Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Postmodern Odyssey

Nobody could ever accuse Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang of being a modernist. His characters aren't men (and women) of action, nor do they fall into any of the classic "hero" models. Burdened with a postmodern indeterminacy, they are less likely to define their own path than they are to become victims of happenstance. Tadanobu Asano's failed suicide attempt in Last Life in the Universe is about as close as any of his characters get to forging their own destiny, though he too soon gets caught up in a chain of unlikely but interconnected events. While Ratanaruang obviously possesses the critical distance to spin his PoMo fables, the joke (as it were) isn't always evident to those of us not well versed in Thai culture, history, tradition etc. Yet even so, his films are infused with the universality of human experience, which goes a long way in explaining his worldwide critical success. Coming between 6ixtynin9 and Last Life in the Universe is 2001's Monrak Transistor, a lighthearted and playful film that takes us on a Homeric-inspired odyssey through the villages, cities, and jungles of Thailand, complete with pop/folk musical numbers. Pan (Supakorn Kitsuwon) is young dreamer with only two goals -- to become a famous singer and to win the heart of village beauty Sadao (Siriyakorn Pukkavesh). Nothing ever gets him down, nor does he let anything stand in his way, including Sadao's father, who would sooner see the boy dead than as his son-in-law. Yet Pan's perseverance and irresistible charm (which includes bursting into song at just about any moment) eventually win the old curmudgeon over, and it's not long before the couple marry and settle down for a life of passion and bliss. Though completely carefree, Pan is also cursed with horrible luck, and he is soon called up for mandatory military service. This is the trigger that drags our slacker Odysseus away from his Penelope, and signals the start of an epic journey that, like his Ithacan counterpart, will keep him away from home for many years. In the course of his journey, Pan will fight his way through the military, the seedy world of show business (including a lecherous promoter), life on a sugar cane plantation, and ultimately prison, where he will literally wind up in the shit. As if cursed with the postmodern condition, Pan is oddly accepting of these cruel twists of fate. He has the power to change things, at least somewhat, but chooses to surrender to passivity. As with other Ratanaruang characters, Pan finds himself involved in a homicide, but unlike Tum (6ixtynin9) or Kenji (Last Life...), he doesn't even make a half-hearted attempt to cover it up. Ratanaruang incorporates other standard PoMo cinematic devices, including expository chapter headings (Foot Pollen, Son-of-a-Bitch, etc.), and moments of self-reflexivity with characters directly addressing the audience. Whereas we wouldn't think twice about seeing them used in a Woody Allen film, they here feel somewhat awkward, but at the same time surprisingly new. Again, this might have to do with not being as well versed in the history and grammar of Thai cinema. But this is in no way a criticism of Ratanaruang or the film -- quite the opposite in fact. Though all of Ratanaruang's films can be thematically and stylistically linked, and though he often employs the same devices, they never feel derivative. Each film contains unique and unexpected pleasures that never fail to surprise. Even in its heavier moments, Monrak Transistor remains as joyously unrestrained as the wonderful pop songs scattered throughout the film. It's a perfect blending of the films that precede and follow it -- with the wry humor of 6ixtynin9 and the emotional dulcitude of Last Life in the Universe, Monrak Transistor is a magnificent film from one of the most consistently interesting directors working today.

Comments

[Tim]

I don't know that you need to be "well versed in Thai culture" to get something from Pen-Ek's movies (although, having been in BK for three years, my perspectives may be skewed). In Last Life, Kenji is a Japanese abroad. He's an outsider in Thailand, a classic existentialist archetype (think Camus and Kafka, and take it back to Dostoevsky's Underground Man). And what was existentialism but a natural progression from the post-WWI modernism of Eliot, Joyce, etc?

[Filmbrain]

I didn't mean to imply that one can't "get" a Pen-Ek film without being an expert on Thai culture, but that there are perhaps references lost. For example, I just learned today that Monrak Transistor plays with certain conventions of Thai cinema much in the same way that the Nouvelle Vague gang did with classic Hollywood genres. How does À bout de souffle play to somebody who's never seen a Hollywood gangster film?

[phyrephox]

I really wanted to see this, and was hoping to catch up with it before Invisible Waves hits (maybe at Tribeca?). I wasn't crazy about Ratanaruang's first movie, but I did like Last Life a lot, even if it felt like a quasi-product of international film fest culture.

[Brian]

I should see this one again. It's the only Pen-ek feature that I didn't like on a first try. I suspect I was more forgiving of Fun Bar Karaoke as a first film than this, his third.

Folks have probably already seen this pointer to his TV commercial work, but perhaps not.

[phyrephox]

Is Pen-ek the guy's last name or is it Ratanaruang?

[Brian]

His last name/family name is Ratanaruang. However, Thai custom is to refer to people by their given name except in the most formal of occasions, and I've gotten in the habit of doing so. Thai-based English-language publications like the Bangkok Post refer to directors as Pen-ek, Wisit, Apichatpong, etc. Most English-language publications originating in the West use Ratanaruang, Sasanatieng, Weerasethakul, etc. I don't think I've ever heard someone argue that one or the other form was truly inappropriate, but I haven't lived in Thailand for a while so I may have forgotten an instance.

[Maya]

Lazy Westerner that I am, I sure appreciate Apichatpong Weerasethakul offering the handle of "Joe." Brian, I wasn't aware that you had lived in Thailand. No wonder you have such a command of their output.

Filmbrain, what a great profile of one of my own favorite Thai directors! Thank you so much for your appreciative comments. I've not seen "Monrak Transistor", but, you have certainly intrigued me to do so.

[nkw88]

Well, I saw 'Monrak Transistor' and 'Blissfully
Yours' at Lincoln Center a couple of years ago.
I found the same theme in some Korean films of
70s, an innoncent boy or girl is seduced to the
consumerist image of metropolis and loses one's
own innocence, which makes me less interested in
this film.
About 'Blissfully Yours', if Hong Sang-Soo
made a movie whose background is rural area,
the film would be this type of film. That's what
I thought.