Fah talai jone (2000)

Director:

Wisit Sasanatieng

Writer:

Wisit Sasanatieng (writer)

Release Date:

9 August 2001 (Singapore)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

With its loud acting style, exuberant sets and stunning shots in pastel colours, this Thai cult film is as much a parody as an homage to the Western and the romantic tearjerker.

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Thailand | Fight | Shootout | Outlaw

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Chartchai Ngamsan	...	Black Tiger
Suwinit Panjamawat	...	Dum (Black Tiger Youth)
Stella Malucchi	...	Rumpoey
Supakorn Kitsuwon	...	Mahesuan
Arawat Ruangvuth	...	Police Captain Kumjorn
Sombat Metanee	...	Fai
Pairoj Jaisingha	...	Phya Prasit
Naiyana Sheewanun	...	Rumpoey's maid
Kanchit Kwanpracha	...	Kamnan Dua
Chamloen Sridang	...	Sergeant Yam
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Hersh	...	Dum (voice: English version)

Also Known As:

Tears of the Black Tiger (International: English title)

Runtime:

110 min | UK:101 min

Country:

Thailand

Language:

Thai

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Germany:16 | Finland:K-15 | USA:Unrated | Australia:MA | France:U | Netherlands:16 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | Italy:T

Company:

Aichi Arts Center

Trivia:

The title is actually a name of a Thai herb

Quotes:

Mahesuan: By everything sacred in this world, I, Mahesuan, swear, with the Buddha as my witness, I'll always be true and loyal to my blood brother, Dom, the Black Tiger who saved my life. If I break this oath, may his gun take my life.

Movie Connections:

References Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)

a love story, a splatter-western, a color overdose, and well worth seeing

"Tears of the Black Tiger" may be like any other film you've seen. It's a love story, it's a western, at least a Thai western, and it's got incredibly violent bloodshed at times that's almost cartoon-like in its excessiveness.

"Dum" is a young peasant boy who has fallen in love with a rich girl from the city named Rumpoey. When they're out in a boat they run afoul of some bullies & Rumpoey almost drowns when the boat is overturned but "Dum" saves her & brings her back to where her father is staying, and he's whipped severely for his transgression, by his father.

And now, in the future, which appears to be the 50's, maybe,it's hard to pinpoint a time-frame in this film, Rumpoey has been promised to Kumjoorn, a police captain, and yet she does not love him.

"Dum" has found his father killed by bandits, and he is out for revenge and is almost killed, but he's taken in by rival bandits (who I guess, are cowboys, Thai-style, that is), and he becomes known as the Black Tiger.

And so on. Of course, you know that "Dum" still loves Rumpoey, and she still loves him, but they're worlds apart.

This is a very interesting take on the old-style western. It's either given a Thai spin or it's done out of ignorance of what a "real" western is supposed to be like. Some of the cowboy outfits look like something a child would wear in the 50's or 60's. There's even a segment where the film takes us "back in time" (only 10 years) to where the film plays out like an old silent movie, complete with jerky movements & jumps in the picture, like there were sprockets missing from the film. And, when was the last time you saw cowboys become "blood brothers" by cutting themselves, dripping their blood into whiskey, and getting rip-roaring drunk in front of a statue of Buddha? Probably not recently.

And then, the colors. I felt like at times, I was about to be overwhelmed by the intensity of the colors of this film. At times, it's beautiful, and at other times, it's almost hallucinatory. The music in the soundtrack is sort of a Thai spin on old western themes, sounding very western but very eastern at the same time.

There are times where this movie does go a bit slowly, but that's a minor complaint. This is a rather fascinating experiment in transplanting a genre that's rather American into a country that has none of that sort of history in its culture (as far as I know), and it does work rather well, but does come off a bit odd, to say the least.

A fun film, a weird film, and possible influences seem to be Guy Maddin & John Waters, so if you're up for a strange western with surreal sets and Thai actors, well, give it a shot, it's pretty strange but also rather astounding. 8 out of 10.