The Thai film industry had a poorer showing in 2013 than in preceding years. Although Pee Mak became a nationwide sensation by breaking the all-time box-office record with a take of 12,435,650 euros, the number of Thai film releases dropped down to 37 features in 2013.
Major companies cut down the number and budget of productions, so the commercially oriented independents saw their chance and tried to storm the charts. Unfortunately, their films tended to stay close to the bottom.
An experienced producer’s comment could explain the current situation. Telling a new independent director of what is forbidden in today’s movies, he said: “No thriller.
No drama. No suspense. No politics. No romance. And don’t be too ‘old’.” After a long silence, he uttered, “In a way, it is better not to make any Thai movies.” So the warning signs that were starting to show up a few years ago have finally turned into a full red light, it seems.
All five majors have reduced production. Sahamongkol Film released 10 pictures last year, and M-Thirtynine kept to its usual three releases. But mid-sized studios GmmTaiHub (GTH), Phranakorn Film, and Five Star Production, each made only one feature, compared to their usual three to five. Even the industry’s trendsetter GTH played it safe by moving into television-series productions, mostly making sequels to previous feature-length blockbusters such as Hormones.
Pee Mak’s (Banjong Pisanthanakun, 2013) success was an inevitable outcome of GTH’s longterm marketing strategies. The folktale of a pregnant mother who died in labour and becomes a ghost has been remade more than 100 times. But this time, it was turned into a comedy, which was something new. The tagline claimed the new interpretation was seen through the eyes of her husband Mak. But Pee Mak is merely a blend of several popular elements of this ghostly legend that had already been introduced by earlier directors.
Producers had done some research to see what the audience would like. The couple’s eternal love was included, after being tackled by Nonzee Nimibutr’s Nang Nak (1997), as well as the ghost-and-human chase-and-run plot that always appeared in earlier versions. If there was something new, it was Mak’s friends, who were recreated in the postmodern style of comic appearances. The release date also helped: it was released during the long school break, a few weeks before April’s old Thai New Year holidays, when everybody goes back home to their families. As a result, all generations and all classes went to see the movie, and it became a national hit.
By contrast Sun & Sunrise (Kittikorn Liawsirikun, 2013) encountered an unexpected prejudice in the Thai audience, who didn’t seem to want a new interpretation of a popular novel. Based on the all-time popular novel Khookam, about a romance between a Japanese soldier and a Thai girl, it has been adapted for film, TV, and musical theatre 10 times. The director’s post-modernist intention changed the look of the film, instead of directly copying that of the original novel.
The protagonists were presented as teenagers; costumes were designed in a modern style and rejected all realistic references. The script was based on the original story, plus new historical findings from World War II research; the usual Thai-style atmosphere was only glimpsed. Some information in the original story was found to be mistaken due to the lack of research, and was corrected.
The film had some flaws, especially the performances of many of the new faces. But the post-modern interpretation should be considered a new attempt by Thai cinema to fashion a remake, in the same way Baz Luhrmann adapted Romeo + Juliet. The contrasting fortunes of Pee Mak and Sun & Sunrise showed that a reinterpretation works fine for a folk tale, but fails for a popular written work.
None of the 36 films released in 2013 could hit the jackpot like Pee Mak. Runner-ups like Yam Yasothorn 3, Fud Jang To, Tom Yam Goong 2 and Sun & Sunrise (see chart) took in only one-million-figure. Yam Yasothorn 3 is a sequel work by the country’s top comedian Petchtai Wongkamlao. Fud Jang To is directed by Thailand’s alltime blockbuster director Rirkchai Puangphet. Both were expected to serve only the local market, and guarantee some revenue, especially with the reduction of the cost of productions. Today, production costs can be as low as 120,000 euros for a small film.
But Tom Yam Goong 2 planned to follow a different model. The reunion of director Prachya Pinkaew and Tony Jaa team, and the inclusion of Jija Yanin, was expected to bring the industry a multi-million-baht jackpot, so a million euros was put into it. But it could not break even in the domestic market, unlike the earlier Ong Bak or Tom Yam Goong 1. In spite of this, Tom Yam Goong 2 does show the development of Tony Jaa’s acting ability. He acts well in the dramatic scenes, despite a drop-off in his martial arts performance resulting from his age.
Most of the action was shot in close-up, and Jaa did not jump through the sky, or roll his body in the air and slide throgh a tight space as he did in his earlier works. Jaa had been kept under the radar due to his five-film contract, and when this ended in 2013, something which unsurprisingly turning into a big fight between Sahamongkol Film and the actor, he strode to freedom by joining Ron Perlman and Dolph Lundgren in Ekachai Uekrongtham’s Skin Trade, and James Wan’s Fast & Furious 7.
The decline of Thai cinema at home heralded the return of the horror film. Thai horrors always recoup their costs, as they do well enough in other Asian markets. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia always pick up Thai horror films. Sometimes profits are made, too. Both of the mid-sized studios Five Star Production and Phranakorn Film made one horror feature each – The Second Sight (Pornchai Hongrattanaporn) and Make Me Shudder (Poj Arnon) chronologically. The Second Sight focuses on the struggle of a lawyer who has a sixth sense that enables him to see a ghost.
He is followed by a strange female ghost after being involved with a car-crash case involving a millionaire’s young girl, and encounters his own past karma at the end.
Make Me Shudder is a horror comedy invloving a group of high-school boys who challenge the ghost of a teacher. At the start of 2014, horror films were also being produced by other studios: Five Star Production’s 3 AM Part 2 (2014) and Ghost Coins (2014), as well as Phranakorn Film’s Still 2 and Make Me Shudder 2 (2014).
The second most active studio M-Thirtynine, after the failure of Sun & Sunrise, turned to horror with Hashima Project (Piyapan Choopetch, 2013) and comedy with Fud Jang To.
Hashima Project follows a group of five film-school graduates who are hired by a strange company to make a video project on an abandoned Japanese island, Hashima, whose residents were evacuated for unknown reasons. Fud Jang To is a slapstick comedy about a separated couple who reunite after accidentally traveling to Japan together.
Despite the decline of Thai cinema in the local market, many new independent production houses have moved in, with the hope of taking a share. Most of them distribute their movies themselves, by contacting theatre operators for a limited releases. Unfortunately, many went bankrupt. They had scarcely any promotional budget, and audiences would not pay for an expensive ticket for a movie by an unknown director. After the first two-day releases, screening slots were generally reduced. Quality suffered as budgets went down, but there were still some good films, courtesy veteran directors. Nonzee Nimitbutr (Nang Nak, Queen of Lungkasuka) explored romance through the generations in Timeline (2014). The story tells of a mother who remains devoted to her husband after his death, something which results in a conflict with her son, who wants to be more than a representation of his father. The son struggles with his own identity and doesn’t realise the meaning of love until it is too late.
Tanwarin Sukhapisit directed two features, Threesome and Fin Sugoi. Threesome for Sahamongkol Film, was a love triangle between a couple of a behind-the-scenes crew and a ghost. Sukkhapisit knows how to combine several genre elements into one film, and this made the audience cry, laugh, and feel scared, all at the same time. She also worked for indie company Fin Project for Fin Sugoi, a film which shows her development as a filmmaker. Here, she tells of the love conflict of a group of couples.
Last but not least, GTH and Nithiwat Tharatorn remerged after the long break since Dear Galileo (2009). A Teacher’s Diary connects two teachers who are assigned to teach in a remote, deserted floating school, in seperate times. Lonely, and lacking any communication with the outside world, they get to know each other, and then fall in love, through a diary.
This year will also see a new project by Kongkiat Khomsiri (Slice, Gangster), and a co-production between Stephen Chow and Banjong Pisanthanakul (Shutter, Pee Mak). Ups and downs are common in Thai cinema, and when there is a down, hope always creeps back in. Thai cinema was down last year, but it’s far from over.
Thailand’s 2013 Top Ten Box-office Chart
Pee Mak € 12,435,650
Yam Yasothorn 3 € 1,336,105
Fud Jang To € 1,287,203
Tom Yum Goong 2 € 1,194,764
Sun & Sunrise € 1,003,489
Mor 6/5 € 968,297
Hashima Project € 814,852
Jandara the Revenge € 761,065
Long Weekend € 737,113
Last Summer € 648,638
(exchange rate 1 Euro = 45 Baht)
Anchalee Chaiworaporn