Kenji, a young Japanese living in Bangkok, is no ordinary man. He's a neat freak, whose obsessive compulsive traits are revealed in his book-filled apartment, from the colour-coordinated stacks of socks in his closet to the neat row of clean plates drying by the spotless kitchen sink.
His big kick though, is suicide, which is how you first meet him, hanging by his neck from a noose. It's only a possible reality, as is most of what happens in this darkly surreal romantic comedy.
Kenji comes close to offing himself in several various ways, but is always interrupted by a noisy buzzer, bell or other alarm. He has an even darker side that is slowly revealed in a humourously warm, low-key manner.
And as more is revealed, a small cast of progressively sleazier characters are paraded by for the audience's enjoyment. There's a Thai gangster ex-boyfriend who's overwhelming, but a trio of yakuza (think Three Stooges) steals the show.
Kenji's obsessive compulsive traits are put to productive use as a librarian at the Japan Cultural Centre. It's there where a uniformed schoolgirl captures his attention. But she vanishes, almost before his very eyes.
She is seen later, at the culmination of a chain of events that brings Kenji together with the girl's older sister Noi. Other synopsis will reveal how, but I feel it's best you don't know much about this film before you watch it.
Anyway, the action is brief and tragic - as is all the action in this film. There's a little bit of gunplay - sudden and violent, yet so subtle, you wonder if youÕre dreaming.
Driving a beat-up old white Volkswagen Beetle convertible (a car that is just as much a character as the actors), the pair drive out to Noi's rundown seaside home. There, Kenji sees that Noi is everything that he isn't. There are mounds of dirty dishes everywhere. Books and magazines are strewn all over. The goldfish is floating dead, upside down in the aquarium. She's a slob, too, in contrast to Kenji's button-down appearance. She's also a pothead.
The mess is captured with moody realism by Hero cinematographer Christopher Doyle, in much the same manner he brought a smouldering feel to Wong Kar-waiÕs In the Mood for Love. Even the flotsam and jetsam washing up at the beach evokes some emotions.
Just as Kenji is out of the ordinary, so is the film. For a Thai film, there's hardly any Thai spoken. Most of the dialogue is in Japanese, and Kenji and Koi converse in English (as well as some Japanese as, by a mind-boggling twist of coincidence, she is moving to Japan).
And though it has a high-profile marketing campaign in Thailand, featuring the image of a man hanging in a noose, as well as the tail end of a VW Bug in some theatre lobbies, this film is anything but slick - a welcome break from this summer's no-brainer franchise flicks.
The timeline jumps around at various points causing some confusion, but this is a good thing, for viewers who stick with it.
His big kick though, is suicide, which is how you first meet him, hanging by his neck from a noose. It's only a possible reality, as is most of what happens in this darkly surreal romantic comedy.
Kenji comes close to offing himself in several various ways, but is always interrupted by a noisy buzzer, bell or other alarm. He has an even darker side that is slowly revealed in a humourously warm, low-key manner.
And as more is revealed, a small cast of progressively sleazier characters are paraded by for the audience's enjoyment. There's a Thai gangster ex-boyfriend who's overwhelming, but a trio of yakuza (think Three Stooges) steals the show.
Kenji's obsessive compulsive traits are put to productive use as a librarian at the Japan Cultural Centre. It's there where a uniformed schoolgirl captures his attention. But she vanishes, almost before his very eyes.
She is seen later, at the culmination of a chain of events that brings Kenji together with the girl's older sister Noi. Other synopsis will reveal how, but I feel it's best you don't know much about this film before you watch it.
Anyway, the action is brief and tragic - as is all the action in this film. There's a little bit of gunplay - sudden and violent, yet so subtle, you wonder if youÕre dreaming.
Driving a beat-up old white Volkswagen Beetle convertible (a car that is just as much a character as the actors), the pair drive out to Noi's rundown seaside home. There, Kenji sees that Noi is everything that he isn't. There are mounds of dirty dishes everywhere. Books and magazines are strewn all over. The goldfish is floating dead, upside down in the aquarium. She's a slob, too, in contrast to Kenji's button-down appearance. She's also a pothead.
The mess is captured with moody realism by Hero cinematographer Christopher Doyle, in much the same manner he brought a smouldering feel to Wong Kar-waiÕs In the Mood for Love. Even the flotsam and jetsam washing up at the beach evokes some emotions.
Just as Kenji is out of the ordinary, so is the film. For a Thai film, there's hardly any Thai spoken. Most of the dialogue is in Japanese, and Kenji and Koi converse in English (as well as some Japanese as, by a mind-boggling twist of coincidence, she is moving to Japan).
And though it has a high-profile marketing campaign in Thailand, featuring the image of a man hanging in a noose, as well as the tail end of a VW Bug in some theatre lobbies, this film is anything but slick - a welcome break from this summer's no-brainer franchise flicks.
The timeline jumps around at various points causing some confusion, but this is a good thing, for viewers who stick with it.