Special flavors
It is not for lack of having existed, but there is not much left of the early days of Thai cinema. The first real feature films have now been lost: an American-Thai co-production, Miss Suwanna from Siam (Henry MacRae, 1923), then Double Chance (Manit Wasumat, 1927), or Long Thang (1932), the first talking film in which Bangkok was presented as a city of perdition. Shot in English, The King and the White Elephant (Sunh Vasudhara, 1940), an anti-war plea at a time when the Japanese invasion was looming, is the first film that has been preserved. The Second World War and an unfavourable economic context slowed down the professionalization of the Thai film industry, whose appetite was not, however, diminished. Films in 16 mm format proliferated, with little concern for finishing touches, subject to immediate profitability objectives, distributed through itinerant screenings throughout the country during which dubbing is carried out live. Foreign or silent films undergo the same treatment, creating a unique cinematic experience and tradition, to which a scene from Monrak Transistor (Pen-ek Ratanaruang, 2001) pays homage. In duet or solo, some dubbers become true stars, taking care of all the dialogue, sound effects and commentary in a virtuoso ventriloquism act. Thailand, a rare U.S. ally in the region during the Cold War, received significant support from the United States Information Agency, which helped to expand the use of these traveling commentary sessions to disseminate a pro-American discourse. At the same time, the industry underwent its first revolution through Rattana Pestonji, who is considered the father of Thai cinema and who directed Santi-Weena (1954), the first 35mm film, and Black Silk (1961), a curious mix of influences, both film noir and melodrama, imbued with Buddhist philosophy and traditional music. From the late 1950s to the 1970s, between 50 and 80 films were released each year. The screens are squatted by a couple of actors, Mitr Chaibancha and Petchara Chaowarat, who appear in 165 films between 1956 and 1970, before the first died falling from a helicopter on the last day of shooting ofAigle d'or, which he directed. The accident is kept in the final version, before being deleted in recent editions. His death marks the end of this overabundant production of 16 mm films.
The years 1970-1980
In 1970, Mon Rak Luk Thung (Rungsri Tassanapuk), a rural musical comedy, a genre then in vogue, was a huge success which popularised luk thung, a musical genre resulting from a mixture of influences. It was also the time of the Vietnam War, which saw tens of thousands of American soldiers stationed in Thailand, spreading American culture. Foreign directors came to shoot there, James Bond(The Man with the Golden Gun, Guy Hamilton, 1974, at Khao Phing Kan), or films about Vietnam(Voyage au bout de l'enfer, Michael Cimino). For the anecdote, an episode of the OSS 117 series directed by André Hunebelle was a precursor in 1964. But the friendship between the United States and Thailand was in turmoil in 1977 when the government imposed heavy taxes on foreign films to stimulate local production, which in turn led to a boycott of Hollywood. Production soared again - 150 releases in 1978 - to provide mediocre copies of Hollywood films that were no longer being shown. This was a short interlude, since these films made a comeback in 1981. The quality of the vast majority of these films, low-budget B-series, earned them the eloquent nickname nam nao, which means "rotten water". The hand-painted posters compete with each other in inventiveness and garish colours, such as those by artist Tongdee Panumas. It is the beginning of a critical era in which competition from television has brought the film industry to a standstill, although the industry is showing some signs, albeit a very small minority, of a major breakthrough. More ambitious and personal films are being made. Those of Cherd Songsri, praised by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, including The Scar (1977), a peasant tragedy in flamboyant Technicolor. His influence is decisive on the films of Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol, who belongs to the royal family(Full Citizen, 1977, or The Hitman, 1983, two excellent thrillers), Vichit Kounavudhi, who pays special attention to the peasants of Isan abandoned by the central government and their way of life in The People of the Mountain (1979) and Sons of the Northeast (1982). Euthana Mukdasanit testifies to an inspiration that goes off the beaten track by evoking the trajectory of a heroin addict(L'histoire de Nampoo, 1984), the Muslim minorities in the south near the Malaysian border (Fleurs et papillon, 1985), or the psychiatric asylum(Le Toit rouge, 1987). Jira Maligool will revive this humanist and naturalist inspiration in the 21st century with The Tin Mine (2005), the story of a child growing up in the Kapong district.
Modern nostalgia: a new wave
The revival of Thai cinema paradoxically coincided with the economic crisis of 1997. Under the impetus of a few directors from the advertising industry, the films adopted a contemporary style, which was readily licked or clipped, mixing local culture with influences from Hollywood and Hong Kong. This is the case with Nonzee Nimibutr, who directed Dang Bireley and the Young Gangsters (1997), a gangster film set in the 1950s, and Nang Nak, the umpteenth adaptation of the most famous Thai ghost story. It is also the most successful. It is illustrated in a good commercial cinema by continuing to review the genres dear to Thai audiences, such as the epic film(Pirates of Langkasuka, 2008), or the romantic drama(Timeline, 2014). The Tears of the Black Tiger (Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000), presented at Cannes - a first! - is an ultra-referential homage to the popular cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, enhanced by the use of shimmering colours. The rest of his career is lost in mainstream films without any real distinction, with the possible exception of OK baytong (2003), or Citizen Dog (2004), a romantic comedy with an ironic portrait of Bangkok. Pen-ek Ratanaruang, while remaining accessible at first, shows more originality: Last life in the universe (2003) is a beautiful film in which his sweet sin, aesthetic research, has not yet taken precedence over the story of a Japanese librarian and a prostitute that unlikely circumstances bring together. The rest of his filmography can't always boast of it - La Nymphe (2009) offers many magnificent images of the rainforest, but beware of boredom, while Paradoxocracy (2013) is a fit return to a genre where it wasn't expected, documentary, and questions the divisions that have continued to undermine Thailand's political scene since the democratic coup of 1932. In the meantime, the Pang brothers from Hong Kong have chosen Bangkok as the playground for a flashy, high-octane thriller typical of the time(Bangkok Dangerous, 2000). Prachya Pinkaew is an established genre film stakhanovist, comfortable in martial arts films(Ong-bak, 2003, which made Tony Jaa a star of the genre, or Chocolate, 2008 - "no cables, the trailer promises "no understudies") and tributes to the musicals of yesteryear set in the green rice fields of the Isan, to the sauerkraut that served as the headdress and to the colourful clothing that was in vogue at the time(Yam Yasothon, 2005). Shutter (Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, 2004) is one of the best horror films of the period. A wave of auteur cinema occurred at the same time. Apitchapong Weerasethakul is both the inspiration for his colleagues and at the same time the darling of the spectators. His work, sometimes arid(Tropical Malady, 2004), often vaporous, sensory(Syndromes and a Century, 2006), is consecrated at Cannes with a Palme d'Or in 2010 with Uncle Boonmee, the one who remembers his past lives, dazzlingly dreaming through the Thai psyche. Aditya Assarat's style, though more conventional, is in a similarly poetic vein in his debut feature Wonderful Town (2007), a love story set amidst the landscapes devastated by the 2004 tsunami in the southern town of Takua Pa.
Foreign directors
The disastrous episode of the tsunami was recounted in The Impossible by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, based on a true story, which is both a disaster film and a melodrama (and mainly shot in Spain). With The Scala (2015), Assarat dedicated a documentary to a mythical cinema built in the 1970s. Pimpaka Towira's film The Island Funeral (2015), which is also vaporous, sleepy or dreamy, depending on the mood, is a film about a young woman's journey through the Pattani region and serves as a pretext for a muted evocation of the political turmoil that is shaking the country. As tourism continues to increase in Thailand, a phenomenon partly prophesied by The Beach (Danny Boyle, 2000), shot between Phuket and Koh Phi Phi Lee, foreign directors are coming to Thailand, and Bangkok in particular, for inspiration. Nicolas Winding Refn was attracted by the neon lights that are dear to him for an inevitably atmospheric thriller (Only God Forgives, 2013), Katsuya Tomita for a trip to the northeast towards Laos outside the red-light district of Thaniya Road where his heroine works (Bangkok Nites, 2016) or the Taiwanese director Midi Z by focusing on two Burmese immigrants who have come there to find a better life (Adieu Mandalay, 2016).
