"Tears of the Black Tiger" (Thailand)
Y
Jan 1, 2005
In Wisit Sasanatieng's "Tears of the Black Tiger," you have your ultimate fusion movie. The writer-director from Thailand pays homage and spoofs in about equal measure old movies from around the world. It's best understood as a cross between a spaghetti western and a Hindi movie without the Bollywood songs. But it is hard to locate what the film means within Thai culture since none of this fits that tradition.
Sasanatieng probably is aiming for international appeal rather than making a nice little film for native consumption that will never travel outside Southeast Asia. In fact, Miramax acquired multiterritory rights to "Tiger" on Thursday.
The film has its problems, though. At 113 minutes, it's way too long to extend such a silly joke. And while the bad stunts and artificial violence do amuse, this becomes a well from which the filmmaker draws too often. Still, the individual scenes possess a lighthearted punch, and Sasanatieng pulls everything together with appealing panache.
For a plot, he employs star-crossed lovers when a highborn girl (Stella Malucchi) falls in love with a peasant's son (Chartchai Ngamsan), a boy destined to become a bandit known as Black Tiger. But he's mostly misunderstood -- perhaps because he says so little and seldom defends himself even with his own father. He truly loves the governor's daughter, but she is betrothed to a police captain (Arawat Ruangvuth). Alas, too many ambushes, betrayals and shoot-outs at high noon come between the lovers for them ever to find romantic happiness.
The music would feel at home in a John Ford movie, albeit with Thai lyrics for the songs, and only occasionally does an Asian melody filter through. The sets are all done in bizarre pastels, but many exterior sequences take place in the kind of countryside Republic Studios made famous.
Bullet hits and bodies fill the screen with fake -- very fake -- blood as Sasanatieng has fun with the Peckinpah tradition of slow-motion violence.
Yes, it's quite a mix, but the result is a mongrel many will adore.
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (FAH TALAI JONE)
Film Bangkok/Bec-Tero Entertainment Co.
Credits:
Producer: Nonzee Nimibutr
Writer-director: Wisit Sasanatieng
Director of photography: Nattawut Kittikhun
Production designer: Lemchuen Ek
Music: Amornbhong Methakunavudh
Editor: Dusanee Puinongpho
Cast:
Seua Dum: Chartchai Ngamsan
Rumpoey: Stella Malucchi
Mahesuan: Supakorn Kitsuwon
Police Captain Kumjorn: Arawat Ruangvuth
Running time: 113 minutes
Sasanatieng probably is aiming for international appeal rather than making a nice little film for native consumption that will never travel outside Southeast Asia. In fact, Miramax acquired multiterritory rights to "Tiger" on Thursday.
The film has its problems, though. At 113 minutes, it's way too long to extend such a silly joke. And while the bad stunts and artificial violence do amuse, this becomes a well from which the filmmaker draws too often. Still, the individual scenes possess a lighthearted punch, and Sasanatieng pulls everything together with appealing panache.
For a plot, he employs star-crossed lovers when a highborn girl (Stella Malucchi) falls in love with a peasant's son (Chartchai Ngamsan), a boy destined to become a bandit known as Black Tiger. But he's mostly misunderstood -- perhaps because he says so little and seldom defends himself even with his own father. He truly loves the governor's daughter, but she is betrothed to a police captain (Arawat Ruangvuth). Alas, too many ambushes, betrayals and shoot-outs at high noon come between the lovers for them ever to find romantic happiness.
The music would feel at home in a John Ford movie, albeit with Thai lyrics for the songs, and only occasionally does an Asian melody filter through. The sets are all done in bizarre pastels, but many exterior sequences take place in the kind of countryside Republic Studios made famous.
Bullet hits and bodies fill the screen with fake -- very fake -- blood as Sasanatieng has fun with the Peckinpah tradition of slow-motion violence.
Yes, it's quite a mix, but the result is a mongrel many will adore.
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (FAH TALAI JONE)
Film Bangkok/Bec-Tero Entertainment Co.
Credits:
Producer: Nonzee Nimibutr
Writer-director: Wisit Sasanatieng
Director of photography: Nattawut Kittikhun
Production designer: Lemchuen Ek
Music: Amornbhong Methakunavudh
Editor: Dusanee Puinongpho
Cast:
Seua Dum: Chartchai Ngamsan
Rumpoey: Stella Malucchi
Mahesuan: Supakorn Kitsuwon
Police Captain Kumjorn: Arawat Ruangvuth
Running time: 113 minutes
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