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Product Description
In Bangkok, a corpulent European man and a young, pregnant Thai woman live together in near silence. His large body stands in contrast to her tiny frame. He gives her presents she has a growing collection of stuffed animals and takes Viagra pills. She is looking for security, and he is the best way for her to stay out of Soi Cowboy, the red-light district where they met. She likes him, but sleeping with him is a duty. Meanwhile, in the countryside, a teenage mafia enforcer is employed to deliver his older brother s head...
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: ***ATTENTION***Audio is a mix of English, Lao & Thai***Subtitles - English*** Danish expatriate Tobias Christensen (Nicolas Bro) is a struggling filmmaker who shares an apartment with his girlfriend (Pimwalee Thampanyasan), who is pregnant with their first child. Tobias met his girl after he moved to Bangkok; she was working as a prostitute in the city's Soi Cowboy district, which is crowded with brothels, bars and sex clubs, and he rescued her from life on the street. However, while she seems grateful and affectionate towards Tobias, she isn't especially attracted to him and she's concerned about the lack of security in his line of work. The woman is still in contact with some of her friends from her days working in Soi Cowboy, and she learns that things have taken a turn for the worse for her pal Cha, who is an errand boy for a Thai mob boss. Cha's brother, who also works on the fringes of the underworld, has mysteriously disappeared, and he sets out on a journey to find her, while the semi-happy couple pays a visit to Ayutthaya to see the sights. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Stockholm Film Festival, ...Soi Cowboy
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A rare and fascinating film. Apparently made with a tiny budget, the film-making has a precision and assured quality lacking in a far bigger productions and, despite nods to some of the great auteurs, the film has a fresh, unique quality you cetainly wouldn't expect from a young British director in these dark, conformist times.
This is film is about a dysfunctional relationship between an overweight Danish man and a small Thai woman. There are moments of affection, but ultimately we are given a comletely unromantic insight into a world where two people are trapped together out of insecurity, whether emotional or economic. Another narrative thread, which directly follows this one, depicts the underbelly of life in Thailand - rural poverty, gangsters in Bangkok, with sex for sale for violence never far away. Despite the pacier, generic feel of this section, this part clearly provides a comment on the reality of the power relations which lie behind the first tale. For me, this section really gives the film a political depth and originality. It's also very exciting, showing a world I've seen, but never before depicted with such veracity - the Thai peasants and ciminals look like the real thing shot on genuine locations.
Interestingly, the film uses two entirely different styles for the different narrative stories, making them feel almost like two different films which have been sandwiched together: a classical arthouse film a la Bresson, combined with a saturated, grainy exploitation genre film from the 1970s shot in hnadheld, verite style.
A film for those who enjoy films like Lost Highway, the early films of Jim Jarmusch or anything by Antonioni.
This is film is about a dysfunctional relationship between an overweight Danish man and a small Thai woman. There are moments of affection, but ultimately we are given a comletely unromantic insight into a world where two people are trapped together out of insecurity, whether emotional or economic. Another narrative thread, which directly follows this one, depicts the underbelly of life in Thailand - rural poverty, gangsters in Bangkok, with sex for sale for violence never far away. Despite the pacier, generic feel of this section, this part clearly provides a comment on the reality of the power relations which lie behind the first tale. For me, this section really gives the film a political depth and originality. It's also very exciting, showing a world I've seen, but never before depicted with such veracity - the Thai peasants and ciminals look like the real thing shot on genuine locations.
Interestingly, the film uses two entirely different styles for the different narrative stories, making them feel almost like two different films which have been sandwiched together: a classical arthouse film a la Bresson, combined with a saturated, grainy exploitation genre film from the 1970s shot in hnadheld, verite style.
A film for those who enjoy films like Lost Highway, the early films of Jim Jarmusch or anything by Antonioni.
2 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I find it difficult to believe that the film got two five star reviews.
Any film that comes with a little booklet to explain what the director was doing on a scene by scene basis is never going to make for easy watching. If the director cannot convey their meaning on screen then what is the point of it being a film?
Make no mistake, even by provisional wing arthouse films this film is really dull (you spend a couple of minutes watching an old woman with a zimmer frame get out of an elevator).
The worst part for me though wasn't the dullness but it was an important conversation between the main characters girlfriend and a waitress for which I am sure that it was believed to be very arty not to provide a translation. However, this conversation was an important part of getting to know the motivation of one of the main characters (I speak Thai, I know what was being said).
Throughout the film I felt completely detached from the characters and the country. Thailand and Isaan in particular is far better depicted in the film Butterfly Man Butterfly Man [DVD] [2002]which I cannot recommend highly enough.
Any film that comes with a little booklet to explain what the director was doing on a scene by scene basis is never going to make for easy watching. If the director cannot convey their meaning on screen then what is the point of it being a film?
Make no mistake, even by provisional wing arthouse films this film is really dull (you spend a couple of minutes watching an old woman with a zimmer frame get out of an elevator).
The worst part for me though wasn't the dullness but it was an important conversation between the main characters girlfriend and a waitress for which I am sure that it was believed to be very arty not to provide a translation. However, this conversation was an important part of getting to know the motivation of one of the main characters (I speak Thai, I know what was being said).
Throughout the film I felt completely detached from the characters and the country. Thailand and Isaan in particular is far better depicted in the film Butterfly Man Butterfly Man [DVD] [2002]which I cannot recommend highly enough.
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