International Premiere
The Maid
สาวลับใช้ (Sao-lab-chai)
Thailand, 2020, 102’, Thai
Directed by: Lee Thongkham
Script: Piyaluck Tuntisrisakul
Photography (color): Brandt Hackney
Editing: Lee Thongkham
Music Score: Bruno Brugnano
Production Designer: Naphat Sakulniphat
Producers: Imillya Irwani Roslan, Watson Homeboy Homsangpradit
Cast: Ploy Sornarin, Theerapat Sajakul, Savika Chaiyadej, Kannaporn Puangtong
Date of First Release in Territory: July 20th, 2021
Lee Thongkham is one of the directors that have hardly been known in the Thai public circle as his works have so far been distributed overseas, rather than circulated among Thai audience. As a result, The Maid becomes a surprise film with excellent twisted plots that go beyond what most normal horrors would portray.
A new maid Joy (Ploy Sornarin) is employed by a rich couple Nirach (Theerapat Sajakul) and Uma (Savika Chaiyadej) with their daughter who have never left home even once. Joy meets some unexpected incidents in the house before realizing that it was the ghost of a previous maid, Ploy, who tries to haunt her. Joy breaks the house rule by investigating what happened to Ploy (Kannaporn Puangtong) that makes her not leave the house. As the clue is disclosed little by little, we learn the secret of Joy that nobody expects to see.
The Maid is a movie that is full of unexpectation. At first, the movie seems to follow what we can expect from a horror – a maid in a haunted house to call for her justice. Instead, the film comes out with many twists that we can’t guess or expect to see from a film about ghosts from Thailand. Storytelling is concise with good paced editing. Brandt Hackey’s cinematography is so excellent that it constructs the film into mystery and unexpectation. Young actress Ploy Sornarin proves that she still has a long future in the acting career. This is the movie that one should see if you want to see a new kind of horror from Thailand.
Lee Thongkham
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Lee Thongkham was born in Thailand but grew up in the States. He returned to Thailand in the late 2010s to start directing films. The Maid is his third feature.
FILMOGRAPHY
2018 – The Last One
2019 – The Lake
2020 – The Maid