Four | หลุดสี่หลุด [ Movie Review ] ★★★★

Four innovative demented suspenseful comedic horror stories. This Tom Yum blend of Twilight Zone rocks.

In recent years, my personal favorite Thai horror movies have been the Phobia series (4bia and Phobia 2). It shows that good Thai horror might be in form of short stories and a collection of them brings in diversity and horror in the right dosage. When the trailer for Four appeared on my radar, it felt like a weak copycat aping the success of the previous two omnibus of Thai horror. But surprisingly, the only thing that was bad about this movie would be the trailer and Four was equally good as the Phobia series.

Think of it as a Thai Twilight Zone movie and you get the right level of scariness. It offers some intriguing concepts that probably would lose it's appeal if the each individual idea was to be expanded into a feature length movie.

Here's the lowdown on the plots of the four short stories and my thoughts on them.

The Noob's Human Holocaust | เกรียนหลุดโลก

Four kids hanging out at a mall, talking about Global Warming and how earth would benefit from some form of genocide. Their choice of mass massacre? It would be a virus without a vaccine. They started to diverge to how the virus could be spread through computers and other form of electronic devices. 

As their conversation gets weirder, one of the group member started to ask the most important question. Who organized this gathering?

On first impression, The Noob's Human Holocaust looked like a film school project with cinematography that felt amateurish. But for folks who are into films and film making, it won't be hard to spot that the entire segment was done in one take. That means one continuous shot of this segment with no NGs and no cuts. There was a moment whereby the camera floated away from the conversation and pans to the second level of the mall before making it's way back to the boys' table. The unsteady camerawork gave the used of handheld Steadicam away but extra points should be given to the filmmakers and cast for their various background works and coordination to make it possible to capture the whole story in one shot.

Technical details aside, the whole global cleansing conversation between this four kids was rather interesting (depending on your personal views). It felt rather nihilist and bleak but there's some truth in the overpopulation issue that these teenagers touched on. Their choice of virus seemed far fetched but innovative in it's own ways. The execution of this grand plan was both comical and horrifying. Needless to say, capturing this story in one shot just helped make it even more spooky. Eakasit Thairaat, the scriptwriter for all the four stories in Four and Paween Purijitpanya's "4Bia: The Deadly Talisman" directed this piece and personally, I will be keeping an eye on him, looking out for what is he doing to do next.

Last but not least, I personally digs how they used the virus as a form of subtle PSA (Public Service Announcement) to turn their handphones off during movies. Pretty niffy way to start a movie. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot. please do not shamelessly copy it and use it as your own

The Gift Shop for the People You Hate | ร้านของขวัญเพื่อคนที่คุณเกลียด

Thada (Pakkorn Chartburrirak) had just been promoted to manager in his company. While everyone is celebrating for him, there's a disgruntled colleague that had some nasty stuff to say to him. After the incident blew over, Thada decided to go for a walk and look for gifts to give his colleagues as part of his promotion celebration. He came across a shop with the name "The Gift Shop for the People You Hate". Puzzled by the shop name, he went into the shop and was told by the salesperson that this is the place to get back at rivals or enemies. They carry umbrella that comes with a lightning rod and perfume laced with the deadly tiger wasp stingers. They even provide services to sabotage individuals up to the degree that the customers wished. 


Thada dismissed the salesperson's pitch and wanted to leave. The salesperson then mention that someone already bought six gifts for him and warned him to watch out for products with their company logo. Thada naturally didn't believe that and went on to enjoy his promotion. The fun starts when he starts to unwrap and uses his promotion gifts. 

Think of it as Stephen Chow's Tricky Brains that's less playful and more mean spirited. It's innovative in the ways that they came up with those whacky gifts. The suspense here would be to see how Thada could figure out which gifts are life threatening. The beautiful of going to the movies is so that we could live vicariously through these unfortunate protagonist.  The characterization for Thada felt uneven at times but that was easily forgotten with the delivery of one heck of a comeuppance twisty ending. This piece directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri (Muay Thai Chaiya  and Art of the Devil 2 & 3) is bizarrely entertaining.

The Night to Lose Your Mind | คืนจิตหลุด

After unwittingly shooting a pregnant lady during a robbery, Neung (Ananda Everingham) became a changed. He became a reckless trigger happy manic who is causing destress to his partner Joe (Thitti Vejchaboon. Even though they were wanted by the police, Neung insisted on carrying out another robbery and bringing his brother Song (Peerapol Sehnakol) along. Joe was reluctant but was forced at gunpoint to carry out their final robbery together. 


After their robbery, they encountered a police roadblock and decided to hide in a old abandon hospital. They were about to split their booty when they encountered someone or something that lurking around. Neung in his maniac mood swing felt that his authority had been challenged and decided to chased after the shadowy individual.  Resulting in a night that ripe to lose one's mind.

Arguably the weakest installment of the whole lot. This segment relied heavily on Ananda Everingham's performance to keep this segment going. While he did a decent job, it's hard not to feel that it dragged the story out a bit too long for it's own good.  It felt like an rendition of the Saw franchise which was enjoyable and decently filmed to get the type of reaction to torture porn.  The twist at the end was somewhat predictable but still satisfying even after the long wait. 


Who R Kong? | ฮูอากง

The grandfather of a Thai Chinese family had passed on but before he died, his last words were "Don't burry me or cremate me until...". His children obeyed his last wishes and left his corpse in his ancestral home. Years later, the family had problem hiring maids to watch over the body as it tends to walk around, scaring the hell out of the maids. 

They hired a fortune teller / exorcist to solve the problem and the family was told that the grandpa wanted to pass a message to his favorite grandchild. The message was said to contain hidden treasures in the ancestral home. The head of the household then decided that all the grandchildren would stay over to look after the grandfather's body.

The grandchildren were made up of an effeminate guy who refuse to admit that he is a homosexual, a brainy doctor who is quite an asshole, a internet porn addict teenager and a little girl who is constantly texting with her blackberry. Lastly, there's Song (Alice Tsoi), the granddaughter who seemed to be the most decent and sensible among the bunch.

This segment got the whole cinema laughing out loud and stomping their feet. The over the top comedic performance and situations made it hard to sit through without laughing. The effeminate grandson will bring the house down with his dance moves and his strenuous denial of his homosexuality. In between moments of laugh out loud comedic situations, there's the suspenseful ones involving one grandpa who can't keep still even after he is dead.

This "homedy" segment is wonderfully directed by Chukiat Sakveeraku (who also directed Love of Siam, one of my fave movies of 2009).  It's impressive that he was able to deliver a well blend of scary horror and riotous comedy. In an unexpected way, he was able to close this whole segment with a sweet ending. Personally it was a terrific way of ending a fun rollar coaster ride.


Beyond the Movie

I came across a set of four individual Thai posters for the respective segments here.

My Best Bodyguard | มาย เบสท์ บอดี้การ์ด [ Movie Review ] ★1/2

The Pitch

The first time I saw My Best Bodyguard poster in a Thailand cinema, I can't help but noticed that Shawn Yue is in a Thai Film. The next thing that caught my attention was the leading lady on the movie poster. Not exactly the type of actress that grace most of the Thai action flicks posters these days. There's an aura about her that stood out and upon some research, it turned out that she is the princess of Thailand.

The very next chain of thought would be whether did she use her royal connection to get this film made. Will she have the on screen charisma and/or looks to pull off the leading role as an actress? Will it be a decent action flick or an excessive indulgence by the rich and powerful?

Shawn Yue's participation in this movie was totally forgotten at this point. But it's interesting to note that MediaAsia had "loan" him to this project and will be taking charge of the Asian countries distribution of this movie outside of Thailand.

The Plot

The NSSD (National Security Special Detachment) is facing a major crisis in Thailand. There's a deadly virus outbreak and the Americans are threatening to interfere by taking over the crisis control. Jate, the section leader of NSSD promised that he and his team would resolve this issue within a week.

My Looks Could Kill Too

Meanwhile, a hotshot reporter Nicha (Ubolratana Rajakanya)  is doing her own investigation on the matter. An infected doctor seeked her out and gave her valuable information that could expose a foreign pharmaceutical company dirty secrets. Before she could get more information, the doctor was assassinated by Thud (Shahkrit Yamnarm).

Nicha decided to press on and confronted Shawn (Shawn Yue), the young and successful businessman who is leading the foreign pharmaceutical company. The ambitious business man has no qualms in sacrificing the weak for profits and medical advancement.

She later discovered a number of Thai citizen were used as lab rats to test out the virus. The first bunch of infected individuals were assassinated by NSSD in an attempt to control the outbreak of the virus while the remaining five were held captive by the pharmaceutical company. Her investigation unwittingly caused her to captured by Shawn's henchmen and they decided to inject her with the virus.

We don't need to shoot them up close

While waiting for a possible antibody from one of the remaining few, the NSSD suddenly appeared to bust Shawn's  illegal business dealings. The evil doers managed to send the infected personals away with NSSD on hot pursuit. Unexpectedly, the assassin, Thud who killed the infected doctor appeared to rescue the infected personal.

It turned out that Nicha's father was a Colonel and Thud works for him out of gratitude. Not only that, the Colonel also had past dealings with this form of virus and told them that the antidote might be in one of the infected personals. All they could do was to sit and wait for the one to appear. It's not an easy task as the infected personals would like to contact their love ones in case they are not so lucky to survive this experiment. NSSD and the foreign pharmaceutical company are also keeping a look out for this infected personals. 

The Perspective

I am deaf to all your criticism

First and foremost, what can one expect when the story was written by a person that uses the initial C.R.A.B as the writer credit. One heck of a bad story flow and characters motivation. In another word, it's CRAP.

If the plot above sound pretty convoluted and patchy, that's because it written as how it was shown in the theater. Excessive characters and subplots that does nothing for the main story. One setup moves to another setup without the linkage in between, making one wonder if there's a missing segment between those two scenes. Needless to say, the setup for the main characters' motivation were sacrificed when the movie attempted to chew more than it can swallow and digest.

The other notable problem with this movie would be Shawn Yue's attempt to speak English for the whole duration of the movie. Shawn Yue's English was pretty bad as compared to the rest of  the Thai cast. It sound so unnatural and unclear that English subtitle would be a great help.

Stop or the Princess will Shoot!

Last but not least, the problem with My Best Bodyguard would be Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya involvement. She lacks the looks factor to carry the movie as the female protagonist. While there are other actors that do not relies on their looks and instead hone their performance to hook the audience, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya lacks that edge to draw in the viewer with her acting. Her acting came across as stiff and too much of the royalty aura that make her character less convincing as a working class reporter. It certainly doesn't help when she filmmakers hired so many good looking male counterparts to star in this movie with her. It's simply a glaring distraction with the incompatible pairings.

In summary, My Best Bodyguard is a pile of crappy mess that going to top my bottom ten movies of 2011 list. The story was a dismay mess and tried to take on too much. Shawn Yue was out of element when he been tasked to speak in English. The action sequences in My Best Bodyguard was a tame affair that does not require any attention. I don't want to be rude but my take would be that My Best Bodyguard is a vanity project for Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya. The movie industry could be a very harsh place and if you don't have the X Factor, you don't have the X Factor. One could only wait and see if she will ever make another movie after My Best Bodyguard.

Coda

In veins of some great Asian action flicks, My Best Bodyguard went on to show the NG segments of this movie. In particular, it focused on an accident that happened when the princess was making an escape from the captive. It was a simple scene that accident should not have happened but it did and in all honesty, it looked like the princess had a rather nasty face first fall. The rest of the coda segment dedicated their admiration for the princess's preservation to complete the movie.

As an action flick coda segment, it also fall pretty flat like the movie. There's nothing impressive about the action sequences in My Best Bodyguard that needed glorification in such manner. In fact, if someone didn't trip and fall in a bad way, there might nothing to filled the length of the end credits.

My Ex : Haunted Lover | แฟนใหม่ [ Movie Review] ★★

The Pitch

My Ex ( แฟนเก่า Fan Kao) was one of the top ten worst movies that I have caught in 2009 and now we are getting My Ex : Haunted Lover (แฟนใหม่ Fan Mai ). But apparently the original made a lot of money in Thailand (came in top of the box office on the opening weekend) and well received enough to get this sequel greenlighted. This sequel My Ex: Haunted Lover also did very well at the Thai Box Office. The same director Piyapan Choopetch who did the original film is back to helm this BGR gone supernaturally wrong movie and I got no idea what made me want to watch this movie. Perhaps it was to see if the director could improve on what didn't go well in the first movie or I was simply possessed.

The Plot

My Ex : Haunted Lover (แฟนใหม่ Fan Mai ) starts literally at the end credits of My Ex ( แฟนเก่า Fan Kao).  Cee (Ratchawin Wongviriya) and her girl friends just finished watching the first My Ex movie and they were there to support Cee's sister Bowie (Bowie Atthama Chiwanitchaphan ) who got a small role in that show (remember that school girl who was killed by a truck while making a phone call to her ex boyfriend?). They went on bitching about how rotten the male lead character in the show was and almost immediately, they spotted Cee's boyfriend behaving intimately with another girl at the cinema.

Someone Behind Me Again ?!?!?

The couple started to quarrel at home and her boyfriend Aof (Thongpoom Siripipat) assured her that there's no love between him and that girl, Ying (Marion Affolter). He is simply broke and needed to borrow money from her. Ying overheard what Aof said and was so heartbroken that she apparently jumped from the building.

After Ying's suicide, Cee broke off with Aof and started to pursue a film career with her sister Bowie's help. During work, the sisters were introduced to Karn (Pete Thongjua), a rich resort owner who is financing their new film project and loaning his resort for the shoot. When the good looking ladies mix with a good mannered rich man like Karn, a potential love triangle is bound to happen.

However before Cee could put her mind into starting any form of relationship with Karn, she got a loser ex boyfriend who constantly bugging her with calls, seeking reconciliation. Cee is also getting harassed from the supernatural forces too (courtesy of the recently deceased Ying). It all boils down to a showdown at Karn's beautiful beach resort.

Who would you look at? Me or that Fugly Bitch behind me?

The Perspective

My Ex : Haunted Lover (แฟนใหม่ Fan Mai ) certainly wasn't an improvement over the original film. In fact the gore / scare factor was pretty much tone down and the story was just as bad as the first one. The spook factor here felt meaningless except to remind the audience that this is a horror movie. You get the usual sudden loud sound effect with the sudden visual pop out scares. Nothing as scary as compared to the first one and the first one wasn't breaking any grounds in the spook factor.

Gone were the gruesome scenes like manager's "spectacular" death scene and the schoolgirl, phone booth & truck sequences. In place of it, we get the Ying's fall from a tall building and landing head first on the concrete beside a pool. It sound more gruesome than it's actually is. In fact it's quite silly if you think about it. A fall at such height with the head landing first would have done way more damage than it was portrayal here but hey we can't do with a headless ghost in Asian horror film nowadays.

Don't think for a moment that the series is shifting it's focus to the story build up. Wrestling screen time with the obligatory scare sequences, My Ex Haunted Lover didn't have much time or effort in building up these characters and the conflicts between them. They are pretty to look at but their character felt like one dimension characters. Such as the unspoken rivalry between the sisters were missing through out the whole movie until the final twisty revelation of the movie.

I'm Bored of You

Yes twisty revelation! The norm for most supernatural horror movies these days. While there are some great ones and some average ones, there are some that literally pulls the rug off your feet in a bad way. My Ex Haunted Lover twist belongs to the latter group. The twist just came out as an U-turn to all that's been established in the show so far. While 6th Sense twist was impressive, My Ex Haunted Love felt like they are forcing the twist down the throat and expect you to go with it. The excuse that this movie might give would be that the twist is the reason why Ying is haunting Cee instead of that loser they both "loved" but it's just so hard to believe why Ying is taking so long to take exact her vengeance and why is she doing it at the beach resort.

There are also subplots such as the dead woman that drown nearby the resort and how Ying is related to the resort owner that are conveniently forgotten as the show progress. One might argue that they are red herrings but personally, they felt like unnecessary padding or the director couldn't decide how to add those subplots into the story.
 
Like it's predecessor, My Ex: Haunted Lover is a forerunner for my list of top ten bad movies of 2011. Let's just see if there's other ten other movies that could top it's placing. But since both two movies did so well in Thailand, there's room for the third one and the final scene in the movie might just be the link for the third one. It's a cameo scene that is akin to how Wong Kar Wai's Days of Being Wild ended but here, it's just felt like a desperate hook to drum up people interest for another sequel. Strangely I might just catch the third one if it stars that actor who did the unexpected appearance in that cameo scene.

Here the trailer if you are still interested about the movie.

My Ex Haunted Lover poster from Malaysia

Pete Thong-jeur

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives | ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ [ Movie Review ] ***

I am going to be honest. I didn't really get Uncle Boonmee Who can recall His Past Lives and if it didn't won the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, I would probably be less incline to try and understand what the movie about.

For me, a movie shouldn't be too overly abstract nor should it be filled with long takes of mundane stuff. Uncle Boonmee was one such movie that is pretty much opened to interpretation. There are also certain parts that would probably required some sort of knowledge of Thai movies or their history to appreciate what's going on. While some events are explicitly explained, there are many others that were left for you to figure out. Then there are still shot of an empty room for no apparent reason before the film cuts to Uncle Boonmee getting his kidney treatment in his room. These are some moments that frustrated me and made me wonder what did Tim Burton see in this movie that I am not getting.

While there are moments that are totally lost on me, there are actually some moments that were really stood out. The strange visitation of Uncle Boonmee's dead wife and his long lost son had a strong spooky atmospheric about it. Just imagine that you are in a remote area and a deceased relative suddenly appeared right beside you. Freaking out and running away probably won't do much good here. Beside that, the long lost son suddenly reappeared as a gorilla with very eery red eyes to inform Uncle Boonmee that there are creatures in the dark that are draw to him due to his kidney illness. It felt so ominous and yet strangely heartwarming that Uncle Boonmee could reunite with his love ones for one last time.

Then the movie shifted to one ugly princess who is having a secret affair with one of her servant. Just before I could even try to figure out what the linkage between the princess and Uncle Boonmee, the low self esteem princess proceed to have sex with a talking catfish! The most unnatural sex scene that's strangely erotic with a tinge of comedic elements that needed to be seen to believe. Till now, I couldn't figure out what does that scene got anything to do with Uncle Boonmee or his past lives. Was he the talking catfish, the ugly princess or the servant that got rejected.

Talking about past lives, there wasn't really an explicit moments that the viewers are told that what we are seeing now would be the past life of Uncle Boonmee. Such as the opening scene with a buffalo escaping from his owner. It was only at the Q&A session with the director that I realized that buffalo was one of Uncle Boonmee's past lives. He went on to explained that in the book, the buffalo had died and the spirit was hanging around a tree branch, watching his owner giving him a funeral.

The Q&A session and the various online interviews / reviews helped me to better understand what had transpired in the movie. Such as Uncle Boonmee's son who was fascinated about the monkey ghost and during his pursuit, he had became one of them. This was done to cite parallelism with the director's personal experience with transformation. But then again, I wonder without these assistance, would a movie goer still be able to understand and appreciate this movie?

Let me put it this way. Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives was just too abstract for me to fully understand and appreciate. I wonder how will the causal movie goers handle this movie. But after listening to the director and his fans passionately filling the blanks for me after the show, I wonder if there something that I had missed during my first viewing.

Uncle Boonmee definitely stayed on my mind for a while and it didn't really felt like a movie experience. It felt like a laborious journey that I had taken and be it good or bad, it's not something that could be forgotten easily.