Last Life in the Universe (2003)

เรื่องรัก น้อยนิด มหาศาล Last Life in the Universe (2003) directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Ruang Talok 69 (6ixtynin9, เรื่องตลก 69 - 1999) by Pen-ek Ratanaruang

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, an acclaimed New Wave Thai filmmaker, is widely known in the West for his slow-paced arthouse efforts Last Life in the Universe (เรื่องรัก น้อยนิด มหาศาล, 2003) and Invisible Waves (คำพิพาก��าของมหาสมุทร, 2006), as well as creative collaboration with cinematographer Christopher Doyle who was in charge of Wong Kar-Wai’s films’ camera. His joint work with the Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano is also worth credit since Asano stars in both Ratanaruang/Doyle films. He appears to be a perfect type to play a bizarre foreigner in Thailand who gets along with the strangest people on Earth, yet is not apt to neither getting rid of his Japanese habits getting him in troubles nor dealing with his own distorted fantasies.

A crime/comedy low-budget film Ruang Talok 69 was a director’s first real breakthrough that came 4 years prior to work with Doyle. The plot with several amusing twists concerns a recently fired Bangkok office employee Tum (portrayed by a lakorn actress Lalita Panyopas) who finds a box stuffed with 500 baht banknotes under her door. While she keeps thinking what she should do with the money, she hears someone knocking the door. Unable to discover that the gangsters mistook her room 6 for 9 as the number on her door hung upside down and left the box near the wrong apartment, she spontaneously kills both of them in self-defence. Yet this is just the beginning of all troubles she would go through this day.

Unlike Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves which are very enigmatic, oblique and slow, in order to show how unimportant plot development for Pen-Ek Ratanaruang is, Ruang Talok 69 tends to be pretty straightforward and goal-oriented feature. There is quite a bit of moving action in it, lots of killings, and it could be certainly labelled as a “movie”, not a “film”. Due to an apparent lack of funds, most of the action takes place in a very same room with a few props and several actors who are not really well-known. The outdoor shots give a nice glimpse into Bangkok of the late 1990-s. This view is something we all had almost forgotten as the city has been developing fast in the last 20 years. Above all, Ruang Talok 69 is a comedy and it centres lots of simple jokes mostly concerning violence and themes such as traditional Thai revenge for male adultery when the man’s penis is being chopped off to be sent to the mixer subsequently. Beware!

What is fascinating about Ruang Talok 69 is an abundance of its visual similarities with the finest Ratanaruang’s features Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves. One may enjoy seeing where exactly the director has started and what he would have developed later. The themes are also quite similar, in terms of those crimes and dead bodies motives that are present in all three films. Ruang Talok 69 is not an outstanding film. However, it is quite easy and fun to watch and it might be certainly great for all those who appreciate the work of New Wave Thai filmmakers such as Wisit Sasanatieng, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Pen-ek Ratanaruang himself.

รีวิวหนังไทย

ไม่มีสมุยสำหรับเธอ หรือ Samui Song ภาพยนตร์ แนวสยองขวัญจากฝีมือผู้กำกับมากประสบการณ์อย่าง “เป็นเอก รัตนเรือง” ที่ได้สร้างผลงานมากมายในวงการภาพยนต์อย่าง ฝัน บ้า คาราโอเกะ, เรื่องตลก 69, มนต์รักทรานซิสเตอร์, เรื่องรัก น้อยนิด มหาศาล, คำพิพากษาของมหาสมุทร, พลอย, นางไม้ และฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า  ซึ่งเจ้าตัวได้การันตีผลงานหนังเรื่องใหม่นี้ว่าสนุกและทรงคุณภาพ แน่นอน

Last Life in the Universe (เรื่องรัก น้อยนิด มหาศาล, Ruang rak noi nid mahasan, 2003) by Pen-ek Ratanaruang

Along with Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Thai independent director Pen-ek Ratanaruang remains the most world acclaimed filmmakers from Thailand. His films might not break the box offices in his native country, but they became very famous in the West. Last Life in the Universe, a joint work of Ratanaruang and genius Australian-Hong Kong cinematographer Christopher Doyle is one of the most well-known Thai art-house films, remarkable for the enigmatic and sublime style.

 The plot revolves around bizarre relationships of Japanese protagonist Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) living in Bangkok and Thai call-girl Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak) whose house is in the city’s outskirts. They met at the moment both of them witness the death of Noi’s sister Nid (Laila Boonyasak) who met a road accident. Kenji bears a tidy lifestyle and appears to be a bit freaky with his habit for tidiness, reads many books and fantasizes about suicide for the reasons never explained particularly. We also learn that Kenji, as well as his brother used to be linked with Yakuza in his past he is trying to escape. Noi in opposition to him is messy and quite nonchalant, though she is also not happy about her life and tries to learn Japanese in hopes of moving to Osaka. The film is trilingual, as protagonists swap from Thai and Japanese to English when needed. They operate with a very basic vocabulary. The lack of words in the dialogues of Kenji and Nid illustrate the emotional distance in their relationships.

 The non-linear plot doesn’t lead you anywhere but shows the poignancy of both Kenji and Noi. Encounter with Noi helps Kenji to replace his suicidal thoughts with new reasons to live, though he would never overcome his freaky tidiness. In the ending, we even see this funny scene of him flushing the toilet and revealing his presence in the apartment where Yakuza hitmen came to chase him. Many scenes of the film are shady, but they don’t require a certain explanation. At some point, it is Noi lying on the knees of Kenji, then we see her is replaced with Nid. One can interpret it the way he or she feels like to: the boundless symbolism of Last Life in the Universe assumes the viewers can imagine everything by themselves.

 The visual signature of Christopher Doyle is something which is hard to fully comprehend in its striking and evocative power. He is the only one capable of cutting such sophisticated shots over and over. His work in this film would later entail something similar in The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch. Doyle seems to be really keen on taking part in projects with non-plot structure concentrated on the mood. I cannot remember any film with Doyle’s cinematography not striking with the visual brilliance, and he does a great job once again in Last Life in the Universe.

 One of the best features of this movie is the usage of this soothing and enchanting music. This is a mesmerizing and enchanting addition to the ambiguous story of heroes’ poignancy and hopes. The last music theme plays on the background silently in the ending for almost half an hour, and it is tingling in your ears and keeps getting you when the film is over. This is probably very essence of Last Life of the Universe that music encapsulates – the beguiling allure of sublime themes, visual sophistication produced by Christopher Doyle and oblique meaning of the separate story-lines such as the death of Nid or lizard story.

 To sum, Last Life in the Universe is a touching, mesmerizing and extremely beautiful tale and the great example of South-East Asian art-house cinema. In the Western World, we know quite little about the Thai cinematography, and the masterpiece of Pen-ek Ratanaruang is a great start.

Last Life in the Universe

Last Life in the Universe