Character assassination

Published on September 22, 2007

 Ashootout in a Buddha factory. If all I had to do was write that as a means of critical response to "Bangkok Love Story", I would be happy indeed. I could then move to more enjoyable matters.

Unfortunately, there is a bit more to tell about this film - which will likely gain what stature it can in pop culture as the Thai "Brokeback Mountain", or maybe "that gay hit-man movie".

Written and directed by Poj Arnon, "Bangkok Love Story", or simply "Puen" (friend), is the tale of two young guys who weren't looking for love when they first met. Thrown together in odd circumstances, they are dumbstruck at first by lust; love comes later - a lot later.

Poj has said he had the idea for the story long before "Brokeback Mountain" was a smash-hit, Oscar-winning film. But, since "Brokeback", it's a lot easier to get a movie like "Bangkok Love Story" made and, like it or not, comparisons will be drawn.

"Love Story" is about loner hitman Mhek (Cloud) played by Rattaballung Toesawat, who supports his HIV-positive mother and brother Mhok (Fog) with his assassination jobs.

His hits are simple, walk-by affairs: sneak up, shoot and run. But, for his next assignment, Cloud must kidnap a guy named It (Stone) played by Chaiwat Tongsang, and bring him to his scar-faced bosses, including "Ong-bak" baddie Suchao Pongwilai.

The confrontation with the bosses goes awry, with Cloud declaring he won't kill Stone because Stone's a good guy. Cloud kills only dirtbags. The aforementioned shoot-out in the Buddha factory occurs, with Cloud taking a bullet, Stone picking up Cloud's gun and returning fire. The pair escapes, eventually holing up in Cloud's rooftop hideaway.

Stone digs the bullet out of Cloud's shoulder, and, while wearing nothing but his undershorts, proceeds to give Cloud a sponge bath. The two hide out, usually wearing nothing but their boxers. They sneakily stare at one another and finally get it over with in the rain, on the rooftop, as the Skytrain whizzes by.

It's unfortunate that "Love Story" has been sold similarly to "Brokeback Mountain" - as a gay romance. Knowing that walking in, there's no surprise. It's not a matter of will the guys get together, but when and how, and who will be Heath Ledger and who will be Jake Gyllenhaal. Rattaballung and Chaiwat, respectively, more or less - though Chaiwat takes on some of the Ledger character's attributes later.

The movie really has no place else to go after that first bit of soft core, though it does try for a twist.

With the sexual tension gone, Cloud wants nothing more to do with Stone and much of the rest of the picture is spent with Stone wallowing in tortured pain.

Of course there is the issue of Cloud's fiancée, Sai, or Sand, who wonders why her husband-to-be isn't the same since his strange disappearance.

One day Stone turns up with a rag doll he found in Cloud's room and spends his nights pathetically hugging it, much as a denim jacket was pathetically hugged in "Brokeback". At that moment, Sand knows Stone is lost to her.

Subplots? Well, it wouldn't be a film without one. In "Bangkok Love Story", one involves Cloud's brother, Fog (Weeradit Srimalai), who is HIV positive and persecuted for it. He gets revenge by working as a hustler. Their stepfather, who infected the mother and Fog with HIV, sexually abused both boys. How Fog fits into the plot is unclear other than to make a well-intentioned social statement.

Chemistry-wise, the pairing of Cloud and Stone never really gels, beyond a couple of make-out scenes in the rain. By the time they really get together emotionally, it's too little, too late.

Where the storytelling falls apart, things definitely come together in the style department. With cinematography and editing by Tiwa Maythaisong, Bangkok has never looked so beautiful on film, with super-saturated colours, sped-up motion and jumpy cuts. The love scenes are in the rain (did I mention that?), which must be symbolic of something.

Some colourful Siamese fighting fish figure, too, and I had to wonder whether the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Siamese Fighting Fish had a say in the proceedings.

At one point, the love-tortured, whitey-tighty-clad Stone puts a pistol to his head and pulls the trigger on an empty chamber, clicking it over and over. Running on empty. That was one bit of symbolism that seemed appropriate for a film about love that left me feeling a bit hollow.

Wise Kwai

 The Nation