If the term ‘South-East Asian cinema’ makes you go ‘huh?’, you’ll want to check out Painting with Light. The film series by the National Gallery Singapore screens two (mostly arthouse) films from the region every month. And this July, it’s Laos’ turn to showcase their cinematic offerings – here’s what’s on.
Bouadeng (Red Lotus)
Jul 2, 7.30pm
Director In 1977, Som Ock Southinponh was one of six Laotians picked by the communist government to study the art of cinema in Prague – and he was the only one who completed the course. He spent his early career producing puffy tourist videos for the state before being invited to finish Bouadeng in 1988.
What's it about On the surface, Bouadeng is a stark, documentary-like depiction of Laos during the civil war: it follows the young Khamman as he traipses through a fraught relationship with his fiancée Bouadeng. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find a nuanced picture that oscillates between kitchen-sink realism and rural romanticism.
The flick is set on the eve of the fall of the US-backed royalist government, right before the Pathet Lao wrested control of the country. Khamman is forced by Bouadeng’s stepfather to fight for the communists, while our heroine is married off to a rich man. And when an armed Khamman returns, the tension is clear: between father and (would-be) son, leftists and rightists, village life and urbanity. As the titular character sums up, ‘Why are there two sides? Why do we belong to each other and then we are separated?’
In Lao with English subtitles.
Pai Tang (At the Horizon)
Jul 3, 3pm
Director Anysay Keola is one of the foremost filmmakers of the Lao New Wave Cinema Productions, a group of young Lao and French directors – Keola’s only 33 – who are bringing a touch of Hollywood to a country fed on a diet of propaganda and educational movies.
What’s it about Even though Pai Tang, released in 2011,is Laos’ first-ever crime thriller, it’s not as dull and hollow as the next Liam Neeson flick. It nudges at the fringes of censorship to depict class stratification in the country – but rejects the experimental form to tell its story. And because it’s as invisible as anything from Tinseltown, it comes as no surprise that Keola’s favourite director is the great David Fincher.
But back to Pai Tang. Sin, the prodigal son of wealthy parents, rips into a gang fight at a seedy club and is immediately knocked out. He wakes to find himself chained, Saw-like, in a derelict hut. Standing over him is Lud, a mute mechanic from a rough part of town hell-bent on achieving vengeance for his wife and young daughter. Flashbacks-within-flashbacks later, the tragedy and its creator is brought to light. Let’s just say: call him Mad Lud.
In Lao with English subtitles.
Painting with Light is at National Gallery Singapore on Jul 2 & 3.