Instead, the viewer is never hooked into the boy’s universe, and the yarn simply spins into increasingly ludicrous melodrama. Starting off as a coming-of-ager centered on a bullied child, story should evolve into a gripping drama of self-exploration as the main character follows inexorably in his despised father’s footsteps. Precision-tooled look recalls that of Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung but, unlike Tran, Nonzee fails to make a virtue of such finesse. This pic looks stunning: ’30s upper-class Bangkok, bathed in a yellowy period glow, with immaculate interiors, gauzy compositions and gorgeous design and costumes.
29 but performed below expectations, as it then did in more blase Hong Kong.Įspecially to Western eyes, the problems with “Jan Dara” are the same as with “Nang Nak” - but magnified. After censorship trims fractionally delayed its release in Thailand, pic preemed on Sept. With Nonzee at the helm, a well-written novel as source, and Hong Kong-based actress Christy Chung cast for wider appeal, “Jan Dara” should have been a shoo-in. clout with his second movie, big-grossing ghost story “Nang Nak” (1999).
Choice of a Thai project is no coincidence: Applause partner Peter Chan, himself a noted director, grew up in Bangkok, and helmer Nonzee already established his B.O. Film is the first from - and wholly funded by - Hong Kong company Applause Pictures, set up last year specifically to produce “pan-Asian” movies.
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