Life
is messy in Phnom Penh, but there is a whole lot of it going on. This constitutes
a welcome departure from a re-emerging Cambodian film industry that has been understandably
focused on the genocide committed by the Communist Khmer Rouge. Unfortunately,
a more workaday promise of death intrudes into the would-be free-spirited
Kanitha’s life in Douglas Seok’s Turn
Left Turn Right, which screens during the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Kanitha’s
personal style is influenced by the groovy 1960s pop stars, like the ones we
see go-go dancing in Angkor monuments in the opening scene. However, she is
supposed to act much staider in today’s more socially reserved Cambodia. Her mother
wants her to marry, but Kanitha is not down with that. Kanitha’s mother also
wants her to start coming to terms with her father’s failing health. That will
be difficult for the in-the-moment young woman, but it will be a lot likelier
to happen than a wedding.
Although
it is a smidge less than seventy minutes, Turn
still manages to be impressionistic and intentionally collage-like.
Inspired by concept albums, Seok divides the film into twelve tracks, but none
of them would really stand apart as a film in themselves—except for maybe the
wildly fun interludes of retro dancing ladies getting down.
Weirdly,
Turn might have been more
entertaining if it had been even less focused on narrative and just gone all in
on the old school musical numbers. Nevertheless, Kanitha Tith gives a wonderful
subtle yet expressive performance as Kanitha. It is also nice to see Dy Saveth,
the Cambodian movie star who survived all her movies, perform an internet dance
that Kanitha fixates on.
