If a 6 turned out to be 9

Four years before the mesmerizing Last Life in The Universe (Filmbrain's pick for best film of 2004), Thailand's Pen-Ek Ratanaruang made the immensely entertaining comedy-thriller, 6ixtynin9, his second feature film. Starring the doe-eyed (and, according to IMDB, makeup-less) Lalita Panyopas, the film is a comedy of errors that blends Tarantino/Ritchie-esque humor with the serenity found in Last Life. Ratanaruang begins with a hackneyed plot that is pure situation comedy -- recently unemployed and broke Tum (Panyopas) wakes one morning to find a box of money on her doorstep, mistakenly left there thanks to a loose nail that turns apartment 6 into 9. Once the gangsters realize their gaffe (for who else would leave money on a doorstep), they naturally want the money back, and the effort to retrieve it triggers a series of events that finds the normally quiet and reserved Tum caught up in a sea of misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and an ever-increasing body count. Though the setup is the stuff that indie-films are made of, Ratanaruang manages to fashion something entirely his own, thanks to a great screenplay, a wonderful variety of oddball characters, and, most importantly, the understated performance by Panyopas. From the film's opening moment (which finds Tum being let go from her job with a finance company) there's a certain sense of incredulity to the events shown, and the line between what is actually happening versus imagined is often blurred. (Ratanaruang will use this technique to an even greater extent in Last Life, particularly around the film's conclusion.) Tum wanders through most of the film as though questioning the reality of everything unfolding around her, and her facial reactions reveal more about her than the few lines of dialog she utters throughout the film. Panyopas has an incredibly expressive face, which Ratanaruang frames mostly in close-ups. As the film progresses deeper into absurdity, Tum becomes a sort of Alice lost in a wonderland of deaf gangsters, murdering photographers, jealous girlfriends obsessed with castration, sentimental hitmen, and obscene phone callers. Though quite different from the sublime Last Life in The Universe, there are still a few parallels to be found, particularly between the lead characters Tum and Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) -- both live alone, harbor thoughts of suicide, and inadvertently get mixed up with murders in their apartments. Though not as obsessive as Kenji, Tum is somewhat of a neat freak, and there are identical scenes of a stainless steel knife being methodically washed in the kitchen sink. (A signature shot?) This is not to say that Last Life is in any way derivative, but rather that there were ideas, or at least images, in 6ixtynin9 that Ratanaruang was interested in revisiting in a more sober setting. Like several other recent Asian films, 6ixtynin9 is slated for a Hollywood remake, to be directed by Jim "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" Fall. (With Hillary Duff as Tum?) What Fall and production company Bohemian Films have clearly failed to realize is that both the charm and success of 6ixtynin9 is due to the originality of the director -- how he took a plot that's been done to death and created something entirely unique and fresh -- including the way he directed Lalita Panyopas. Is Hall going to plagiarize all of Ratanaruang's directorial flourishes, or simply go after the log line? (And will the flavor-of-the-month that lands the lead role be able to play it with such restraint?) 6ixtynin9 isn't a masterpiece; just a great bit of entertainment that offers something more than just superficial thrills. (Plus, it gets better with each viewing.) Filmbrain's advice -- skip the remake and rent the original -- it's available on DVD from Palm Pictures.

Comments

[phyrephox]

The tonal juggling and the general cuteness of the lead actress are what kept this watchable for me. I expect a director as smart as Ratanaruang to do something more interesting with genre than mildly enjoyable antics.

It's nice to see where that oddball yazuka stuff in Last Life in the Universe came from though. I really want to see his film in between those two.

[Filmbrain]

I expect a director as smart as Ratanaruang to do something more interesting with genre than mildly enjoyable antics.

Fair enough, but it was only his second film, and an impressive progression from Fun Bar Karaoke.

Having now seen 6ixtynin9, I'm going to revisit Monrak Transistor to better see the transition to Last Life.

[Brian]

I was living in Thailand at the time 6ixtynin9 was released, and it was one of the first Thai films I ever saw with English subtitles (since then I've seen 30+).

What impressed me about the film, other than its technical proficiency and its humor, had nothing to do with Pen-ek's treatment of the genre itself, but lay in the way he used the genre to almost-subversively sneak in a witty critique of his country's economic state at the time. The film's opening scene (downsizing by Siumsee sticks) is an explicit reference to the danger a Buddhist country faces when putting too much faith in business and the marketplace. The Mama noodle box that Tum receives can be seen to symbolize the foreign capital that had recently drained from the country. Her choice about what to do with it in the end is not just a movie ending but a political statement.

Pen-ek has these kinds of political/economic threads in all of his movies. (Perhaps a way to reconcile his stint as a director of television commercials?) You don't need to be attuned to Thai politics do enjoy them, but it definitely adds an extra layer.

[Filmbrain]

Wow! I wasn't aware of any of that. I never would have imagined there was a political subtext. Thanks for sharing the info!

[Jay Blanchard]

6ixtynin9 has been on my list of movies to see for awhile; this review has moved it up on the list. I'm also going to have to rewatch "Last Life.." keeping in mind the political context Brian mentioned.

As a side note, it would be interesting to see how many films have used the "6 turned upside down to make a 9" as a means for confused identity. It was definitely a staple of Hawks' comedies.

[James Russell]

I remember seeing this at the Sydney Film Festival about five years ago. Quite underwhelming.

[Maya]

Well, as they say on The WELL, mileage varies. I found "6ixtynin9" a lot of fun, surprisingly for its corpse violation humor.