Ploy
Encyclopedia
Ploy is a 2007
Thai film
written and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
. The film premiered during the Directors' Fortnight
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
.
The drama film
stars Thai actress Lalita Panyopas
in a story of a middle-aged married couple who question their relationship after seven years. Ananda Everingham
is featured in a supporting role as a bartender.
The film contained sex scenes
that were shown at Cannes, but due to censorship
concerns had to be re-edited
by the director so the film could be shown in cinemas in Thailand when it opened there on June 7, 2007. The uncensored version of the film was shown in Thailand at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival
.
couple, Wit and Dang, back to Bangkok
for the first time in many years. Arriving at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport
at around 5 a.m., they check in to a hotel in the city. Suffering from jet lag
, Dang wants to sleep, but her husband Wit is restless and heads down to the hotel bar to buy some cigarettes. While unpacking their luggage, Dang finds a small paper with a phone number of a woman named Noy, and she is immediately suspicious.
In the hotel bar, Wit meets Ploy, a young woman who says she is waiting for her mother to arrive from Stockholm
. The two bond over coffee and cigarettes, and Wit then invites Ploy to come up to the hotel room, where she can take a shower and rest while she awaits her mother. Up at the room, Dang opens the door and sees Ploy. To the girl, Dang is pleasant and friendly, but to her husband, she is seething with anger and jealousy. She has bouts of suspicion, followed by hallucinations / nightmares. Fitfully, the three people try to sleep. Dang and Wit discuss their seven-year marriage, and wonder why the love has gone out of it.
Meanwhile, a hotel maid, Tum, has stolen a guest's suit from the hotel's dry cleaners. She takes it up to room 609 and hangs it in the closet. Nut, the silent, weary bartender, enters the room and puts on the suit. He then finds Tum hiding in the shower, and proceeds to kiss her and caress her, and the couple starts having a sexual relationship.
Back in Wit and Dang's room, Dang becomes more upset, and decides to leave. Wit wakes up to find Dang gone, and then he and Ploy sit and smoke cigarettes and talk about love and relationships. They discuss how married life begins to lose its sheen eventually and think of options to keep the flame lit.
Ploy eventually leaves the hotel room, when Wit falls asleep. Out of curiosity, she examines the room in which she thinks the maid and the bartender had sex. She apparently has a dream about the entire episode.
Dang finds a coffee shop, where she takes a seat with a cup of coffee and pours some vodka
in it from a small bottle she took from her hotel room's mini-bar. She is noticed by Moo, who is using his laptop computer. He recognizes Dang from her days as a famous television soap opera actress and invites her back to his home for some more drinks. Dang, who has already had quite a bit to drink, eventually throws up. Moo, spikes her last drink and tries to get closer to her. When Dang turns down his advances, he attacks and rapes her, although she puts up a fight. When Dang's life is in danger, they end up playing a game of hide and seek that would end with one of them dead.
The film ends with Wit and Dang leaving Thailand, as Dang says nothing about her ugly encounter with the rapist, Moo; when Wit sees her back at the hotel, he is happy to have Dang back with him. He places his hand over Dang's in the taxi, and sincerely tells her he loves her, which she had earlier expressed longing to hear. Dang smiles, and rests her head on Wit's shoulder lovingly as they exit Thailand to return to their home in the United states.
Director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
said he was inspired to write the screenplay after talking with a relative who had returned to Bangkok after some years in the United States. “My cousin had a restaurant in the U.S. and one day she came back to Thailand for a funeral,” Pen-Ek said. “But she didn't have a home here, so she had to stay in a hotel. I met her at the funeral and it struck me as rather odd that this Thai person had to stay in a hotel room when she came to Thailand. It inspired me to start writing a script about a Thai couple in a hotel room."
The film's proposal was submitted in 2006 to the Pusan Promotion Plan at the Pusan International Film Festival
. Budgeted at around US$2 million, principal photography began in February 2007 in Bangkok. The locations included hotels and restaurants along Sukhumvit Road
, as well as Suvarnabhumi Airport
, making Ploy the first Thai feature film to feature Bangkok's new international airport. "Most of the action takes place in a hotel room. So we built our own room on the rooftop of a hotel, and it looks exactly like a real hotel room," Pen-Ek said in the film's production notes.
In March 2007, the Hong Kong/Amsterdam-based film financing and distribution company, Fortissimo Films
, announced it would be executive producer of the film along with Thailand's Five Star Production
. Fortissimo takes care of international sales for the film, while Five Star handles distribution in Thailand.
From the start, producers sought to make Ploy a smaller-scale film than Pen-Ek's previous two films, Last Life in the Universe
and Invisible Waves
, which "were high-budget productions with international collaboration," said executive producer Chareon Iamphungporn. The previous two films had also been scripted or co-scripted by Thai writer Prabda Yoon
. Chareon said he wanted Pen-Ek to return to his screenwriter-director roots and "come up with a project that had the personal warmth of his early films like 6ixtynin9
and Monrak Transistor
."
The film reunited Pen-Ek with Thai cinematographer Chankit Chamnivikaipong, who had photographed his first three films, Fun Bar Karaoke
, 6ixtynin9 and Monrak Transistor, before Pen-Ek collaborated with Christopher Doyle
on Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves.
Ploy was a reunion for Pen-Ek and actress Lalita Panyopas
, who is well known in Thailand for her roles in soap operas and a string of films in the 1980s. She starred in Pen-Ek's 1999 crime comedy-drama 6ixtynin9
.
Pornwut Sarasin, who portrays the husband Wit, was a first-time actor. Forty-eight years old at the time of shooting, he is a vice president for Thai Namthip, the distributor of Coca-Cola
in Thailand, and is well known in Thai high-society circles.
Ananda Everingham
, who plays Nut the bartender, had worked with Pen-ek on a short film Twelve Twenty, commissioned for the 2006 Jeonju International Film Festival
. He shares erotic scenes with model-actress Porntip Papanai
, who plays the maid, Tum. She had a major role in Pen-ek's 2001 musical-comedy, Monrak Transistor
, portraying the singer, Dao.
For the title character, Ploy, Pen-Ek chose Apinya Sakulcharoensuk, who was 16 years old at the time of shooting. "She's a godsend," the director said of the actress. "It's as if I could sense that the Ploy character is out there somewhere in the real world, and then she materializes in the form of this girl. Apinya was born to be Ploy."
Apinya had her hair styled into an Afro
, a decision made by costume designer Visa Khongka, to make the character of Ploy look older and unique.
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
. Critical reaction was mixed. Russell Edwards, writing for the film industry trade publication Variety
, was negative, criticizing the film for its "glacial pace" and saying it was "too flimsy and false to truly engage."
Lee Marshall, writing for another trade journal, Screen Daily
, was positive, mentioning The Seven Year Itch
and calling Ploy "a tasty slice of cinema, by turns oneiric, erotic, funny and emotionally perceptive."
"Ploy imposes its own unhurried rhythm but then rewards its viewers for their indulgence, and within the arthouse niche that it will inevitably inhabit this could turn out to be a strong seller," Marshall wrote.
In an interview at Cannes, Pen-Ek reacted to the Variety and Screen Daily reviews, saying, "One is so bad and one is so good. They're equally not true."
Todd Brown, writing from Cannes for the website Twitchfilm.net, said Ploy is a logical step in the director's evolution, continuing on themes that were explored in Last Life in the Universe
and Invisible Waves
. "Ploy is essentially a lucid dream, a film that takes place in that odd in-between state when you cannot be sure whether you are sleeping or awake and there are seemingly sure pointers that would have you believe both. It is a film about people dislocated and relationships formed while others are breaking down badly," Brown wrote. "Ploy is a beautiful, thoughtful, meditative film, one that requires more effort from its audience than does Last Life in the Universe but one that the patient will find no less rewarding."
Kong Rithdee, critic for the Bangkok Post
, said "Ploy is a finely tuned, mature piece of filmmaking that discusses adult themes with honesty and amused attention to the tiny details that define the shifting phases of a marriage. Ploy takes us closer to the characters than the director did in his last two outings ... and despite its dreamy episodes of hot-breath lovemaking, the movie is anchored in the sense of social realities more than his non-fans might care to observe."
and sex
between the bartender (Ananda Everingham
) and the maid (Porntip Papanai
). This is uncommon for Thai films
because the industry is subjected to a censorship code
that prohibits such depictions.
Pen-Ek said he didn't like directing the sex scenes. "It's not fun at all. I don't know how to direct two people making love! And it's not a good experience when they had to do it over and over again for 12 hours."
In describing the scenes in his review, Russell Edwards of Variety called them "compellingly erotic", but sarcastically added that the scenes "indicate that cinema's gain has truly been pornography's loss."
Todd Brown of Twitchfilm.net said the sex scenes might harm the film's chances in Thailand, saying "Thailand is notorious for the uneven application of its censorship laws but graphic nudity is pretty much always frowned upon."
Ahead of the film's opening in Thailand, the country's Board of Censorship ordered eight cuts for scenes it deemed obscene and inappropriate, mostly the lovemaking scenes. The director re-edited
the film, cutting some scenes and adding others not included in the Cannes version, so the length is unchanged. The version shown in Cannes is unlikely to be seen in Thailand.
"Once again a good movie has been butchered by the powers-that-be, who believe their judgment is superior to ours," Bangkok Post
film critic Kong Rithdee said in his review, referring to another film that had run afoul of Thai censors earlier in the year, Syndromes and a Century
, by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
. That film was pulled from release by the director, who refused to make the cuts ordered.
For Ploy, the cuts have little effect on the film as whole, Rithdee said, though the contrast is less stark between the bartender's and maid's steamy sex scenes and the chilly arguments of the married couple.
The uncensored version of the film was screened in the main competition at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival
.
.
In its opening weekend, Ploy earned 6 million baht
(about US$171,000) in Bangkok cinemas, compared to the $2.28 million after two weeks of earnings by Nhong Teng kon maha hia.
Five Star Production
had hoped the film would do better, based on the popularity of leading actress Lalita Panyopas
, positive reviews from Cannes and word-of-mouth buzz.
"We expected a little more with Ploy," Co-producer Aphiradee Iamphungphorn was quoted as saying by Variety. "It is difficult to predict the market these days. Some people may have second thoughts whether they should see the film with the name Pen-Ek Ratanaruang as a director. Many still have this image that he only makes difficult movies."
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
Thai film
Cinema of Thailand
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...
written and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang is a Thai film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his arthouse work, Last Life in the Universe, and is considered to be one of Thai cinema's leading "new wave" auteurs, alongside Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul...
. The film premiered during the Directors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. The section was created in 1969 after the events of May 1968, in which the Cannes festival was canceled in solidarity with striking workers....
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
.
The drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
stars Thai actress Lalita Panyopas
Lalita Panyopas
Lalita Panyopas is a Thai film and television actress. She is best known in Thailand for her roles in lakorn . She made a string of feature films in the late 1980s and also was the lead actress in many Thai lakorns in the late 1980s to early 2000s...
in a story of a middle-aged married couple who question their relationship after seven years. Ananda Everingham
Ananda Everingham
Ananda Everingham is a Laotian-Australian film actor who was born in Thailand. Working primarily in Thai films, he is best known for his lead role in the 2004 horror film, Shutter.-Biography:...
is featured in a supporting role as a bartender.
The film contained sex scenes
Sex in film
Sex in film refers to the presentation in motion pictures of sexuality and sex acts, including love scenes. Sex scenes have been depicted in film since the silent era of cinematography. Many actors and actresses have exposed parts of their bodies or dressed and behaved in ways considered sexually...
that were shown at Cannes, but due to censorship
Censorship in Thailand
Freedom of speech in Thailand was guaranteed in the articles 39, 40, 41 in the 1997 Constitution.According to those articles, censorship may be imposed to preserve national security, maintain public order, preserve the rights of others, protect public morals, and prevent criticism of the royal...
concerns had to be re-edited
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
by the director so the film could be shown in cinemas in Thailand when it opened there on June 7, 2007. The uncensored version of the film was shown in Thailand at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival
2007 Bangkok International Film Festival
The 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival was held from July 19 to July 29, 2007, at SF Group's SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. The fifth consecutive year for the festival, organizers planned a program of about 100 films, with an emphasis on Asian cinema....
.
Plot
The death of a relative brings a Thai-AmericanThai American
A Thai American is an American of whose parents or grandparents came from Thailand. Many of them may in fact be of Thai Chinese or at least part Chinese ancestry, but they are still considered to be Thais.-History in U.S.:...
couple, Wit and Dang, back to Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
for the first time in many years. Arriving at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport
Suvarnabhumi Airport
Suvarnabhumi Airport , also known as Bangkok International Airport, is an international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. It was officially opened for limited domestic flight service on 15 September 2006, and opened for most domestic and all international commercial flights on 28 September...
at around 5 a.m., they check in to a hotel in the city. Suffering from jet lag
Jet lag
Jet lag, medically referred to as desynchronosis, is a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders...
, Dang wants to sleep, but her husband Wit is restless and heads down to the hotel bar to buy some cigarettes. While unpacking their luggage, Dang finds a small paper with a phone number of a woman named Noy, and she is immediately suspicious.
In the hotel bar, Wit meets Ploy, a young woman who says she is waiting for her mother to arrive from Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. The two bond over coffee and cigarettes, and Wit then invites Ploy to come up to the hotel room, where she can take a shower and rest while she awaits her mother. Up at the room, Dang opens the door and sees Ploy. To the girl, Dang is pleasant and friendly, but to her husband, she is seething with anger and jealousy. She has bouts of suspicion, followed by hallucinations / nightmares. Fitfully, the three people try to sleep. Dang and Wit discuss their seven-year marriage, and wonder why the love has gone out of it.
Meanwhile, a hotel maid, Tum, has stolen a guest's suit from the hotel's dry cleaners. She takes it up to room 609 and hangs it in the closet. Nut, the silent, weary bartender, enters the room and puts on the suit. He then finds Tum hiding in the shower, and proceeds to kiss her and caress her, and the couple starts having a sexual relationship.
Back in Wit and Dang's room, Dang becomes more upset, and decides to leave. Wit wakes up to find Dang gone, and then he and Ploy sit and smoke cigarettes and talk about love and relationships. They discuss how married life begins to lose its sheen eventually and think of options to keep the flame lit.
Ploy eventually leaves the hotel room, when Wit falls asleep. Out of curiosity, she examines the room in which she thinks the maid and the bartender had sex. She apparently has a dream about the entire episode.
Dang finds a coffee shop, where she takes a seat with a cup of coffee and pours some vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
in it from a small bottle she took from her hotel room's mini-bar. She is noticed by Moo, who is using his laptop computer. He recognizes Dang from her days as a famous television soap opera actress and invites her back to his home for some more drinks. Dang, who has already had quite a bit to drink, eventually throws up. Moo, spikes her last drink and tries to get closer to her. When Dang turns down his advances, he attacks and rapes her, although she puts up a fight. When Dang's life is in danger, they end up playing a game of hide and seek that would end with one of them dead.
The film ends with Wit and Dang leaving Thailand, as Dang says nothing about her ugly encounter with the rapist, Moo; when Wit sees her back at the hotel, he is happy to have Dang back with him. He places his hand over Dang's in the taxi, and sincerely tells her he loves her, which she had earlier expressed longing to hear. Dang smiles, and rests her head on Wit's shoulder lovingly as they exit Thailand to return to their home in the United states.
Cast and characters
- Lalita PanyopasLalita PanyopasLalita Panyopas is a Thai film and television actress. She is best known in Thailand for her roles in lakorn . She made a string of feature films in the late 1980s and also was the lead actress in many Thai lakorns in the late 1980s to early 2000s...
as Dang: A former actress, still recognized and well-known in Thailand, she has been married for seven years to Wit. - Pornwut Sarasin as Wit: A Thai restaurateur who's lived in the United States for a number of years, and was widowed when he met Dang.
- Apinya SakuljaroensukApinya SakuljaroensukApinya Sakuljaroensuk is a Thai actress born on 27 May 1990.Her first movie was Ploy directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The movie was premiered at the International Film Festival in Cannes in 2007...
as Ploy: A teenage woman with an AfroAfroAfro, sometimes shortened to fro and also known as a "natural", is a hairstyle worn naturally by people with lengthy kinky hair texture or specifically styled in such a fashion by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair...
, she says she is 19 years old and is waiting for her mother to arrive from StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. She has a black eye. Wit first spots her in the hotel bar with a young man who's passed out at a table, whom Wit assumes is Ploy's boyfriend. - Porntip PapanaiPorntip PapanaiPorntip Papanai is a Thai actress and model. Among her film roles are supporting parts in Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Monrak Transistor , in which she played the country singer Dao, and Ploy , in which she portrayed Tum, the hotel maid....
as Tum: A hotel maid who steals a customer's suit from the hotel dry cleaners. - Ananda EveringhamAnanda EveringhamAnanda Everingham is a Laotian-Australian film actor who was born in Thailand. Working primarily in Thai films, he is best known for his lead role in the 2004 horror film, Shutter.-Biography:...
as Nut: The weary, silent bartender, he meets Tum in room 609, and puts on the suit she stole, and engages in some erotic role-playing with Tum. - Thaksakorn Pradabpongsa as Moo: An antiques dealer who meets Dang in a coffee shop and invites her to his apartment for drinks.
- The film ends with Wit and Dang leaving Thailand, as Dang says nothing about her ugly encounter with the rapist, Moo; when Wit sees her back at the hotel, he is happy to have Dang back with him. He places his hand over Dang's in the taxi, and sincerely tells her he loves her, which she had earlier expressed longing to hear. Dang smiles, and rests her head on Wit's shoulder lovingly as they exit Thailand to return to their home in the United states.
Origins
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang is a Thai film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his arthouse work, Last Life in the Universe, and is considered to be one of Thai cinema's leading "new wave" auteurs, alongside Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul...
said he was inspired to write the screenplay after talking with a relative who had returned to Bangkok after some years in the United States. “My cousin had a restaurant in the U.S. and one day she came back to Thailand for a funeral,” Pen-Ek said. “But she didn't have a home here, so she had to stay in a hotel. I met her at the funeral and it struck me as rather odd that this Thai person had to stay in a hotel room when she came to Thailand. It inspired me to start writing a script about a Thai couple in a hotel room."
The film's proposal was submitted in 2006 to the Pusan Promotion Plan at the Pusan International Film Festival
Pusan International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...
. Budgeted at around US$2 million, principal photography began in February 2007 in Bangkok. The locations included hotels and restaurants along Sukhumvit Road
Sukhumvit Road
Sukhumvit Road , or Thailand Route 3 , is a major road in Thailand, and a major surface road of Bangkok and other cities it winds through. It follows a coastal route from Bangkok to Trat and is just over in length....
, as well as Suvarnabhumi Airport
Suvarnabhumi Airport
Suvarnabhumi Airport , also known as Bangkok International Airport, is an international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. It was officially opened for limited domestic flight service on 15 September 2006, and opened for most domestic and all international commercial flights on 28 September...
, making Ploy the first Thai feature film to feature Bangkok's new international airport. "Most of the action takes place in a hotel room. So we built our own room on the rooftop of a hotel, and it looks exactly like a real hotel room," Pen-Ek said in the film's production notes.
In March 2007, the Hong Kong/Amsterdam-based film financing and distribution company, Fortissimo Films
Fortissimo Films
Fortissimo Films is a multi-national film production, sales and distribution company. The company has been behind such East Asian films as Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, the Thai films Tears of the Black Tiger and Last Life in the Universe, as well as such independent films as Pleasure...
, announced it would be executive producer of the film along with Thailand's Five Star Production
Five Star Production
Five Star Production Co. Ltd. is a Thai film production company. It was founded in 1973 by Kiat Iamphungphorn and is today headed by his younger brother, Charoen Iamphungporn, and Kiat's children, Aphiradee and her younger brothers Kiatkamon and Kiattikul...
. Fortissimo takes care of international sales for the film, while Five Star handles distribution in Thailand.
From the start, producers sought to make Ploy a smaller-scale film than Pen-Ek's previous two films, Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe is a 2003 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film is notable for being trilingual; the two main characters flit from Thai to Japanese to English as their vocabulary requires...
and Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves is a 2006 crime film by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, with screenplay by Prabda Yoon, cinematography by Christopher Doyle, and starring Tadanobu Asano – all people that Pen-Ek had worked with on his previous film, Last Life in the Universe...
, which "were high-budget productions with international collaboration," said executive producer Chareon Iamphungporn. The previous two films had also been scripted or co-scripted by Thai writer Prabda Yoon
Prabda Yoon
Prabda Yoon is a Thai writer, novelist, artist, graphic designer, magazine editor, screenwriter and translator. He is the son of Nation Multimedia Group executive and editor Suthichai Yoon....
. Chareon said he wanted Pen-Ek to return to his screenwriter-director roots and "come up with a project that had the personal warmth of his early films like 6ixtynin9
Ruang Talok 69
Ruang Talok 69 , is a 1999 Thai crime film written and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. It is the second feature film by the Thai writer-director. It stars Lalita Panyopas, a popular star of Thai soap operas.-Plot:Tum is a secretary working for a bank when the company is forced to shed staff...
and Monrak Transistor
Monrak Transistor
Monrak Transistor is a 2001 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. Blending several genres, including comedy, romance, musical and crime, it is the story of a young man named Pan and his odyssey after he goes AWOL from the army and tries to make it as a luk thung singing star.-Plot:The story...
."
The film reunited Pen-Ek with Thai cinematographer Chankit Chamnivikaipong, who had photographed his first three films, Fun Bar Karaoke
Fun Bar Karaoke
Fun Bar Karaoke is a 1997 crime-comedy directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film had its world premiere at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival for which Pen-Ek was credited as "Tom Pannet". It screened in the festival's Forum section.-Plot:...
, 6ixtynin9 and Monrak Transistor, before Pen-Ek collaborated with Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer. He has won the AFI Award for cinematography, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards , and Hong Kong Film Award . Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers.-Biography:Doyle was born in Sydney,...
on Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves.
Casting
Lalita Panyopas
Lalita Panyopas is a Thai film and television actress. She is best known in Thailand for her roles in lakorn . She made a string of feature films in the late 1980s and also was the lead actress in many Thai lakorns in the late 1980s to early 2000s...
, who is well known in Thailand for her roles in soap operas and a string of films in the 1980s. She starred in Pen-Ek's 1999 crime comedy-drama 6ixtynin9
Ruang Talok 69
Ruang Talok 69 , is a 1999 Thai crime film written and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. It is the second feature film by the Thai writer-director. It stars Lalita Panyopas, a popular star of Thai soap operas.-Plot:Tum is a secretary working for a bank when the company is forced to shed staff...
.
Pornwut Sarasin, who portrays the husband Wit, was a first-time actor. Forty-eight years old at the time of shooting, he is a vice president for Thai Namthip, the distributor of Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
in Thailand, and is well known in Thai high-society circles.
Ananda Everingham
Ananda Everingham
Ananda Everingham is a Laotian-Australian film actor who was born in Thailand. Working primarily in Thai films, he is best known for his lead role in the 2004 horror film, Shutter.-Biography:...
, who plays Nut the bartender, had worked with Pen-ek on a short film Twelve Twenty, commissioned for the 2006 Jeonju International Film Festival
Jeonju International Film Festival
The Jeonju International Film Festival has been held annually since 2000 in Jeonju, South Korea, focusing on digital, independent and art films.-2000:*April 28-May 4: 184 films from 21 countries...
. He shares erotic scenes with model-actress Porntip Papanai
Porntip Papanai
Porntip Papanai is a Thai actress and model. Among her film roles are supporting parts in Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Monrak Transistor , in which she played the country singer Dao, and Ploy , in which she portrayed Tum, the hotel maid....
, who plays the maid, Tum. She had a major role in Pen-ek's 2001 musical-comedy, Monrak Transistor
Monrak Transistor
Monrak Transistor is a 2001 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. Blending several genres, including comedy, romance, musical and crime, it is the story of a young man named Pan and his odyssey after he goes AWOL from the army and tries to make it as a luk thung singing star.-Plot:The story...
, portraying the singer, Dao.
For the title character, Ploy, Pen-Ek chose Apinya Sakulcharoensuk, who was 16 years old at the time of shooting. "She's a godsend," the director said of the actress. "It's as if I could sense that the Ploy character is out there somewhere in the real world, and then she materializes in the form of this girl. Apinya was born to be Ploy."
Apinya had her hair styled into an Afro
Afro
Afro, sometimes shortened to fro and also known as a "natural", is a hairstyle worn naturally by people with lengthy kinky hair texture or specifically styled in such a fashion by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair...
, a decision made by costume designer Visa Khongka, to make the character of Ploy look older and unique.
Reception
The film premiered on May 21, 2007 during the Directors' FortnightDirectors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. The section was created in 1969 after the events of May 1968, in which the Cannes festival was canceled in solidarity with striking workers....
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
. Critical reaction was mixed. Russell Edwards, writing for the film industry trade publication Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, was negative, criticizing the film for its "glacial pace" and saying it was "too flimsy and false to truly engage."
Lee Marshall, writing for another trade journal, Screen Daily
Screen International
Screen International is a multimedia film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by EMAP, a British b2b media company.The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global movie business...
, was positive, mentioning The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
and calling Ploy "a tasty slice of cinema, by turns oneiric, erotic, funny and emotionally perceptive."
"Ploy imposes its own unhurried rhythm but then rewards its viewers for their indulgence, and within the arthouse niche that it will inevitably inhabit this could turn out to be a strong seller," Marshall wrote.
In an interview at Cannes, Pen-Ek reacted to the Variety and Screen Daily reviews, saying, "One is so bad and one is so good. They're equally not true."
Todd Brown, writing from Cannes for the website Twitchfilm.net, said Ploy is a logical step in the director's evolution, continuing on themes that were explored in Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe is a 2003 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film is notable for being trilingual; the two main characters flit from Thai to Japanese to English as their vocabulary requires...
and Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves is a 2006 crime film by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, with screenplay by Prabda Yoon, cinematography by Christopher Doyle, and starring Tadanobu Asano – all people that Pen-Ek had worked with on his previous film, Last Life in the Universe...
. "Ploy is essentially a lucid dream, a film that takes place in that odd in-between state when you cannot be sure whether you are sleeping or awake and there are seemingly sure pointers that would have you believe both. It is a film about people dislocated and relationships formed while others are breaking down badly," Brown wrote. "Ploy is a beautiful, thoughtful, meditative film, one that requires more effort from its audience than does Last Life in the Universe but one that the patient will find no less rewarding."
Kong Rithdee, critic for the Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
The Bangkok Post is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. The first issue was sold on August 1, 1946. It had four pages and cost 1 baht, a considerable amount at the time....
, said "Ploy is a finely tuned, mature piece of filmmaking that discusses adult themes with honesty and amused attention to the tiny details that define the shifting phases of a marriage. Ploy takes us closer to the characters than the director did in his last two outings ... and despite its dreamy episodes of hot-breath lovemaking, the movie is anchored in the sense of social realities more than his non-fans might care to observe."
Censorship issues
The version of Ploy that was shown at Cannes featured some extended scenes of nudityNudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
and sex
Sex in film
Sex in film refers to the presentation in motion pictures of sexuality and sex acts, including love scenes. Sex scenes have been depicted in film since the silent era of cinematography. Many actors and actresses have exposed parts of their bodies or dressed and behaved in ways considered sexually...
between the bartender (Ananda Everingham
Ananda Everingham
Ananda Everingham is a Laotian-Australian film actor who was born in Thailand. Working primarily in Thai films, he is best known for his lead role in the 2004 horror film, Shutter.-Biography:...
) and the maid (Porntip Papanai
Porntip Papanai
Porntip Papanai is a Thai actress and model. Among her film roles are supporting parts in Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Monrak Transistor , in which she played the country singer Dao, and Ploy , in which she portrayed Tum, the hotel maid....
). This is uncommon for Thai films
Cinema of Thailand
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...
because the industry is subjected to a censorship code
Censorship in Thailand
Freedom of speech in Thailand was guaranteed in the articles 39, 40, 41 in the 1997 Constitution.According to those articles, censorship may be imposed to preserve national security, maintain public order, preserve the rights of others, protect public morals, and prevent criticism of the royal...
that prohibits such depictions.
Pen-Ek said he didn't like directing the sex scenes. "It's not fun at all. I don't know how to direct two people making love! And it's not a good experience when they had to do it over and over again for 12 hours."
In describing the scenes in his review, Russell Edwards of Variety called them "compellingly erotic", but sarcastically added that the scenes "indicate that cinema's gain has truly been pornography's loss."
Todd Brown of Twitchfilm.net said the sex scenes might harm the film's chances in Thailand, saying "Thailand is notorious for the uneven application of its censorship laws but graphic nudity is pretty much always frowned upon."
Ahead of the film's opening in Thailand, the country's Board of Censorship ordered eight cuts for scenes it deemed obscene and inappropriate, mostly the lovemaking scenes. The director re-edited
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
the film, cutting some scenes and adding others not included in the Cannes version, so the length is unchanged. The version shown in Cannes is unlikely to be seen in Thailand.
"Once again a good movie has been butchered by the powers-that-be, who believe their judgment is superior to ours," Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
The Bangkok Post is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. The first issue was sold on August 1, 1946. It had four pages and cost 1 baht, a considerable amount at the time....
film critic Kong Rithdee said in his review, referring to another film that had run afoul of Thai censors earlier in the year, Syndromes and a Century
Syndromes and a Century
Syndromes and a Century is a 2006 Thai drama film written and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The film was among the works commissioned for Peter Sellars' New Crowned Hope festival in Vienna to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
, by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004...
. That film was pulled from release by the director, who refused to make the cuts ordered.
For Ploy, the cuts have little effect on the film as whole, Rithdee said, though the contrast is less stark between the bartender's and maid's steamy sex scenes and the chilly arguments of the married couple.
The uncensored version of the film was screened in the main competition at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival
2007 Bangkok International Film Festival
The 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival was held from July 19 to July 29, 2007, at SF Group's SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. The fifth consecutive year for the festival, organizers planned a program of about 100 films, with an emphasis on Asian cinema....
.
Box office
Ploy was released in Thailand cinemas on June 7, 2007, but proved to be no match for the Thai comedy film, Nhong Teng kon maha hia, which was released the previous weekend and even topped a Hollywood release, Ocean's ThirteenOcean's Thirteen
Ocean's Thirteen is a 2007 crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring an ensemble cast. It is the third and final film in the Soderbergh series following the 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve and the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, which itself was a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean's 11...
.
In its opening weekend, Ploy earned 6 million baht
Thai baht
The baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into 100 satang . The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand.-History:The baht, like the pound, originated from a traditional unit of mass...
(about US$171,000) in Bangkok cinemas, compared to the $2.28 million after two weeks of earnings by Nhong Teng kon maha hia.
Five Star Production
Five Star Production
Five Star Production Co. Ltd. is a Thai film production company. It was founded in 1973 by Kiat Iamphungphorn and is today headed by his younger brother, Charoen Iamphungporn, and Kiat's children, Aphiradee and her younger brothers Kiatkamon and Kiattikul...
had hoped the film would do better, based on the popularity of leading actress Lalita Panyopas
Lalita Panyopas
Lalita Panyopas is a Thai film and television actress. She is best known in Thailand for her roles in lakorn . She made a string of feature films in the late 1980s and also was the lead actress in many Thai lakorns in the late 1980s to early 2000s...
, positive reviews from Cannes and word-of-mouth buzz.
"We expected a little more with Ploy," Co-producer Aphiradee Iamphungphorn was quoted as saying by Variety. "It is difficult to predict the market these days. Some people may have second thoughts whether they should see the film with the name Pen-Ek Ratanaruang as a director. Many still have this image that he only makes difficult movies."
Festivals and awards
- 2007 Cannes Film Festival2007 Cannes Film FestivalThe 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
, Directors' FortnightDirectors' FortnightDirectors' Fortnight is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. The section was created in 1969 after the events of May 1968, in which the Cannes festival was canceled in solidarity with striking workers....
, world premiere - 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival2007 Bangkok International Film FestivalThe 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival was held from July 19 to July 29, 2007, at SF Group's SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. The fifth consecutive year for the festival, organizers planned a program of about 100 films, with an emphasis on Asian cinema....
, Golden Kinneree nominee for best international film - 2007 Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab CinemaOsian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab CinemaOsian's-Cinefan, the largest film-festival devoted to Asian and Arab cinema, is part of Osian's Film House Division. The festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in July 2008.-History:...
, FIPRESCIFIPRESCIThe International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
award winner - 2007 Toronto International Film Festival2007 Toronto International Film FestivalThe 2007 Toronto International Film Festival was a 32nd annual film festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It ran from September 6, 2007 to September 15, 2007. The lineup consisted of 349 films from 55 countries, selected from 4156 submissions...
- 2007 San Sebastián International Film FestivalSan Sebastián International Film FestivalThe San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
- 2008 Deauville Asian Film FestivalDeauville Asian Film FestivalThe Deauville Asian Film Festival takes place annually in Deauville, France since 1999 and focuses on Asian cinema...
- 2008 Silk Screen Asian American Film FestivalSilk Screen Asian American Film FestivalThe Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival is a week long film festival founded in 2006 by filmmaker and artist Harish Saluja and held every May during Asian American Heritage Month in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to show mostly recent films and music by artists with Asian ethnic origins, such as...
External links
- Synopsis at Fortissimo Films
- Ploy trailer download at Five Star ProductionFive Star ProductionFive Star Production Co. Ltd. is a Thai film production company. It was founded in 1973 by Kiat Iamphungphorn and is today headed by his younger brother, Charoen Iamphungporn, and Kiat's children, Aphiradee and her younger brothers Kiatkamon and Kiattikul...
- Ploy music video download at Five Star ProductionFive Star ProductionFive Star Production Co. Ltd. is a Thai film production company. It was founded in 1973 by Kiat Iamphungphorn and is today headed by his younger brother, Charoen Iamphungporn, and Kiat's children, Aphiradee and her younger brothers Kiatkamon and Kiattikul...