BLACK SILK (THAILAND/1961/RATTANA PESTONJI, RATANAVADI RATANABHAND)

Prae is a widow who has consigned herself to wearing a funereal black silk dress since the death of her husband. Her relationship with boyfriend Thom is constantly strained by her refusal to live a life outside the house, but it takes a turn for the worse when Thom is involved in a carefully choreographed murder scheme with his boss Seni. Heavily in debt to his rival Wan, Seni assumes the identity of his recently deceased brother to start life afresh, only to learn that Wan is orchestrating the situation to his own advantage. The proceedings have serious ramifications for Prae who, avoiding the heartbreak of a second bereavement, leaves Thom in favour of religious sanctuary.

Though frequently acknowledged as Thailand’s first film noir (‘noir’ is a bit of a misnomer here as each scene is a rich tapestry of colour), Black Silk has more poignancy than the average thriller, contrasting the metropolitan with the traditional. Certain elements, such as Prae’s position as the widow fallen in with a bad lot, seem to anticipate Đặng Nhật Minh’s marvellous postwar When The Tenth Month Comes, a film that similarly entertains while retaining a sense of realism in its characters. Action in the film is subverted ironically by the inactivity of the camera – a double murder uses a maximum of three angles, with most of the event being caught in a single take. Full credit must go to Ratanavadi Ratanabhand, who brings to the role of Prae a quiet but persistant elegance.

PHUKET (THAILAND/2009/ADITYA ASSARAT)

Playing like a short version of Lost In Translation minus the laboured stereotypes, Phuket follows Korean pop star Jin as she visits Phuket in Thailand, home to the most adoring chapter of her fanbase. Jin spends most of her time stepping in and out of her chauffeur-driven car, desperate to escape the pressures of fame. Tired of her obsequious translator and assistant, she grows closer to chauffeur Pong, asking him to drive her to quiet, isolated spots. The two converse in broken English, Pong helping Jin relive memories she had on a childhood visit to the island.

The film was commissioned by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Phuket in the hopes of drumming up tourism for Phuket, and director Aditya Assarat manages to eke out a narrative while maintaining focus on the island’s beautiful scenery. Cleverly using the theme of memories to keep his protagonist travelling around, Assarat colours the film with gentle humour and optimism. Lim Su-jeong, famed for roles in A Tale of Two Sisters and I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK, has honed a decent American accent and pulls off the sense of the out-of-her-depth pop diva without even singing a note. Veteran action star Sorapong Chatree is charming as the fatherly chauffeur, the antithesis of Jin’s jaded superstar. At thirty minutes, it’s perhaps a little too short to make an impact, and longer than predicted for what is essentially a cinematic postcard. Nonetheless, there is sweetness in every frame, coaxed along by a wistful indie soundtrack.

MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON (THAILAND/2000/APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL)

Employing something of an ‘exquisite corpse’ mode of production, Mysterious Object At Noon saw director Apichatpong Weerasethakul travel from town to town across Thailand, interviewing people along the way. He gives his first interviewee the freedom to make up an anecdote, and she begins telling a story about a disabled boy who notices something fall from his teacher’s skirt. The next interviewee is played back this recording and is invited to continue the story in preparation for the next person, and so forth. The story quickly becomes rather surreal, almost sci-fi, as we learn that the fallen object is in fact another boy, hell bent on destroying the teacher by ‘becoming’ her. Weerasethakul binds the story together by filming equally illusory fictional vignettes of the boy and his teacher.

As detached as it sounds, Mysterious Object At Noon is a surprisingly charming piece of work. The interviewees’ additions to the story are fairly arbitrary, maintaining a sense of mystery throughout. One of the most heart-warming moments of the film comes around halfway, when a large group of villagers is huddled around the tape recorder, each person bursting out excitedly with new parts of the story. The villagers then act it out as an impromptu play for the rest of the village. This unified imagination comes into play again as Weerasethakul visits a classroom. At heart, the film is a fascinating, considerate exploration of the Thai people, and how their hopes, dreams and superstitions colour the way they see the world.