Tears of the Black Tiger

The husband has taken himself off to Amsterdam to prepare for the Amsterdam Canal Parade tomorrow (of which more tomorrow or Sunday), so I settled in to watch a film from Thailand: Fai Talai Jone (Tears of the Black Tiger).

 

Well, it’s described as a "bonkers Thai Western", and that’s not far from the truth. It’s as camp as a row of tents, shot in sugar candy colours, with a number of the actors (particularly Supakorn Kitsuwon as Mahesuan) camping it up something rotten. Despite all that (or perhaps because of it) it is a very effective melting pot of the fifties Western, the Spaghetti western, Thai film and fifties Hollywood tearjerkers.

 

The hero and heroine (Chartchai Ngamsan and Stella Malucci as the Black Tiger and Rampoey respectively) play it straighter, although still heavily stylised, and they made me believe in the central love story. Arawat Rangvuth as Police Captain Kumjorn comes across well as the spurned husband, so much so that by the end of the film I felt sorry for him. And I just loved Sombat Metanee as the gangleader Fai – was it deliberate that he looked so much like Charles Bronson?

 

Despite the campery, there are times when the film is dripping with blood a la Peckinpah. But overall, I could take that when it was put alongside the scenes with striking visuals such as the summerhouse in the lake of lotus blossom.

 

The director was Wisit Sasanatieng, and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.