Self-study and classroom lessons based on newspaper feature stories

This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations.

February 18, 2003

In the reviewer’s opinion ...

INTRODUCTION

Last week here in feature focus we used a personality profile of Phanom Yeeram, the star of the movie Ong-Bak, as the basis for the lesson. This week the article for you to read is a review of the movie written by the Post’s regular reviewer, K. Rudeen. The purpose of a review is to give readers the one person’s opinion of the movie and to tell something about the movie so you can decide if you want to see it or not.

What, then, do you think you will find when you read a movie review? Here is a list of possible topics often included by reviewers. Read the list now. Then after you have read, check the ones that Rudeen included in this review.

….. information about the actors in the movie and the characters they play

….. other movies that the stars have been in

….. comparison with other movies of the same type

….. some quotes from one or more of the stars of the movie

….. the writer’s opinion about the performances of the actors

….. a brief summary of the plot (the events) of the movie

….. comments by the stars about the movie

….. the director and what movies he or she has made in the past

….. a recommendation by the reviewer to see or not to see the movie

….. the strong and weak points of the movie in the reviewer’s opinion

….. information about how the movie was made and financed

….. where and when the movie is playing (theatres where you can see it)

If you read reviews often you will discover that most reviewers include many of the same ideas.
Getting the main idea
Another thing you can expect from most review – certainly from those written by K. Rudeen – is a very clear main idea suggested in the title, the sub-title (in large print) and the opening paragraph. Look at the words in those parts of this week’s review: fury, lethal (meaning deadly), painful, violence, vulgarity (rude behaviour) and satanic. Those words certainly suggest that this is not an easy movie to watch, especially if violence and vulgarity upset you.

However, read the first paragraph carefully. What does Rudeen say about the violence and vulgarity — the satanic duo)? Does he think the movie succeeds as entertainment, as a potential money-maker? Underline two phrases that give you the answers.
Getting the tough stuff
Rudee is a rather sophisticated writer; his reviews are not easy to read. To help you understand the tough passages the following sentences are summaries, one for each paragraph beginning with paragraph two. Read the sentences first, then as you read the review, write the letter of the summary beside the matching paragraph. You’ll be happy to find that not all the paragraphs are tough; some are really fun.

The movie may make people favour non-violence because seeing the damage one human body can do to another is so difficult to watch.

Phanom Yeerum is so naturally well-built and so well trained that he could become a new Asian star.

Phanom performs seemingly impossible acts without any tricks or help.

The spiritual journey to recover the stolen Buddha image becomes the good reason for the hero to be violent.

Phanom’s character starts out promising to be non-violent but seems to enjoy fighting as the story develops.

Prachya Pinkaew has made several successful Thai movies using a Hollywood style.

Because Phanom is better at action than acting, the director uses him in a simple storyline that takes the character from his upcountry home to Bangkok in search of the stolen Buddha image, where he meets a fellow villager.

Mum Jokmok uses a traditional style of Thai comedians that makes rudeness funny.

Ong-Bak will probably be a hit, but it would be good if the director uses more intelligence and less violence in future movies.

Unlike Jackie Chan movies, there is no pretending or humour in this movie, which makes it exciting, but maybe too violent.

If you read last week’s feature focus based on a profile of Phanom Yeerum, you will find these movie words repeated: flick, B-movie, double, and stunt which mean film, not top quality, substitute and physical trick, respectively.

OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST

Fist of fury

Muay Thai's lethal beauty depicted in painfully realistic looking fight scenes

K. Rudeen
Two V words describe the essence of a new Thai flick Ong-Bak: Violence and Vulgarity. And it's interesting to note how this satanic duo can sometimes be entertaining. This is a fiercely commercial movie, a carefully-crafted package of mindless fun, a high-budget B-movie that cleverly fits Thai flavours into the Hollywood mould.

It's interesting to note, too, how a movie can promote non-violence by showing a lot of violence. In his attempt to demonstrate the authentic art of muay thai, director Prachya Pinkaew treats us to scenes of near-murderous brutality that remind us how the tyranny of the human body — fists, elbows, knees, feet _ can inflict such a devastating force on another human body (and on the audiences, since Ong-Bak is too painful to watch sometimes).

To compound the confusion over the heavy-handed visceral impact and the need to include a "moral" message, the film straightfacedly finds an excuse for its homicidal intensity in Buddhist spiritualism: Our hero sets off from his drought-cursed village in Isan to retrieve a Buddha image stolen by Bangkok mafiaso, and to regain that emblem of the villagers' faith, of Lord Buddha's goodness perhaps, he has to spray blood by finishing off an army of thugs. To uphold virtue one needs vice. How that sends ripples to international politics! To make peace, a certain president claimed, one must go for war.

What keeps us amazed throughout Ong-Bak, however, is the presence of Phanom Yeerum, who plays the martial arts hero. With his look of broad-jawed innocence and formidable muscles, Phanom could be a new sensation of Asian action movies. This guy is the real thing. His god-blessed physicality has been honed by the training in Chinese martial arts and muay thai, and in his first starring role (Phanom was a stunt double) he performs a series of jaw-dropping stuff, a combination of stunning athleticism and sheer gymnastic strength.

How can you knee your opponent mid-air? Or elbow him on the skull with such force that your own arms would break? Or fly out to kick him with both your feet literally on fire? Or punch and knee him simultaneously as he's standing on a table higher than you? The film promotion states that Phanom doesn't rely on any stunt tricks, and that adds a special dimension to this man's exceptional skills.

Because the director knows that Phanom is not a dramatic actor, he wisely uses him only as a kinetic drive; the whole film exists only to let Phanom kick a lot of asses. His character, Ting, begins as a country bumpkin who arrives in Bangkok to look for Ong-Bak, a Buddha image worshipped by his home village. In the capital he hooks up with Hum Lae, a fellow villager who wants to shed his rural past and renames himself ostensibly as George (played with usual panache by comedian Petch-tai Wongkamlao, or Mum Jokmok).

It's this Mum Jokmok who supplies the other V, the vulgarity so ingeniously practised by Thai comedians. Their art, the art of guilty pleasure, is to make rudeness funny, to say offensive expletives and make even his victim laugh. And Mum is among the best there is. Everything he says is just damn funny, not to mention his jing jok-faced, ultimately kuan teen line-reading.

True to the spirit of many kung-fu movies, Phanom first plays a pacifist who walks away whenever he's challenged to a fight. But when he's forced to unleash his might, alas, he becomes the lord of the ring. And as his obsession with finding the Buddha image grows, the film gets more and more violent, and the Phanom character seems to have forgotten his early vow of non-violence and enjoys cracking open the skulls of his enemies with those lethal elbows.

These ultra-realistic fight scenes lack the comedic edge of Jackie Chan's movies, which helps tone down the mean-spiritedness of the act. Pitched against an opponent, Phanom is too good a fighter to pretend that he's only play-acting, and the result is rough, raw and alarming. This non-simulation effect makes Ong-Bak a really exciting movie, but is it necessary to go this far?

Director Prachya Pinkaew has a knack for translating Hollywood formula into local context; he's the producer of the vampire flick Pop Wheed Sayong and the sing-along Mon Pleng Look Thoong FM. In Ong-Bak, Prachya composes several technically-stunning scenes, like the tuk-tuk chase sequence, the tavern mayhem that includes the smashing of all breakable objects, and the climax in a grandiose set, Bond-movie style.

Ong-Bak has the potential to be a big hit, and that will strengthen Prachya's status as a new maverick of Thai commercial cinema. He's shown off plenty of fists here, and I wish he'd show off more of his wits next time.

SOME VOCABULARY HELP

essence
the most important quality

brutality
violence; cruelty

tyranny
unfair or cruel use of power or authority

inflict
to cause suffering or pain

devastating
causing a lot of damage

compound
to make complicated

visceral
resulting from strong feelings rather than careful thought

moral
concerning what is right and wrong

straightfacedly
directly; without any pretending

homicidal
likely to kill another

formidable
able to cause fear because of power

hone
to develop and improve a skill

kinetic
related to movement

panache
ability to do things in a way that other people find attractive

ingeniously
in a very clever manner

kuan teen
sarcastic and funny

pacifist
one who refuses to fight

obsession
complete concentration on one thing

tone down
to lessen the effect of

non-simulation
real; not faked

knack
special skill

mayhem
confusion caused by violence

grandiose
overly large and complicated

maverick
a person who thinks and behaves differently than others

•This lesson was prepared by Maureen Paetkau, a professional teacher of English as a second and foreign language and Assistant Manager and Webmaster for Learning Post at the Bangkok Post.

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