Oxide Pang brings to the screen an adaptation of Alex Garland’s 1999 novel of the same title. For those familiar with Garland’s work, you’ll recall The Beach & 28 Days Later . The film is set in Bangkok. It begins in the delapitated Heaven hotel where Sean, or The English guy, is checked in room 303 and Rosa the psychologist is in room 205. The story is introduced by drawing human parallels to the Rubik’s cube, whereby the fourth dimension is invisible to humans – a kind of intersecting fate for our characters, both patrons of the hotel as well as a few locals. One usually is anxious to see how pages turn into frames when it comes to adapted screenplays, thus the first few minutes of the film prove to be quite crucial to win the audience over. Needless to say, the opening sequence is incredible, the cinematography and editing combined create a tense atmosphere in room 303, where Sean awaits local visitors with whom he will conduct business. The nervous ambience is created by a rapid succession of cuts i.e. an ashtray; flies going at it; clock; sheets; etc. Sean is quite uptight, to the point of hallucination, depicted in the moment where three men appear from the dirty greenish hotel wall and start shooting in his direction. Sean, sitting on the bed, is surrounded by slow flying bullets which shatter the wall behind him, leaving only pulverized rock in the air. This scene is intense. The sound of each round being fired fills your ears with this thump – whizzzz – tak! It is just awesome!   

The film alternates between the english and thai languages, which allows for a smooth story line. One of the best characters in this film is Wit, a 13 year-old boy who is employed at the hotel as a kind of errand boy. He is a streetkid who makes his money by breaking into the hotel rooms and gathering up valuables, an act which proves to be quite serious in the end. In a nutshell, Sean calls himself a“business man” and he serves as a vehicle for drug smuggling. He loses his stash and is on a quest to find it in order to safely exchange the goods for his ransomed passport. To add intensity, the drugs have been stolen from another gang, resulting in somewhat of a mass gang murder, which is executed primarily by the hired female gunman, or gunwoman. The film is presented in such a way that we are continuously viewing segments in a non-linear kind of way, kind of in reverse but no so much. It offers answers to the questions we had in the previous scene type editing. The same events are presented in a different perspective. The action sequences in this film are great! Everytime a gunshot is fired, the camera shakes rapidly, kind of blurring what we see and creating a kind of turbulent violence. If I recall correctly, most of the gunshots are slow-motion, which kind of adds a visual esthetic.  This is not crucial to the film, but it’s visually pleasing.    

In all, the film consists of interesting action sequences, amazing sound effects, and beautiful cinematography. It’s hard to do it justice, but if you like gritty, slow-mo bullets, discontinuity editing and stylish action sequences, check this one out if you have the chance. Although the crowd remained silent in the end, I would say that this film definetely packed a bang-kok. 

Dr. Zinjhou