A spellbinding trailer and surely another classic from David Fincher.
18.6.08
ONG BAK 2
I've never been to Thailand and I honestly don't know much about it but the impressions I've managed to accumulate are far too much fun to ever be dispelled by the intrusion of reality. Everyone drinks whiskey there from buckets, the natives talk as though the atmosphere were composed entirely of helium and they seem to actively seek out pain. I imagine an entire country populated by persistently drunk, hyper-active, gerbil-voiced sado-machochistic midgets. It is an image that pleases me, so no attempt should be made to dispel it.
And where does my impressively naive and blinkered view originate? Well the highly informative world of cinema, naturally. More specifically the movie niche within a movie niche of martial arts film produced by Thailand in the last 5 years. Namely, Ong Bak (2003), Tom yum goong (2005) and Born to Fight (2004). All are terribly written, awfully acted and, in their own way, wonderfully enjoyable. Sinewy little Thai folk throw themselves (and each other) around with wild abandon - snapping limbs and using elbows in ways you've never thought of before.
The international release of Ong Bak heavily stressed it's not-reliance on CG or wirework, no doubt in an attempt to distance itself from the increasingly ludicrious zero-gravity of recent films like The Matrix sequels and Charlies Angels 2. While it would be innacurate to say that Ong Bak features no CG, its' central action is impressively real. In Thailand, it is clearly believed that stuntmen are incapable of any acting, even pretending to take a punch is beyond them. As such, Thai stuntmen are perhaps some of the last remaining proponents of true method acting. So they really hit each other. Over and over, sometimes (with slowmotion) from multiple angles. No that's not a really good match between performance and camera angle, thats a little asian guy kicking another asian guy in the face. And there it is again a little to the left and at half speed. The stuntwork in these films is truly extraordinary, and the filmakers are smart enough to embroider the action with a minimum of plot, unfettered by the demands of focus groups which require 'coherence' in their action movies.
The star at the centre of the recent international interest in Thai action cinema is Tony Jaa, the lead in both Ong Bak and Tom yum goong. Comparisons have been made with Bruce Lee for years and, in a certain respect, this is accurate. The sheer sense of awe when Jaa perfoms some of his stunts is comparable to the paradigm shift in western action cinema for which Lee was the catalyst. Jaa's work contains a considerable gymnastic, almost free-running element which Lee's lacked, and it is all the more impressive and cinematic for that.
So, check out the other films I mentioned and any other Thai action film you can get your hands on. I guarantee it'll be something you haven't seen before (provided your idea of a good time is watching stuntmen genuinely getting hurt for their no doubt tiny pay cheques).
I mention these points because I just came across the promo reel for Ong Bak 2 - Jaa's directorial debut and another source of images and impressions for my alternate reality of Thailand.
Enjoy.
And where does my impressively naive and blinkered view originate? Well the highly informative world of cinema, naturally. More specifically the movie niche within a movie niche of martial arts film produced by Thailand in the last 5 years. Namely, Ong Bak (2003), Tom yum goong (2005) and Born to Fight (2004). All are terribly written, awfully acted and, in their own way, wonderfully enjoyable. Sinewy little Thai folk throw themselves (and each other) around with wild abandon - snapping limbs and using elbows in ways you've never thought of before.
The international release of Ong Bak heavily stressed it's not-reliance on CG or wirework, no doubt in an attempt to distance itself from the increasingly ludicrious zero-gravity of recent films like The Matrix sequels and Charlies Angels 2. While it would be innacurate to say that Ong Bak features no CG, its' central action is impressively real. In Thailand, it is clearly believed that stuntmen are incapable of any acting, even pretending to take a punch is beyond them. As such, Thai stuntmen are perhaps some of the last remaining proponents of true method acting. So they really hit each other. Over and over, sometimes (with slowmotion) from multiple angles. No that's not a really good match between performance and camera angle, thats a little asian guy kicking another asian guy in the face. And there it is again a little to the left and at half speed. The stuntwork in these films is truly extraordinary, and the filmakers are smart enough to embroider the action with a minimum of plot, unfettered by the demands of focus groups which require 'coherence' in their action movies.
The star at the centre of the recent international interest in Thai action cinema is Tony Jaa, the lead in both Ong Bak and Tom yum goong. Comparisons have been made with Bruce Lee for years and, in a certain respect, this is accurate. The sheer sense of awe when Jaa perfoms some of his stunts is comparable to the paradigm shift in western action cinema for which Lee was the catalyst. Jaa's work contains a considerable gymnastic, almost free-running element which Lee's lacked, and it is all the more impressive and cinematic for that.
So, check out the other films I mentioned and any other Thai action film you can get your hands on. I guarantee it'll be something you haven't seen before (provided your idea of a good time is watching stuntmen genuinely getting hurt for their no doubt tiny pay cheques).
I mention these points because I just came across the promo reel for Ong Bak 2 - Jaa's directorial debut and another source of images and impressions for my alternate reality of Thailand.
Enjoy.
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