Bangkok Loco is a reckless film that goes beyond anyone’s guess and expectation. The plot goes nowhere; the style is full of punch, parody, words-playing that keep your nerves alert all the time. Even its hits in the West also become a surprise. The film starts from Be, a master drummer, finding himself next to the dead body of his apartment owner Vic. Immediately he runs to seek help from his senior classmate Ton, insisting on his innocence. Ton fully helps him though she is on setting a band named PC with two other wicked musicians. On his escape journey, Be encounters several tricks and double-crosses from all people around him. But at the same time, Be has one obligation that his teacher asked him before he died. Be must have a drumming duel with his school’s challenger Klong Payayom (The Death Drum).
The only and best word that can explain Bangkok Loco is its uniqueness as a film of “playing” wits - playing with slangs, playing with words, playing with old genres of Asian pop culture and other movies, playing with everything that you will never know. Imagine, the challenger of Be’s drum-teacher becomes The Beatles’ Ringo Star. The opening credits parody those of Star Wars. The two-school duels are in fact familiar by all Asians as seen in Chinese swordplays. And if you are Thai, you are even more joyful with the director’s word-playing. A middle-aged man always rests his head over the police chief’s shoulder whenever he utters the word “bat-sob.” In fact, that strange man is a veteran actor named Sombat. The word “bat-sob” generally means “Shit!” in Thai, but it can literally refer to “Bat rests his head upon one’s shoulder” (Bat, the man, and “sob”, resting one’s head over something). And that brings the laughs.
Imagine, the gist to be master of drum-playing is “Erb”, in which Be gets later, interpreting from his teacher’s last word. “Erb” is a Thai slang, meaning “to make love.” This is the sexist and most naughty Thai film that I have ever seen in my life. The director’s naughtiness can not stop him in using a graphic picture of women’s most sensitive personal body - and it is my surprise that this passed the censor board!
Fast cut, sharp editing and colour-playing throughout the film prove the director Pornchai’s ability in visual design. The use of old songs from the 1980s’s tophitting band MacIntosh is also a bonus of joys. “Yesterday is indeed still sweet”, the lyrics in one of the band’s songs, “Wan-waan-yang-waan-yoo”, say. But when it comes into this movie, it becomes “tha-wan-yang-wan-yoo” - “the ass is still sweet”.