Last night I went to see a new Thai feature release.
It was Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Headshot (Fon Tok Huen Fa), a very, very dark crime noir film about a hitman who gets shot in the head while at work.
When he wakes from three month long coma, he sees everything upside down.
The main character, Tul, is an ex cop turned bad because he refused to accept bribes in connection of crime investigation involving a prominent politician. Now Tul wants to quit his criminal profession but he has sunk too deep into the organisation who wants to kill crooked politicians untouched by the law.
The film is beautifully shot and the main character Tul, played by Nopachai Jayanama, is a tough, yet sensitive character full of expression.
This action thriller moves fast in so many directions I sometimes found it hard to follow, weather Tul already was injured with the upside down vision or not. The plot took surprising turns and was too unbelievable at times. For example, I found it hard to believe that the daughter of Tul’s first victim actually fell in love with her father’s assassin.
The main underlying element, the upside down vision, is down played and fails to gain all that this visually stunning element could have given to the film. Now the whole impairment stays in the background and is only talked about at the end of the film. And even then, it produces no more than banalities like: “Seeing everything upside down makes the world a clearer place for me.”
Headshot has gained wide international interest with releases in the USA and participation in film festivals in Japan and South Africa.
Finally, I also was intrigued by the way Thai cinemas pay tribute to the King. Before the feature starts, everyone in the audience stands up to watch a short archive collage about the King among his people.
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