Bangkok Loco - Toronto International Film Festival

For our first movie of the film festival my brothers and I went to see the North American premiere of "Bangkok Loco" a movie from Thailand and directorial debut from Pornchai Hongrattanaporn or his nickname Pink.

The movie is about a drum student named Bay who studied the Drums of the Gods under his professor Tuengpoe (also known as the drum God) but before the professor could teach Bay how to achieve level 10 he is killed in a drum off against the demon drummer.

While practicing Bay gets into a trance like state and the next thing he notices is that his drum sticks are replaced by chef knives and his drum set replaced by a hacked up corpse. Bay flees the scene to meet up with his friend Don (also a student of the Drums of the Gods) and her band. He has to prove his innocence before being apprehended by Inspector Black Ears (who looks like Thailands version of Horatio Sanz , see photo below) and learn level 10 before he has to face off against the Demon drummer in the 10 year anniversary of his professors death.

All that being said the movie is a comedy. (I walked into it thinking it was going to be a very dark movie, but after seeing the opening credits it was clear it was a different kind of movie). It is set in Thailand in 1982 where everyone seemed to sport beatles/ramones haircuts and wear bright polyester clothing. According to Pink (in the Q and A after the movie) all the music comes from a band who was popular in Thailand at the time called McIntosh.

I can honestly say that I've never seen a movie like this before. It relied a lot puns and specifically Thai humor. It seems that this wouldn't translate to a western audience (the director said it himself) but it was still funny even if it didn't make complete sense it came off as completely absurd and bizarre. The movie is visually stunning. There are some many bright and vivid colors and the special effects are really well done and unlike effects we see in western movies. All in all I say its a great movie if you don't mind reading subtitles and are up for a strange yet comical movie experience that may not make complete sense but is fun regardless.

tags:tiff, toronto international film festival, movies, entertainment