Thai Cinema

The Complete Guide

Mary J. Ainslie, Katarzyna Ancuta, Mary J. Ainslie, Katarzyna Ancuta

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781838609252
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Historia y crítica cinematográficas

One of the fastest growing and most internationally renowned cinemas in Southeast Asia is that of Thailand. In the first ever book devoted solely to this major centre of creative filmmaking, experts on contemporary and historic Thai film provide a timely overview and discussion of key films, directors and current movements in the region in a comprehensive encyclopaedia format.
What many critics, analysts and scholars have retrospectively christened `New Thai Cinema' began to take shape in the late 1990s when national film moved away from its position as lower-class and provincial entertainment and became a firm fixture in Bangkok multiplexes and festivals worldwide. This book will provide information on the influential figures behind the films - up to and succeeding the 1997 watershed film Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters that began the breakaway movement - as well as detailing and explaining the traditions of popular and art-house genres specific to Thailand. Featuring contributions on Thai visionaries such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Wisit Sasanatieng and providing rare insight into early Thai cinema, this is an essential scholarly guide to a vibrant aspect of Southeast Asian cinema - its history, industry and aesthetic trends - for scholars and students alike.

1

Key Directors

Nonzee Nimibutr

A Thai film director, producer and screenwriter, Nonzee Nimibutr was born on 18 December 1962 in Nonthaburi, a neighbouring province of Bangkok. Nimibutr pursued his higher education at Silpakorn University (formerly known as the University of Fine Arts) and attained his bachelor’s degree in visual communication design in 1987. Nimibutr’s early career was related to television documentary production, yet over the years he crafted scripts and edited television shows before moving to Rotfai Dontri (Music Train) Company. He first worked as a producer, then a creative director, of music videos, radio spots and television shows, founding Buddy Film and Video Production Company during the early 1990s producing concerts, mini-series and commercials for advertising agencies.

Nimibutr is considered a key director in the New Thai Cinema era. His début, Dang Bireley’s and Young Gangsters (1997), was a hit at the domestic box office before going on to screen at Vancouver and other film festivals. The film responded to nostalgic discourses of the time by combining depictions of Buddhism and references to Hong Kong gangster films set during the Cold War era. This was the beginning of Nimibutr’s Thai-thae or vernacular Thai aesthetics that appealed to both national and international audiences. In 1999, acclaimed Thai heritage film Nang Nak was released, a film that reconstructed a much more realistic version of “old Siam” and revitalized Thai folk tales as a new form of horror film. Nang Nak received a hugely positive reception among film audiences and film studies scholars in Thailand and beyond, winning the best film award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival that year.

Continuing this fascination with a very lucrative version of Thai nostalgia, in 2001 Nimibutr adapted the period erotic novel Jan Dara into a film. This also introduced the director to transnational collaboration, as Hong Kong actress Christy Chung played a character in the film. Likewise, in 2002, Nimibutr filmed The Wheel, produced by his own Cinemasia Company, a segment of the film Three (2002) which also included segments from Hong Kong and Korean directors. This development echoed the “Pan-Asian” and transnational elements favoured by the New Thai directors.

Nimibutr then shifted his interests to the Southern Thai situation, making OK Baytong (2003), which told the story of a Buddhist monk who has to take care of his Muslim niece. The film transformed ethnic and religious controversy into a “feel-good” story. Likewise, Queens of Langkasuka (2008) which was partly funded by the transnational “Nova Group,” was adapted from a renowned writer’s novel and portrays a fantasy representation of the history of the Pattani Kingdom of Thailand’s South. Nimibutr’s experimental spirit was then shown in Distortion (2012), a crime film and psychological thriller for which he also was a producer.

Nimibutr worked as a film producer for several films, including on Wisit Sasanatieng’s renowned Tears of the Black Tiger (2000), Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Transistor Love Story (2001) and Last Life in the Universe (2003), as well as Ittisoontorn Vichailak’s The Overture (2004). He also produced Pha-un Chanthonsiri’s The Letter (2004) and later filmed its sequel Timeline (2014). The famous teen stars who perform in the film are also reminiscent of Nimibutr’s former career beginnings as a music video director.

As a key New Thai Cinema director, Nimibutr is a renowned and respected figure in the Thai industry. He chaired the Thai Film Directors Association before receiving the Silpathorn Award from the Thai Ministry of Culture in 2008. In recent years he also turned to directing Thai television series’, including The Four Elements (2009), Above the Cloud (2010) and The Sorcerer (2012), so continuing to play an active role in the Thai media industries.

Natthanai Prasannam

Ratana Pestonji

To scholars of Thai film history, Ratana Pestonji needs little introduction. Variously called the “father” of Thai film, the “pioneer” of Thai cinema and even “the man who died for his art,” Pestonji, for many, remains symbolic of all that is wrong with Thai cinema’s ongoing difficult relationship with the Thai state. For filmmakers and cinephiles who lament the lack of official support for filmmaking and the overwhelming presence of foreign films in the country, Pestonji takes pride of place in Thai film history as a rare early Thai auteur untouched by the trappings of commercial filmmaking and bravely fighting against the monopolizing Hollywood system. Indeed, the recent interest in and recognition of Pestonji’s films speaks of the need to reclaim an alternative and artistic thread in Thai film history besides that of the mass produced 16mm productions which, despite their innovation, still bear the stigma of rampant commercialism and Thai lower-class preferences. Pestonji’s films are now favourites at international festivals and provide global cinephiles with a rare perspective on Southeast Asian film history.

Yet given this hugely symbolic status in Thai film history, it is at times difficult to separate the man from the mythology and to identify Pestonji’s role and place as an actual filmmaker. Born in 1908 to Persian immigrants, Pestonji’s talents are evident in any exhibition of his available work, including his skill as a still life photographer, which is often overlooked in favour of his films. Pestonji originally studied engineering in the UK but seems to have retained a strong interest in film and photography, becoming a salesman of film stock upon his return to Thailand. A number of Pestonji’s early short films received accolades at festivals, with the 1937/38 film Tang resulting in a much touted photograph of Pestonji with Alfred Hitchcock, and which sources point to as the first time in history that a Thai film won a foreign award.

Yet while Pestonji remains a strong symbol of resistance against the influx of foreign films, the filmmaker’s actual history and relationship with the Hollywood studios in Thailand is complex. After becoming a cinematographer, Pestonji worked closely with American filmmakers in Thailand in the 1950s, as such foreign support and cooperation would have enabled the director to work with the best facilities and equipment available in the country at the time. However, this entirely logical and understandable integration is often overlooked in favour of the later more nationalistic role he occupies as a struggling artist expressing strong criticism of “predatory” foreign films in Thailand. Indeed, this earlier role is not so well documented and remains shrowded in mystery. Hollywood studios were connected to the importance of cultivating filmmaking as a means of pushing anti-Communist propaganda in East and Southeast Asia. Around a minute of film exists depicting Pestonji working with Hollywood writer Robert North, the vice-president of the newly formed “Far East Film Ltd” (also known as Hanuman Film) of which Pestonji was the president. Sources indicate that North and his wife were in contact with Richard Nixon and regularly expressed anti-Communist concerns, though there is as yet no evidence directly connecting Pestonji to such activities.

North’s sudden and untimely death in 1954 meant that such cooperation quickly ceased, and Pestonji continued his passion alone, though he is mentioned in Hollywood sources at the time. The filmmaker continued making his own films in 35mm film stock throughout the 1950s and 1960s, constantly lamenting Thai authorities’ lack of support for local filmmaking right up until his own untimely death in 1970. It is during this period that Pestonji’s talent as a filmmaker is most evident. The tragic storylines, stylish and compelling mise-en-scène of productions such as Country Hotel (1957), Black Silk (1961) and Sugar Is Not Sweet (1965) are all outstanding and impressive, even if their lack of commercial success makes the actual role of such productions in Thai film development at the time probably negligible. The noir-esque qualities of both film style and storylines display an awareness of international filmmaking that is undoubtedly unique in Thailand at this time. However, working apart from both the international and internal film systems was undoubtedly difficult and frustrating, and although the true state of his health at the time is unknown, it is certainly understandable that Pestonji’s untimely death in 1970 is often attributed to such pressure and dissatisfaction. Perhaps fittingly, his fatal heart attack occurred during a speech given to Thai government officials about the need for more support for Thai filmmaking, so sealing his fate as a tragic artist forevermore.

Mary J. Ainslie

Prachya Pinkaew

As the producer-director of such internationally renowned Muay Thai blockbusters as Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003), The Protector (2005) and Chocolate (2008), Prachya Pinkaew is heavily associated with both the action genre and the Thai film revival since 1997. However, the attachment to this specific genre and films means that Pinkaew’s very weighty overall contribution to Thai film development throughout the earlier period of the 1990s is too often overlooked, along with his very capable and durable presence behind the scenes as a driving force behind Thai filmmakers and the filmmaking industry.

Possibly the most generically versatile out of all the current active directors in Thailand, Prachya Pinkaew offers a rich and varied body of work since his advertising beginnings in the early 1990s. As part of the teen movie industry before the 1997 resurgence of Thai cinema internationally, Pinkaew’s films embodied the sentiments of this time, with Pinkaew’s directorial debut, The Magic Shoes (1992) and his later teen romance thriller Dark Side Romance (1995), both seminal films in the immediate pre-1997 teen movie era.

Indeed, Pinkaew’s skills, honed in his advertising and teen era music video origins, are evident in the short takes, extreme angles and striking soundscapes of his later fast-paced blockbusters such as Ong-Bak and The Protector. Combined with his notorious insistence upon making fight scenes as realistic as possible, it is perhaps not surprising that it is within the Muay Thai genre that the director derives most of his high level commercial success and his international reputation. Pinkaew was also arguably responsible for the revival of the Thai action genre after successfully highlighting the cinematic potential of the impressive performances of future key players such as martial arts star Tony Jaa and martial arts choreographer Panna Rittikrai to Thai film studios. Thanks in part to Pinkaew, material that was previously relegated to low budget VCD action flicks became a defining and highly profitable part of the new Thai film industry. After the international success of Ong-Bak, Pinkaew’s repertoire largely remained within Muay Thai productions, and the director expressed some frustration at being expected to stay within this genre. Working within such studio expectations however, Pinkaew was able to experiment creatively with this genre, directing Chocolate, his only Muay Thai film with a central female character.

Notably, it is in Pinkaew’s position as a producer that his influence is most apparent. As the owner of Baa-Ram-Ewe Production Studio, working in close cooperation with Sahamongkol Film, he has been the driving force behind many commercially successful Thai productions. His expertise stretches across both the commercialized and sensational appeal of Ong-Bak to that of smaller art and horror productions. As a producer, Pinkaew turned to comedy (Sayew, 2003, The Sperm, 2007), horror (Sick Nurses, 2007, Opapatika, 2007) and romance (Midnight My Love, 2005, Love of Siam, 2007), and his frequent partnership with younger more inexperienced directors speaks of Pinkaew’s personal effort and desire to further cultivate the Thai industry, to the extent that he appears often content to stay out of the limelight. Such collaboration ensures that smaller Thai films and lesser known Thai directors are often given international exposure and opportunities that would not otherwise be available, as Pinkaew is particularly adept at mixing local preferences and tastes alongside the global standards required and expected by international festivals and cinephiles. Indeed, Pinkaew remains one of the few Thai directors known for his international collaborations, including Elephant White (2011), starring Djimon Hounsou and Kevin Bacon, and the Korean co-production The Kick (2011).

As a continuing presence within the Thai industry and a strongly influential figure, Pinkaew’s impression upon Thai cinema should not be underestimated. Yet this importance is also underlined by the director’s willingness to grapple with authoritarian constraints. Pinkaew was an open critic of Thai censorship regulations during the 2000s, questioning both the merit and motivations of such a system, particularly around the more draconian code proposed in 2007. Indeed Pinkaew has been involved in some controversial films, as producer for Abat (2015), a Buddhist-themed horror film that was originally pulled days before its release by the Thai Film Board, who then relented after some shots were removed from the final edit.

Mary J. Ainslie

Banjong Pisanthanakun

Representing a new and younger generation of Thai filmmakers, Banjong Pisanthanakun could be called the most successful commercial director Thailand has ever had. Holding a degree in film from Chulalongkorn University, Pisanthanakun made waves with his directorial debut, Shutter (2004), which he co-directed with Parkpoom Wongpoom. Telling the story of a ghost who exacts revenge upon her abusers through a haunted camera, Shutter remains the best known Thai horror film in the world and the first Thai film to be officially remade in Hollywood, as Shutter (2008), and (perhaps not so officially) in Bollywood, as Click (2010). In 2007, Pisanthanakun and Wongpoom returned as co-directors with another successful horror movie, Alone, this time scaring the world with the story of conjoined twins and their fatal separation.

Pisanthanakun’s love of horror made him embark on several joint projects with Thai and international directors. He directed short segments for both Phobia (2008) and Phobia 2 (2009). The first, In the Middle, tells a story of a group of friends who go hiking in the woods only to get haunted by a ghost of their friend who died in a camping accident, while the second, In the End, takes place on a movie set where the crew suspects that one of the actresses may in fact be a ghost. Both of these short films offer their audiences a well-balanced combination of scares and laughter, where the comedy is mostly dialogue driven and enhanced by effective performances from the actors.

While Pisanthanakun’s contributions to the Phobia horror omnibuses may be short, they mark a significant point in his career as they cemented his association with the GTH studio and so forecast his turn away from horror and towards comedy. Released in 2010, Hello Stranger was the first of Pisanthanakun’s romantic comedies, engaging with the ever growing influence of Korean popular culture in Thailand. The film follows an unlikely couple on a trip to Korea where they gradually grow closer only to eventually part ways. In 2016, Pisanthanakun returned with a similar story in One Day, this time taking his protagonists to Japan. Just like before, the love affair depicted in the film comes with a termination date. Now, a lonely IT worker takes a chance to spend one day with the girl he loves, exploiting the fact that she suffers from temporary memory loss and believes him to be her boyfriend. The film was released to launch the GDH 559 production house, following the breakup of ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Contributors
• Introduction
• 1: Key Directors
• 2: Key Early Productions
• 3: New Thai Cinema
• 4: Heritage / Nostalgia
• 5: Nang Phi / Nang Sayong Khwan / Horror
• 6: Muay Thai / Action
• 7: Comedy / Romantic Comedy
• 8: Queer Cinema
• 9: Animation
• 10: Independent Cinema
• Bibliography
• Index
• eCopyright