In the sole Thai film showing at Toronto International Film Festival this week, a soap opera star stuck in a loveless marriage tangles with an eccentric hitman and a powerful cult. Samui Song is the latest feature film by Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang, who's fashioned a crime thriller that also plays as a critique of many things: patriarchal oppression, faux-Buddhism, public healthcare and the act of cinema-making itself.
The Toronto screening came on the heels of the film's world premiere last week in the sidebar section of Venice International Film Festival, making Samui Song a high-profile Thai film of the year as it enjoys international exposure before its release in Thailand early next year.
Fans have been anticipating the arrival of the film; this is Pen-ek's first fiction film in six years, after his Headshot in 2011, and three years after he diverted into political documentary filmmaking with Prachathipa'Thai (Paradoxocrazy), which chronicled the roughhouse of Thai politics of the past 80 years. Samui Song (it takes place only partly on an island, which may or may not be Koh Samui) sees the director return to his familiar trove of crime story, messy relationships, hitman's ordeals, class satire and a stylistic mix of serious genre exercise and black comedy.
At heart, however, this is also a story of a woman and her place in a man's world. Chermal "Ploy" Boonyasak plays Vi, a soap actress married to a millionaire Frenchman (played by French photographer Stephane Sednaoui) who's a committed disciple of Bhuddhakaya, a religious cult led by a man called "The Holy One" (Vithaya Pansringam). Vi has to endure the suffering of her loveless life and the increasing influence of the Holy One over her family, so when she meets a hitman called Guy (David Asavanont), the woman begins to see a path towards her liberation.
"The protagonist in the film is an actress, because the way I see it, Thai women are all actresses," said Pen-ek. "To her boyfriend, she has to play one role. When the boyfriend becomes a husband, she has to play another role. To her parents, yet she has another role to fulfil. At the office, to her boss and colleagues, she has another role. A woman has to go through so many roles in her life."
Chermal, who plays Vi, is a well-known TV actress in real life (also a star of Pen-ek's 2003 film Ruang Rak Noi Nid Mahasan, or Last Life In The Universe), and the mirror-house aspect of the casting adds another layer to the character -- this, however, may be lost on non-Thai viewers unfamiliar with Chermal's fame. In Samui Song, her performance is central to the film's portrait of despair and defiance, while David's Guy -- a suave assassin whose main worry in life is his sick mother -- is all sinister hum underneath a slick surface, another variation of Pen-ek's series of oddball hitmen since his Fun Bar Karaoke in 1997 and Ruang Talok 69 (6ixtynin9) in 1999.
It's likely that another talking point when the film opens in Thailand will be the portrayal of the religious cult with a charismatic leader that thrives on generous donations from its upper-class devotees. Pen-ek seems to model this sect from an assortment of Thai guru-centric monasteries -- and not, as some may suspect, primarily on Wat Dhammakaya. Playing the Holy One, the faux-abbot wrapped in grey robe and walking around with bodyguards, is Pansrigram, who has been having a roll playing Buddha-like villains (he's been getting good reviews from the international press).
"I went to a temple near my house once and from the parking lot to the temple, there were all these tents set up to sell amulets, holy water and other faith-based products," said the director. "The cult in the film prospers on donation from its members -- for me, it's all about commercialisation of Buddhism, how many temples and monasteries have become some sort of corporation that doesn't have to pay tax."
But in all, Pen-ek said, Samui Song is his ode to filmmaking. "I haven't released a feature film in six years. So in this one, I've thrown a mix of everything [I've wanted to do]."
Samui Song opens in Thailand early 2018.
The Toronto International Film Festival is known as a major platform for award-season American movies. But this year the festival also screens some of the new films from Southeast Asian that are worth keeping an eye on.
Dark Is The Night (Madilim Ang Gabi) (The Philippines)
Adolfor Alix Jr's new film can't be more topical: Dark Is The Night is about the violent crackdown of drug pushers under Filipino President Duterte's decree — the president's voice warning dealers and pushers about a fatal punishment for their crimes is heard clearly from the radio early in the film. Told from the perspective of two pushers — a middle-aged couple and lowly members of a vast ring — the film highlights the plight of small fish caught in the bloodied web of the drug trade and police corruption. It's interesting to see if the film will run into any trouble once it goes on release in the Philippines.
Shuttle Life (Fen Bei Ren Sheng) (Malaysia)
Tang Seng Kiat's film stays true to the experience of its characters — working-class Malaysians struggling to for a better life, or just life. Young man Qiang looks after his mentally unstable mother (played by legendary Hong Kong star Sylvia Chang) and his little sister. When a speeding car hits his sister and kills her, Qiang is forced to run around trying to find documents, real or fake, in order to retrieve the body from the hospital morgue, an increasingly desperate quest that exposes the casual cruelty of a big city. Tang is certainly a new filmmaker to watch from our southern neighbour.
The Seen And Unseen (Indonesia)
Kamila Andini creates a magical world of reality and dream, longing and dream, sickness and hallucination. Tantra and Tantri are boy-girl twins in rural Bali. When Tantra is ill and lies comatose in a hospital bed, Tantri's deep emotional bond with her brother leads to episodes of surreal dreams in which a Full Moon, strange birds and characters from local folk stories come together for a dance of hope. A film of honest beauty and evocative visual, The Seen And Unseen presents a fresh new voice in Indonesian cinema.
