This is one of those films that I missed when it came out, so was rather pleased to have seen it recently. It stars Krissada Sukosol Clapp as Puchit, a salesman who has had a bad three months. His car is repossessed, one of his co-workers nicks one of his clients and his mum keeps on borrowing money, thinking he is a high flyer - oh and his successful girl friend has dumped him too. Then his boss fires him. Just when he thinks it is all hopeless, he gets a call on his mobile. He is offered 10,000 baht to swat the fly that is annoying him.
On completion of that `task' he checks and sure enough the money has gone into his account. They then explain task two, and the rules. There will be thirteen different tasks, each time the amount he earns will increase, until he gets to the final thirteenth one. On completion of that he will get 100million baht. The rules are he has to complete all of the tasks, follow their every instruction and on no accounts is he to allow anyone to find out about the `game' - any breach and it is game over.
As you have guessed the tasks become increasingly nasty and abhorrent. A couple of things to point out, his mobile has a ring tone like a police siren, which acts to ramp up the tension every time it rings; he is also a `half breed' as his abusive father is an American. This means he has often suffered racial abuse and that comes into play too. Parts of this film are truly sickening, but there are some rare comic lighter moments, and you do need them. The acting is great, the music is excellent and the story will have you gripped. There are a couple of plot holes that annoyed me slightly, but to say what they are would be a plot spoiler. There are also one or two too many coincidences, but that aside this is a really great film.
The rights have been bought in America by The Weinstein Company, an offshoot of Miramax, so a remake is planned. As ever I think you should see the original first, there are some cultural clashes that might mean you do not quite get why one `task' is worse than another, but quite frankly as they progress past number 5, they are all pretty bad. If you are a world cinema fan this is one you should definitely see, if you are on the squeamish side though, might be best to avoid, I thoroughly enjoyed it - well most of it anyway.