Without the recently enacted film rating system that replaced the long-standing film censorship laws and the affiliation of M Pictures, the film’s distributor, with Thailand’s biggest cinema operator, Mindfulness and Murder, with its uncompromising portrayal of drug trade, crime, homoeroticism, and monkhood, would find it difficult, perhaps impossible, to screen in the Kingdom.
When the police declines investigating a brutal murder and body mutilation of a homeless temple boy, the abbot asks Phra Ananda, a former detective-turned-monk, to take up the case. But the situation becomes more complicated with the murder of another monk, who happens to be one of the four secret agents working undercover to expose a large drug trafficking network operating through the temple. Yet, all evidence relating to the identity of these undercover agents can not be found either in the police record or the national file of population registration.
Together with the help of his dogged assistant Jak who calls him “Dad”, Phra Ananda’s investigation brings him deeper into the dreadful exploitation of temple for drug trade, crime, and corruption. Gossips are also widespread. In the end, the temple, the place that should be free from greed, is filled with greed just as much as the rest of the world.
With the majority of the crew being non-Thai, Mindfulness and Murder surprisingly contains richness of film elements — exciting story, stunning cinematography, art direction with an authentic monastery feel, and Buddhism-relevant scores. Nick Wilgus’s original novel under the same title is already well developed with its unpredictable, and fast-moving plot — sometimes a little too many twists at the end. The cinematography stands out with incredible shots, although slow motions seem to be overused.
Composer Olivier Lliboutry employs a terrific mix of traditional Thai instruments and Buddhist chants as underlying scores of the monastery mystery. Moreover, director Tom Waller deserves applause for his control of the actors, most of whom are non-professionals who turn out superb performances that keep the audience guessing on the real identity of the culprit. All of the monks look suspicious. Lead actor Vithaya Pansrigarm made the greatest contribution to his faithful and detective role as Phra Ananda, although he is merely an amateur actor. Stay alert, the ending sequence is stunning with the great performance of the murderer monk. Tom Waller exercises a tight direction that delivers a strong film for the audience.
Mindfulness and Murder will be a more perfect thriller, if some parts of the movie are recast. In one of the scenes, the receptionist of hard-core Bangkok Post office, wears a tube top to work — an unacceptable thing for Thai values. The cameo appearance of former beauty pagent Natalie Glebova is unnecessary.