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Love's Comedy of Errors

Komkrit Treevimol, the most prolific of the six directors behind the 2003 blockbuster “Fan Chan” (“My Girl”), returns to the big screen today with his third solo project, a romantic comedy that’s guaranteed to have audiences chuckling.
While “Sailab Jab Baanlek” (“The Bedside Detective”) is a project that Komkrit inherited from his production house GTH after it had been shelved for a couple of years, viewers will be quick to recognise the young director’s signature in the quirky storyline.
“I can’t do every assignment that’s handed to me. It depends whether I can find something interesting in the plot to work with,” he says.
With “Sailab”, he’s succeeded – in spades. Based on the novel “Sakod Roi Choo”, the story is about a private eye hired by two clients to follow their lover. Komkrit spices up the plot by having his detective fall in love with the target he’s assigned to bring down.
It’s not the first time Komkrit has modified the story to fit his filmmaking. For his solo debut, “Puan Sanit” (“Dear Dakanda”), he transformed a travel diary into a heartfelt romantic comedy.
Even in “NooHin the Movie”, which is based on a popular comic featuring the clumsy behaviour of a rural housemaid, he shifted the focus to the relationship between Noo Hin and her sexy boss.
“I’ve always been fascinated by how people interact so I guess I was subconsciously adapting the theme from the moment I got my hands on the script,” says the 34yearold director.
Komkrit started work on the film in January after a delay of almost three years. Veteran director Bhandit Ritthakol bought the copyright to the novel with the intention of having the film made at Five Star Productions. GTH was interested and offered to coproduce but the project was left in limbo when Bhandit fell ill. The script changed hands once more before GTH producer Jira Malikool assigned the project to Komkrit.
“Every film, even an original project like ‘Puan Sanit’, is considered carefully by GTH before approval is given,” says Komkrit.
“So by the time it comes to the director, all we can do is tailor it to fit our individual style.”
Komkrit has given the story a younger, more contemporary feel by replacing the minor wife with a pretty young girl working as a presenter. He points out that in today’s world it’s acceptable for young people to have more than one boyfriend and girlfriend (or “gigs”), so audiences won’t be shocked by the protagonist being involved with two guys.
The main protagonist is Jog (Sunny Suwanmethanon), a young, rookie detective who spends most of his time with his friend Jack (Chalermphol Thikampornteerwong), karaoke bar owner Ruthai (Panisara Phimpru) and a clever dog named James Bon (real name “Richard”, who cinemagoers might recognise as the loveable Piak from “Ma Mah See Kha Krub”).
Jog finds himself in hot water when he’s hired by Sawapha (Jaruphas Patamasiri) to follow her husband, police captain Wasin (Pakasit Bosuwan), who has the hots for Nampan (Phatrasaya Krueasuwansiri). The gorgeous young Nampan, however, is also seeing wealthy Chinese car dealer Sia Adisorn.
When Jog finds out that Sia’s wife, Khunying Suwimon (Daraneenuch Photipiti), has hired hottempered detective Suthin (Nimit Laksameephong) to blackmail Nampan, he’s outraged and decides to help her.
As in “Puan Sanit”, the romance between the protagonists blossoms slowly and it’s the comedy from the supporting cast that provides much of the entertainment.
Panisara, who also starred in “Puan Sanit”, and Chalermphol (who played Jack in “Fan Chan”) put in superb performances and steal the show whenever they appear on screen.
“Their parts are much bigger than they’ve had in previous films. But I recommend you also watch Sunny, as the Jog character is actually quite similar to his real personality so he plays the part very naturally, which is fun to see,” laughs the director.
Komkrit also chatted with author Mana Soomthong, a reallife detective, although he didn’t take part in any investigations as it risked exposing Mana’s true identity.
He says that while he wasn’t surprised to learn that most of the detective’s clients were women, he was amazed at the ladies’ typical reaction to the results of investigations.
“If the detective finds out that a husband is seeing another woman, the wife tends to forgive him and the couple stays together. If the client’s a man, though, and the wife is caught seeing someone else, they break up immediately.”
Komkrit keeps in touch with his five “Fan Chan” codirectors, all of whom are still associated with GTH. Songyos Sukmakanan also had a hit with the comingofage drama “Dek Hor” (“Dorm”) and Nithiwat Tharathorn made it big with the subtle teen movie “Seasons Change”. Adisorn Trisirikasem hit problems after the Laos authorities kicked up a fuss about footballcomedy “Mak Tae” (“Lucky Loser”) and Witthaya Thongyooyong lost out with “Kao Kao” (“The Possible”). Vijja Kojew hasn’t made another movie, preferring to stick with his first love, editing.
“You can’t blame them for the flops. We are all assigned projects, which is rather like being stuck with an unwanted dog. You may not love it but you’ll take care of it and eventually grow fond of it. But the bottom line is you have to be a dog lover otherwise there’s no way you can nurture it.
“I think once they get to do their own stories, their individual styles will be evident and they’ll have successful films.”
Komkrit laughs off suggestions that GTH has a policy to produce only feelgood films, although he admits most of its movies come out that way.
He explains that it mirrors the company executives’ personalities. “They are optimists,” he says. “I guess that influences their approach.”
“Besides we’re more commercial and we care about making good films. We don’t make films that everyone hates. We might be one step ahead of the audience but we never leave them behind. If we did that, the industry wouldn't survive.”

Parinyaporn Pajee
The Nation