and daughter, but made the impromptu decision to protect his nemesis’s daughter from a rival drug gang. Despite the well-heeled He Yinghao’s concern, little Ting is probably safer with the vengeful vigilante than his own compromised organization in Siyu Cheng’s Striking Rescue, which releases today on VOD.

An's wife was a whistle-blower in He’s company. Assassins managed to destroy her and her flash drive, but they left alive a very angry Muay Thai fighter. The Thai cops assume An is responsible for the carnage, but they are too incompetent to be a factor in this film. Instead, An started following the chain back to He. Yet, when he sees a small army employed by Clay, a particularly vicious drug lord, threatening Ting, he swopes into protect her.

That puts An in an awkward position. He’s driver-security director Wu Zheng wants to work together to protect Ting. Wu also denies any involvement in the murder of An’s family. The vengeance-seeker is not buying it, but at this point, he really isn’t thinking straight, due to his considerable blood loss.

Somehow, Guo Haiwen’s screenplay manages to be both simplistic and confusing, but it does not matter. Striking Rescue was clearly conceived as a showcase for Tony Jaa’s butt-kicking—and on that level it succeeds smashingly. This is the best star-vehicle Jaa has had in several years, so he makes the most of it.

X-Treme Riders: Fast, Furious, and Thai

Kla and his friends are drug-running stunt drivers—and they are the good guys. Unfortunately, two of their fellow drivers were fatally double-crossed by the other gang they thought they were doing business with. It turns out, Kla’s sister Fun will be the featured fighter in the MMA championship sponsored by their new nemesis. Family is a big deal in movies like this, isn’t it? There is also a lot of fast driving in Sor Sangchai’s X-Treme Riders, which releases today on VOD.

In addition to their exhibitions, the X-Treme Riders also double as the special “cabbage” truck racers, until two colorful hench-people with grenade launchers ambush their latest run, killing Bank. Their boss Krit tells them to lay low, while he quickly tracks the killers back to Jo, the big city kingpin, who is also promoting Fun’s fight. Of course, Jo is pressuring her to throw the fight, because he knows she needs money for her mother’s heart-surgery.

Poor Kla has not spoken to his ailing mother in years because she blames him for his father’s accidental death—not completely without cause. Still, Kla’s teammates and their DJ, Pat, who is also his girlfriend, are a lot like his “family.” You know how that goes. Regardless, Kla and his cronies will be driving hard, while Fun fights her heart out, or not.

It is conspicuously obvious X-Treme Riders was conceived as a Thai Fast and Furious. However, it deserves credit for its willingness to go darker. Just for starters, the X-Treme Riders are flat-out drug-runners. There is also a surprisingly high mortality rate among the major cast of characters.

Bangkok Dog: Prachya Pinkaew “Presents” D.Y. Sao

LS-75 is such a super-secret law enforcement agency, it apparently operates out of a Chatsworth office park. Somehow, they scrape enough money to send agent Andrew Kang to Thailand, where he assumes the identity of a drug ring’s American point-man. Despite the constant brawling, Kang’s handler fears he might be succeeding a little too well in Chaya Supannarat’s Bangkok Dog, executive-produced by Ong-Bak action auteur Prachya Pinkaew, which releases Tuesday on VOD.

After Kang and his partner Kaitlyn Liu bust Benz Wu for his shipping container full of dead trafficked people, with stomachs stuffed with illegal narcotics, they are highly motivated to take down the rest of the operation. The top man is Dominic Mesias—and he is one bad apple.

However, in his new role in the Bangkok agency, Kang masquerading in the guise of Wu, works closely under jaded Charn Chai Yoodee, who quickly becomes a fast-friend. Kang even harbors illusions of flipping Yoodee, which worries Liu, who now serves as his in-country LS-75 handler. Regardless, Kang has no such affection for Mesias, especially after a particularly brutal debt-collection. Obviously, the worst thing that could happen for Kang would be Wu escaping from LS-75 to blow his cover, so that is exactly what will happen.

Everything about Bangkok Dog looks cheap, except the considerable blood and sweat equity co-stars and co-fight choreographers D.Y. Sao and Brian Le put into the bone-crushing marital arts beatdowns, which are priceless. They bleed for this movie.

Clearly, Bangkok Dog was conceived as a no-frills showcase to determine whether Sao and/or Le leave a sufficient impression on viewers to warrant a comparatively bigger budgeted follow-up. They both should pass the test, provided the film attracts enough eyeballs.

Sao plays Kang with impressive intensity and his physicality is off the charts. However, the breakout discovery could turn out to be Le, who struts through the picture with the flamboyance of a pro wrestler. Yet, he matches Sao, step for step. As a considerable bonus, martial arts fan favorite and journeyman stuntman Ron Smoorenberg also appears as Vega, tangling with Sao in what might be the film’s most brutal fight scene.

Kitty the Killer

The so-called “Agency” is a lot like a Southeast Asian version of the La Femme Nikita covert organization. Each female assassin has a “guardian,” who is only supposed to watch over them. In practice, the watchers code-named “Grey Fox” will have to fight like heck. It sort of goes with the territory when you work for an assassination agency. They will have to fight each other when a power struggle splits the Agency. Again, this isn’t so surprising for a group of killers-for-hire. Whether he likes it or not, the new Grey Fox must look after his Kittys in Lee Thongkam’s Kitty the Killer, which releases today on VOD.

It is a bit of mess when Keng, the Grey Fox, sends Dina, his favorite Kitty, to retrieve a box from sleazy Wong, before he can sell it to the Japanese wing of the Agency. Whatever is in that box is a lot like the glowing briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Keng has his reasons for wanting it, which puts him crosswise with Ms. Violet, the Agency’s boardroom boss, who unleashes “Nina the Faceless” on Keng.

The Grey Fox handily fends off hordes of generic henchmen, but the Faceless Kitty is too much for him. As he nurses his mortal wounds, Keng carjacks poor Charlie, a nebbish office worker, forcing him to become the next Grey Fox.

Or something like that. Honestly, it’s debatable how much of this weird story really makes any kind of sense.  However, it is easy to get all the heads that get decapitated by katana swords. Charlie’s shtickiness can be a bit much, but the martial arts beatdowns are brutally spectacular. Sumret Mueangputt’s fight choreography is wildly cinematic, but also dirty and gritty.

The Lake: a Thai Kaiju Rises

Remember kids, kaiju eggs are not keepsakes. When a village girl steals on of its eggs, of course the alpha kaiju will come looking for it. Ditto for when the big city cops capture a junior kaiju. The resulting carnage might even satisfy the bloodlust of Ivy League student “activists.” Death comes wet and muddy in Lee Thongkham’s The Lake, which screens at the Spectacle in Brooklyn.

When torrential rains wash a batch of kaiju eggs to the shore, you better expect one of the beasts will come to retrieve them. The next morning little May luckily stumbles across the last one left and she refuses to give it up when her family asks: “what the heck.” Arguably, this will all be her fault.

When the first kaiju attacks the village, Keng and Lin barely escape, but his wound gives him brief, disorienting moments of kaiju vision. Unfortunately, the creature follows them to the bigger city, where he is receiving treatment. Soon, Suwat, the police chief, summons all officers to handle the attacking kaiju. That would include James, an inspector, who leaves his truant teen daughter Pam in the backseat of his cruiser, because what is the worst that could happen under the circumstances? Remember, they haven’t even seen the big one yet.

The kaiju effects are cool, which is, by far, the most important thing about The Lake. The junior kaiju sort of looks like a cross between the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Xenomorph from Alien. For some shots, there is still a dude in the suit—and he acts incredibly pissed off. It was augmented with CGI, but the mix looks terrific on-screen. The senior kaiju clearly owes a debt of gratitude to the king himself, Godzilla. It has a big set-piece scene that clearly rips off Jurassic Park, but they do it well.

There is no question the biggest stars of the film are the kaiju, designed by Jordu Schell, whose sculptural effects have been seen in films like Starship Troopers, Cloverfield, and Hellboy. The people, on the other hand, are somewhat hit-or-miss. However, the great Vithaya Pansringarm brings a lot grounded maturity to the film as Chief Suwat (who also must worry about his own daughter Fon, a junior officer on the force).

Theerapat Sajakul is also impressively hard-boiled as Inspector James, but his character is not a good decision-maker or strategic thinker. Frustratingly, the younger the character, the less patience viewers will have for them.

Creepy Crawly, on DVD

Nobody was more responsible for Covid shutdowns than Donald Trump. He implemented everything Anthony “Gain of Function” Fauci wanted and then gave his Covid policy chief an award when he left office. With that in mind, you might call this Thai hotel a “Trump Hotel,” because during the Wuhan pandemic, it caters to quarantine business. It definitely houses a public health risk, but the parasitic monster is much more dangerous than Covid in Chalit Krileadmongkon & Pakphum Wongjinda’s Creepy Crawly (a.k.a. The One Hundred), which releases Tuesday on DVD and BluRay.

This “Trump Hotel” has definitely seen better days, so the quarantine business represents a lucrative lifeline for the slimy hotel manager Wit, who will sexually harass anyone wearing a skirt. However, he is a bit alarmed to learn Fame, one of his reluctant new guests, is a travel influencer, who can ruin the hotel’s reputation. She also has a rare blood disease she has tried to keep secret from the clinical staff.

Fame is traveling with her brother (and video editor) Fiew, but she immediately develops a bit of chemistry with Leo, a Taekwondo champion traveling with his little sister and their deaf widowed father. Leo resents the old man for reasons that will be revealed, but the family will have to come together when the centipedes start to attack. The creepy-crawly things would be bad enough on their own, but they are being controlled by a “Tablongplum,” a giant insectoid monster that apparently has body-snatching powers, sort of like the monster in John Carpenter’s The Thing.

The centipedes are really creepy, but the film is never so disgusting it becomes unwatchable (so dismiss any comparisons to Human Centipede from your mind). Frankly, the centipede swarms might even be more unnerving than the monster directing them. The seedy hotel is also an effective setting.

However, Wit’s jerkweed behavior gets to be a real buzzkill. The guests’ acquiescence is also the film’s biggest credibility issue—it is hard to believe every single guest obediently refrains from calling the cops after the first incident—unless it is all meant as a commentary on society’s compliance during the pandemic—in which case it is spot on. After all, it is not by coincidence this film is set during Covid-times.

Cracked, Thai Horror

Maybe Ruja's famous artist father Pakorn used lead-based paint. For some reason, his most notorious paintings seem to kill their owners. Technically, they are hers now, but she cannot wait to sell them, for several reasons. Her daughter Rachel urgently needs eye surgery, but she is also just plain uncomfortable having them around. She has just cause to be uneasy in Surapong Ploensang’s Cracked, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

Even after her husband’s death, Ruja wanted nothing to do with her father. Collectors might think he was a genius, but she knows he was a sadistic jerk. She can’t remember all the details, but she knows he was bad. Nevertheless, she needs the inheritance when his dealer, Wichai, informs her of Pakorn’s death.

Rather ominously, a related pair of late career masterworks were returned to the estate after the owner’s family-annihilation-suicide. Ruja won’t even let Rachel in her dad’s studio, even before she sees the sexually suggestive portraits of his late model, Prang. To maximize the re-sale value, Wichai’s son, Tim restores the cracking areas. As he fiddles with the canvas, he finds evidence of hidden portraits underneath Prang, which intrigue him considerably more than Ruja. Intuitively, she suspects the paints are related to the supernatural forces that have been harassing her and Rachel.

Cracked (as in chipping paint) is a lot like many other Thai and Southeast Asian horror films, but Ploensang’s execution is super-effective. The film oozes atmosphere, thanks in large measure to some terrific art and scenery design. The creepy old manor is a perfect horror movie setting and the pair of paintings look like they radiate pure evil.

Midlengths: Mekong Hotel

Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul’s films can drain the energy out of viewers, so maybe it was fitting for him to make a vampire film. He presents this “story” in his usual dreamy style, but he still serves up a few bloody entrails in the hour-long Mekong Hotel, which screens as part of the Metrograph’s series Midlengths, consisting of short features or long shorts, around the sixty-minute mark.

Tong and Phon meet repeatedly on the balcony of their hotel overlooking the Mekong River. They feel like they have met before and maybe they have. Frankly, it might seem to be an inappropriate time for romance, because of the expected flooding and the waves of displaced people who will soon rush into the city as a result. Also, Phon is sharing a room with her mother, who happens to be a vampire, who feeds on men in the hotel. However, she did not eat the guts of Tong’s poor dog. That was another Thai “Pob” ghost.

It all unfolds to the sounds of Chai Bhatana’s acoustic guitar melodies, which Weerasethakul requests from his old friend during the prologue. Presumably, that is why the film is sometimes described as a “docu-hybrid.” Regardless, Bhatana’s music (largely inspired by Spanish classical guitar) bring a lot to the film. In fact, for some of us, they just might be the film.

Weerasethakul employs his familiar long-held, static shots, but the narrative is especially sketchy this time around—not surprisingly, since it was essentially cobbled together from notes for a project that never came to fruition. Waste not, want not. Regardless, despite the supernatural elements, this is not a film for horror fans. Indeed, it could be the most peaceful, lulling film about ghosts and vampires stalking victims during a catastrophic flood that you will ever see.

The Medium, on Shudder

Shamanism in Southeast Asia represents a general fusion of early animist beliefs with Buddhist stylistic trappings. There are ample examples of similarly coopted pagan traditions here in the Western Hemisphere—and we have duly mined them for horror movie inspiration too. Regardless, if you think have a case of possession in Thailand, you are much more likely to consult a shaman rather than a priest (especially in the era of Benedict). Nim is such a shaman, but the supernatural incident she investigates hits much too close to home in Banjong Pisanthanakun’s The Medium (produced and co-written by Korean genre auteur Na Hong-jin), which premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Some possessions are benign, like the local goddess Ba Yan, who made Nim the village shaman when she entered her body. Originally, she chose Nim’s sister Noi, as the next in line for the matrilinear succession, but the younger sibling fought her selection and converted to Christianity. After months of struggle, Ba Yan eventually settled on Nim instead. When a mysterious ailment befalls Noi’s daughter Mink, the family automatically assumes it is Ba Yan once again attempting to possess a successor. However, as the symptoms become increasingly severe and disturbing, Nim concludes a more sinister force has latched onto her niece, mostly likely related to some of the old skeletons rattling around their family closet.

Technically, The Medium qualifies as found footage, because we see everything unfold through the cameras of a film crew shooting a documentary on Nim. However, it really feels like a doc rather than a quickie Blair Witch knock-off. Wisely, Pisanthanakun takes his time, fully and respectfully establishing the characters, isolated setting, and shamanistic beliefs. The first fifteen minutes really do not horror business per se, but from there on, he slowly builds the tension drop by agonizing drip, until it finally explodes into utter bedlam.

This would indeed make a suitable companion film to Ha’s The Wailing. (Honestly, if Hwang Jung-min’s swaggering character from that film had suddenly appeared, we would have completely flipped out.) Ultimately, the gory chaos of the third act works against The Medium, but Pisanthanakun’s prior mastery of mood and foreboding still quite distinguishes it.

Magnolia at MoMA: Ong-Bak

The message of this action film is “don’t lose your head.” Unfortunately, that is what happens to Ting’s village when big city antiquity thieves steal the head of their Buddha statue. Ting learned the ancient Muay Boran discipline, a forerunner of Muay Thai, from the village priest. He has only practiced and sparred, but it turns out he really is a formidable in-real-life fighter when he sets off in search of the missing head in Prachya Pinkaew’s Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (Ong-Bak #1), which screens as part of MoMA’s 20^th Anniversary celebration of Magnolia Pictures.

The Ong-Bak statue is far from the most imposing in Thailand, but without, the village is sure to suffer ill-fate, so they take up a collection and send Ting on his way. Once in the big city, he looks up his cousin Humlae, the village’s prodigal son. Humlae happens to be a gambling addict, who regularly loses money in the underground fights hosted by the nefarious crime-lord Komluan, whose most profitable business is the illicit trade of traditional Buddhist artifacts.

Right, so you can probably see where this all is headed. The path to recovering the Ong-Bak will definitely run through Komluan’s bare-knuckle matches. There is also one of the most over-the-top tuk tuk chases ever filmed. Of course, the narrative itself is pretty grungy and straightforward: country boy takes on slimy city slickers. However, Panna Rittikrai’s fight choreography and Tony Jaa’s stunt work will still impress the heck out of fans.

Folklore: Pob

Ghosts are as important to Thai culture as Buddhism and Muay Thai. Logically, the former frequently plays a role in the nation’s ghost stories. Fittingly, the Thai installment of HBO Asia’s anthology of stories inspired by national supernatural myths and urban legends focuses on a ravenous ghost. Much to his frustration, the spirit’s haunting will become unusually complicated in Folklore: Pob, directed by Thai auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang, which screens this Friday in DC, as part of the Sackler/Freer’s Thai Buddhist Ghost Stories film series.

Manop is a crime blogger for a news site that apparently does not pay well. He cannot afford to get his car out of the shop and he is behind on his ailing mother’s hospital bills. However, opportunity might be calling when he arrives at the scene of a newly arrived American PR executive’s grisly murder. Much to his surprise and trepidation, Mena the ghost (or pob) offers to explain how John Conrad met his gory demise (Conrad—nice touch, right?).

Presumably, the Pob is responsible, because he is a pob. Yet, initially Conrad throws him off his ghostly game. In fact, the garrulous American does not recognize Mena is a supernatural entity when he awakens, so he offers the spirit a beer and a sandwich. As the night progresses, Conrad pulls Mena into more Earthly misadventures, which causes the pob to start losing his ghostliness.

The opening and closing of Pob are creepily atmospheric, but most of the guts in the middle are quite droll, in a pitch black humor sort of way. As director and screenwriter, Ratanaruang (a.k.a. Tom Pannet, known for Headshot), offers up some sly commentary on East vs. West culture clashes that mostly avoids the typical shopworn clichés. Plus, Chankij Chamnivikaipong’s black-and-white cinematography is eerily stylish.

NYAFF ’19: The Pool

Before we see one second of visuals, this film assures us no animals were hurt during its production. That’s great, but most viewers will be more concerned about the humans. It predates Crawl, forcing humans and a particularly ornery crocodile into perilously close quarters. Truly, one darned thing after another befalls poor Day in Ping Lumpraploeng’s viciously clever The Pool, which screens during the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival.

After a hard day working on the set of a silly hipster commercial, Day relaxes in the pool where they were filming. Unfortunately, he falls asleep when the location manager starts draining the water. When he awakens, he can no longer reach the ladders to exit. Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, his girlfriend Koi dives in with him, bashing her head in the process. Now both are trapped in the dwindling water, out of reach of his trusty dog Lucky and his insulin shots above (yes, of course, Day is a diabetic).

By the way, due to recent flooding, a crocodile managed to escape from the local zoo, so you know what that means. It will be pretty obvious from the gory in media res opening. Man must play a savage game of cat and mouse with the crocodile to survive.

Granted, The Pool can be ridiculously contrived at times, but that is sort of the whole point of a film like this. Naturally, Day will always fall asleep at the worst possible moments, because that is how it goes. The important points are how cleverly his Olympic pool-sized prison is constructed and how dexterously Lumpraploeng maintains the tension in this ultra-claustrophobic setting. This is some remarkably skillful minimalist genre filmmaking.

Theeradej Wongpuapan makes a totally convincing Job-like figure as Day, while Ratnamon Ratchiratham is distressingly vulnerable as Koi. However, there is absolutely no question the big mean Croc steals the show. Lucky is also quite the likeable pooch, but this whole premise is sure to distress dog lovers (let’s just say The Pool is no Dog’s Way Home and leave it at that).

For the most part, The Pool is one set and four characters, including croc and dog, but all the elements work in concert quite devilishly. Recommended for fans of angry animal horror, The Pool screens this Sunday (7/14) as part of NYAFF ’19.

Buffalo Dreams Fantastic ’18: Eullenia

Marcus Hammond is the Monte Hall or Howie Mandell of serial killers, but he always offers his victims the same deal: their life willingly exchanged for a desperately needed sum to be provided to their loved one. Admittedly, he is not a very sporting serial killer. He’s no Count Zaroff, that’s for sure. He preys on hopelessness, but karma might just come back around for him in Paul Spurrier’s Eullenia (trailer here), which screens during the 2018 Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival.

Hammond notices the little people. That is a great trait to find in a micro-finance tycoon, but not so hot for serial killer. He happens to be both. As the chairman and guru-in-chief of the Eullenia Group, he has enough money and clout to buy as many corrupt cops and public officials as he might need in Thailand, but his manservant-accomplice Boo (sort of an evil Alfred Pennyworth) is still scrupulously careful. Nam is the first victim we see dispatched in the film, but it is clear there were many more before her. Her death follows step-by-step according to Hammond’s plan, except perhaps for the note she leaves for her beloved sister—the one who needs money for chemotherapy.

In the second act, poor Em does not fully realize what she is dealing with, but Boo will make the terms crystal clear. However, there is something very different about Lek. She seems to be stalking Hammond more than he is stalking her. Viewers will probably guess her motives (no surprise, it involves revenge), but she and Spurrier still have some twists in store for the audience.

Apparently, Eullenia was originally produced as a six-episode limited series, mostly in English to cater to the foreign market. Presumably, many of the edits to accommodate this 129-minute feature-festival cut came from Em’s storyline. Regardless, the version that will screen in Buffalo (or rather Williamsville right outside) is quite grabby, thanks in large measure to the terrific cast.

Vithaya Pansringarm has become the international face of Thai cinema, with good reason. This could very well be his best work in an unambiguously villainous role (that of Boo), precisely because it is so subtly turned. As Hammond, Alec Newman manages to create a whole new variation on the monstrous serial killer: the benevolent philanthropist who takes his life-altering power to dark extremes. You could just as easily compare him to Warren Buffet (and his weird obsession with over-population) as any other movie serial killer.

Newcomer Aomkham Kamonrattanan is also dynamite as Lek. She keeps us guessing and makes us care. Likewise, Apicha Suyanandana is absolutely heartbreaking as Nam. Krittima Chockchal’s appearances as Em do indeed feel abbreviated, but thesp-director Manasanun Phanlerdwongsakul has a very effective cameo as a financial journalist who brings out Hammond’s craziness.

Spurrier is now an expat filmmaker based in Thailand, but he was once a child actor, best known for playing Richard Harris’s son in The Wild Geese. There is a bit of irony that he would introduce to the world the ultimate predatory expat, but his sympathies are always with the marginalized and his skepticism obviously falls on their supposed benefactors. Yet, the film cuts deeper than mere class warfare. After all, Hammond was once a striving lower middle class kid who made good. There is something fundamentally broken in him that has been accentuated and exacerbated by all his laudatory press as a Lord Bountiful. It is a pretty twisted film, but it is definitely compelling stuff. Enthusiastically recommended for fans of serial killer thrillers (slightly horror-ish, but light on blood and gore), Eullenia screens this Thursday (11/8), as part of this year’s Buffalo Dreams Fantastic.

NYAFF ’18: Sad Beauty

It is like a Thai version of Beaches, at least as far as we know. However, life is more intense and somewhat stranger in Thailand. So is death. Yo will experience that reality first-hand when she is forced to confront her best friend’s mortality in Bongkod Bencharongkul’s Sad Beauty (trailer here), which screens during the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.

Yo’s career has hit the skids after her latest social media meltdown, so like always, she relies on Pim, her lifelong best friend and unpaid assistant to keep her spirits up. Despite Yo’s shallowness, their friendship is real. However, she has trouble being the supportive one for a change when Pim is suddenly diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Still, she gives it a go for a while, until a violent incident sends her binging down a spiral of self-medication and hedonistic oblivion. Frankly, she has a right to be a little freaked, but Pim will still need her.

If you want to learn how to dispose of a body in Thailand, Sad Beauty definitely offers an eye-opening tutorial. Nevertheless, the film is way more consistent, both in terms of tone and theme then it maybe sounds. This is an unflinching honest depiction of a female friendship and its built-in inequalities. It definitely feels very true to life and the closing post-script from thesp-turned-director Bencharongkul openly invites viewers to assume it is based on her own experiences.

Florence Faivre (recurring on both The Expanse and Agents of SHIELD) is indeed a sad beauty, a hot mess, and a fitting analog for Bencharongkul. At times she brings to mind the exquisite sadness of Shu Qi in Millennium Mambo, but other times it is just hard to watch her self-indulgence and self-destructiveness.

Although it is the quiet, deferential role, Pakkawadee Pengsuwan is absolutely devastating as Pim. Our hearts ache for her, but she is no mere movie-of-the-week cancer patient. She is a complicated personality, with very real fears and resentments. It is a bold performance, physically and emotionally.

Unlike buddy movie clichés, real friendship is relatively rare on screen, because it is messy, complex, and the terms are often unequal. Sad Beauty is a wise and undeniably poignant exception. Frankly, it would have been an awkward fit for past NYAFFs, but it is a worthy little film that adults will appreciate. Recommended for fans of sophisticated tear-jerkers, Sad Beauty screens tomorrow (7/14) at the SVA Theatre, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

NYAFF ’18: Premika

If you can possibly imagine an episode of Scooby-Doo with gallons of squirting blood and a human trafficking subplot then you could have an inkling of the defiantly taste-challenged tone of this Thai supernatural outing. It should also be readily asserted the ghost is very real and she wants you to sing karaoke—or else. Anyone who mangles a lyric or sings offkey dies a horrible death in Siwakorn Jarupongpa’s Premika (trailer here), which screens during the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.

The cops call her “Premika” based on the name stitched in her fetish-style school uniform, but they really don’t care about solving her murder. They can’t even be bothered to find all her scattered body parts. That is why she is such an angry spirit. She is attached to a vintage-style karaoke machine that might look like fun, but its a nightmare for unsuspecting victims. To survive Premika’s wrath, the shallow, obnoxious guests of the resort most score at least an 80 with their performance. Fortunately, one of Thailand’s top boy bands happens to be playing for the grand opening.

Premika is mostly rather silly, albeit in a ridiculously gory kind of way, which is why the revelation of the ghostly school girl’s back story has such a Jekyll-and-Hyde whiplash effect. Most people will come out of the film with their heads spinning, wondering what the heck did they just see. This is truly a kitchen sink kind of movie, with just about everything you can think of thrown in rather chaotically.

So, who needs subtlety anyway? If you want to see some completely off-the-rails lunacy than Jarupongpa has your number. Natthacha (Gena) De Souza is also quite a wonder as Premika. She can be fierce and eerie one moment and then K.O. you with her tragic poignancy from out of nowhere, sort of like Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolfman, but not really.

Premika is not as gleefully nuts as Countdown or Dead Bite, but its not for a lack of trying. What a Thai triple feature those three films would make. Obviously, Jarupongpa’s screenplay is likely to offend many, but that is all part of its charm. Recommended for fans of the nutty and whacked-out, Premika screens Friday night (7/13), at the SVA Theatre, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

First Look ’18: Railway Sleepers

If you ever book a ticket on Thailand’s rail system, make sure you have forty or fifty baht in your pocket. That is because there are no shortage of hawkers selling tasty sounding street food like fried peanuts, fermented pork, and pork dumplings for a mere ten baht. Of course, most western tourists are up in first class, where you can enjoy some fine dining during overnights. Sompot “Boat” Chidgasornpongse documents the breadth and diversity of Thai society, as reflected by the passengers of each and every line of the Thai railroad in Railway Sleepers (trailer here) which screens during this year’s First Look at the Museum of the Moving Image.

There is something soothing (or lulling) about rail travel, as the frequently dozing passengers remind us. It is not called Railway Sleepers for nothing. Chidgasornpongse is mostly content to observe, offering commentary sparingly and obliquely, as when the aisles are suddenly patrolled by heavily armed soldiers rather than fried peanut vendors.

We clearly see passengers who are rich and poor, old and young, and Buddhist and Muslim. Unfortunately, we just see them and rarely listen to them converse, which is a shame, because they probably have a lot of interesting things to say. In fact, that is why J.P. Sniadeki’s thematically similar The Iron Ministry was such a rich and engaging viewing experience. It essentially immersed viewers in the man-on-the-street opinions and concerns of a wide cross-section of Chinese society. In contrast, Sleepers is really about how the passengers relate to the train itself.

Still, Chidgasornpongse has a keen eye for imagery and the involvement of his former mentor-boss Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul is sure to spur interest on the festival circuit. It does stimulate train-based nostalgia. If you went to school in the Midwest, you maybe miss the sound of distant train whistles when you’re turning in around 3:00 in the morning. Yet, it just doesn’t stimulate on a social-intellectual level the way Iron Ministry does (but, it should be granted that is a really good documentary).

Those who are admirers of the Sensory Ethnology Lab’s documentaries (which indeed includes Ministry, as well as Sniadecki’s Yumen and People’s Park) should definitely appreciate Railway Sleepers, but even Joe Weerasethakul fans might catch their heads nodding. Best saved for an elite slow cinema-vérité audience, Railway Sleepers screens this Sunday (1/14), as part of First Look 2018, at MoMI.

Fantasia ’17: Broken Sword Hero

King Taksin defeated the constant waves of Burmese invaders, unified his country as the Thonburi Kingdom, and promoted trade with the European powers. Of course, he did not do it alone. Initially, the bullied Joi does not look like he will be much help to anyone, particularly himself. However, destiny has different plans in Bin Bunluerit’s Broken Sword Hero (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Unless you really know your Thai history, forget about the sword and focus on the hero. That will be Joi—eventually. It would seem like fate dealt him a tough break, considering the regional governor’s entitled son Cherd is his chief tormentor. When he finally fights back hard enough to draw blood, Joi resigns himself to a life of exile. Living by his wits, he becomes a talented Muay Thai fighter. Unfortunately, that will not be enough to defeat a true master. At least he learns an important early lesson: humility. From then on, Thongdee (as the white-teethed, betelnut abstainer is now known) will study any discipline, under any master with a unique specialty.

Along the way, Thongdee makes some real friends and serves his successive masters faithfully. Periodically, he will face off against his old nemesis Cherd and his corrupt uncle. Although Thongdee is still an outlaw, his good deeds and multi-disciplinary martial arts skills start to attract the attention of a mysterious mustachioed observer.

Bunluerit must be a heck of a persuasive director, because he convinced former Miss Teen Thailand Sornsin Maneewan to portray Thongdee’s potential love interest Ramyong with betelnut-stained teeth. Chutirada Junthit was doubly lucky to play Mauylek, an itinerant Chinese opera performer and marital artist, because she was spared the betelnut and had the chance to show off her own action chops in some of the action sequences.

Of course, the film is clearly intended to launch Muay Thai champion Sombat “Buakaw” Banchamek as the next Tony Jaa. There is no question he has the skills and the super-chiseled physique. Granted, his screen presence will not exactly blow you through the back wall of the theater, but he has greater emotional range than Van Damme and Schwarzenegger displayed early in their careers (or arguably even in their latest films). Still, he is not another Tony Jaa yet, but it isn’t for a lack of effort. He brings tremendous physicality to the action scenes, which should earn him good will from fans right from the start.

If you are looking for bare-chested, fist-pumping, sword-shattering action, Bunluerit and Buakaw deliver over and over again. Again, it is important to remember this is an origins story, so don’t get hung up waiting for a sword to break. Instead, just let the spectacle of flying elbows and knees wash over you. Highly recommended for martial arts fans, especially those who appreciate the Southeast Asian historical elements, Broken Sword Hero screens today (7/23) at this year’s Fantasia.

NYAFF ’17: Bad Genius

As cheating scandals go, this one deserves credit for ambition. Unlike the rather pathetic Atlanta Pubic School scandal (involving teachers trying to cover up their sub-par performance), these Thai kids plan to make several million Baht and secure their futures by studying abroad. Lynn will be the brains of their operation and perhaps their conscience too in Nattawut Poonpiriya’s Bad Genius (trailer here), the opening film of this year’s New York Asian Film Festival.

Lynn is a cute genius, but her father is a scrupulously honest school teacher and her mother pulled a disappearing act. Consequently, they do not have a lot of money, but her academic achievement earns her a full scholarship to a tony prep school. However, this is the sort of place where the incidentals can really add up. To cover those costs, she develops a method to signal multiple choice answers to her “tutoring” customers. It started with her pretty but ditzy new friend Grace, but it really starts to reach economies of scale when her well-heeled boyfriend Pat and his cronies get in on the deal.

Rather awkwardly, Bank, the school’s other, less socially skilled scholarship student blunderingly reveals the scam. Despite getting burned, the reluctant Lynn is convinced to take her game to the next level, targeting the STIC, the standardized test required for studying abroad in American universities. To pull it off, she will have to travel to Australia, the first time zone in which the test is administered—and she will also need Bank’s brain.

Bad Genius is a nifty caper film, employing elements that are cinematically fresh, but easy for viewers to relate to. Yet, it is also a surprisingly substantial examination of teen social peer pressure and societal corruption in general. The third act is totally serious, but ultimately quite richly satisfying in an unexpected way.

Of course, it is hard to overstate how terrific Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying is as Lynn. She is deservedly this year’s recipient of NYAFF’s Screen International Rising Star Award and in a more just world, you would start seeing her name lit up on extra-wide marquees. She is a fierce but fragile heroic anti-heroine like we’ve really never seen before. Likewise, Chanon Santinatornkul takes Bank on a dramatic but completely believable development arc. Eisaya Hosuwan is shockingly poignant as the popular but insecure Grace. Yet, it is Thaneth Warakulnukroh (who can be seen in Pop Aye, currently in theatrical release), who truly anchors the film and provides its moral polestar as Lynn’s decent plugger father.

Bad Genius clocks in at one-hundred thirty minutes, but it feels like Poonpiriya races us through it at record speed. It is tense, pacey, and wicked smart, featuring a ridiculously photogenic young ensemble, plotting and sneaking around like mad. Highly recommended for fans of capers or high school movies, Bad Genius kicks off the 2017 New York Asian Film Festival this Friday (6/30), at the Walter Reade.

ND/NF ’17: By the Time it Gets Dark

Doing justice to controversial historical tragedies on film is a tricky business—just ask Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong, or her analog, or her analog’s analog. Although billed as a meditation on the 1976 Thassanat University Massacre, her recursively self-referential film is more closely akin to the logical-universe-be-damned auteurism of Lynch’s Lost Highway or Zuławski at his most outré. Prepare for déjà vu all over again in Suwichakornpong’s By the Time it Gets Dark (trailer here), which screens during this year’s New Directors/New Films.

Ann’s plan was to interview Taew, a highly-respected “public intellectual,” who survived the 1976 incident, in a comfortable vacation home in the provinces. However, it is not clear Ann has the proper depth and maturity for the project. At least she is self-aware of her shortcomings, which results in some rather expressionistic scenes of soul searching. Fortunately, the character based on her will fare better when she interviews the more fashionable Taew in an even nicer McMansion.

There is a fair amount of identity-shifting and sharing in Gets Dark, including Peter, a tobacco worker, who is actually a movie-star having a clandestine affair with his co-star, who will play an “Ann,” but really wants to direct herself. Whenever the various characters or cast-members of the films-within-films are out in public, they are invariable waited on or in some way serviced by the silent Nong. Indeed, she is the constant. No matter which side is currently in power, folks like Nong have to clean up their crap, regardless what sort of ideology the powers-that-be spout.

Gets Dark is impressively ambitious, but the execution is spotty. Instead of keeping careful tabs on each of the film’s sequential Russian dolls of narrative reality, Suwichakornpong essentially hands us mismatched halves, in the hopes that we get the idea of how everything ought to fit together in theory. Still, her commanding visual vocabulary makes quite an impression, particularly the filming of the 1976 atrocities (which we do not immediately recognize as an in-film sequence of movie-making).

Despite the film’s intellectual distance, it boasts some potent performances, including all of the Anns (Visra Vichit-Vadakan, Inthira Charoenpura, and Soraya Nakasuwan) and Taews (Rassami Paoluengtong, Penpak Sirikul, and sort of Waywiree Ittianunkul, as the student activist). Even though she is more or less playing a symbol, Atchara Suwan also has tremendous presence as Nong.

Frankly, there is so much Borgesian gamesmanship in Get Dark, we lose sight of the massacre. In fact, Ming Kai Leung’s warm, hazy cinematography will make viewers more inclined to visit Thailand, so they can sink into its tropical lushness. Ultimately, the film is too awkward and ungainly to hold together, but it is often an interesting misfire, which counts for something. For those who find Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul too mainstream commercial, By the Time it Gets Dark screens tomorrow (3/19) at the Walter Reade and Monday (3/20) at MoMA, as part of ND/NF 2017.