Tears of the Black Tiger

The screenwriter of Dang Bireley's and Nang Nak turns director to make a gleefully excessive homage to Thai movies of the '60s, framed as a Thai Western. Most of the references are generic enough to work for non-Thai viewers, and some of the gags (an action replay in slow-mo of a ricocheting bullet) are killers. Innocent country boy Dum and city girl Rumpoey meet as children and fall in love as students, but he turns bandit to avenge his murdered father while she finds herself forced to marry the uptight Captain Kumjorn, who pledges to rid Supanburi of bandits. Earnest performances, bold artifice and ripe melodrama maintain a state of continuous combustion. With its over-saturated, clashing colours (it was retouched shot by shot in post-production) Wisit's amazing film goes so far beyond kitsch that it enters Powell and Pressburger territory. The 'export version' has been cut by some 13 minutes, not by the director.