Leben nach dem Tod in Bangkok

I probably should not have watched this at 2am. I woke from my sleep and was looking for something interesting. Despite a noise inside my head calling me to go back to bed, I was entranced at the story unfolding before me.

Tadanobu Asano, who I last saw in Zatôichi, was captivating as a suicidal Japanese man living in Bangkock. He is an obsessive-compulsive on the order of Monk. He crosses paths with Sinitta Boonyasak in her first film. Her house is reminiscent of writers Iris Murdoch and John Bayley in it's proportion of slovenliness. They barely manage to communicate as she is barely conversant in Japanese and he in Thai.

We watch them as they try to communicate and share their tragedies in common. Both recently lost siblings. It is a Lost in Translation type of movie brilliantly done by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. She smokes while he cleans and is in the background. Somehow they manage to help each other through their pain.

I know I will have to watch this again as I was not fully awake. I look forward to that experience.

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's gently observed tale of the love that develops between a suicidal Japanese librarian and a streetwise Thai woman who meet under tragic circumstances is hypnotically absorbing. Shot in a lyrical and languid style by Christopher Doyle, who abandons his trademark vivid and hyper-real use of colour, the piece has been given a muted, naturalistic look. This suits the subdued tone and measured pace of the film which focuses on emotion rather than action. Ratanaruang, describes Last Life in the Universe as his most tender film, and this is as good a word as any to describe the relationship of Tadanobu Asano's Kenji, and Sinitta Boonyasak's Noi.

After unhappy fate has brought them together Noi and Kenji find sanctuary in each other. Kenji, deeply introspective, disconnected from reality, and suicidal, is literally saved from himself by Noi, whose joie de vivre, though dampened by grief, is infectious. Noi brings energy, colour, and most importantly life, to Kenji's dull and organised universe. Kenji brings a sense of order and balance to Noi's chaotic life, and his tranquil non-intrusive presence helps Noi to cope with her grief and the resulting sense of loneliness. As Ratanaruang claims, it is very tenderly done, and this is translated into the performance of both leads.

Asano, hugely famous in Japan for playing offbeat characters, brings a restrained sense of wonder to Kenji whose growing appetite for life is communicated in simple gestures such as a draw on a cigarette, or a ruffle of his hair. Boonyasak, in what is a very difficult first role, does exceptionally well to convince as a woman who though filled with grief has an irrepressible lust for life. Part of what fascinates the audience about both characters is the ambiguity that surrounds them. They are both without a history, especially Kenji who appears to have been linked to the Yakuza, and though it is never made clear why he is in Thailand there is an implication that he may have a murky past in Japan.

Reduced to the basics then Last Life in the Universe is a simple love story with very familiar themes; opposites attract, and the redemptive power of love. That this well-trodden path is followed again here takes nothing away from the film however, as though the story unfolds slowly it is well paced, well acted, and sensuously shot. The only potential weakness was Ratanaruang's inclusion of the comic gangster element (actor/director Takashi Miike plays a mob boss bent on revenge) which could very easily have been Last Life in the Universe's Achilles' heel, upsetting the tone and balance. As it turns out the Yakuza scenes work very well. In the context of the story Miike, and his henchmen do not seem out of place, and the absurd humour that they inject provides a necessary distraction from the studied inaction of Kenji and Noi. Overall then the elements combine to make Last Life in the Universe an unmissable film.

This the first film I've seen by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and without a doubt its one of the most accomplished and satisfying I've seen all year.

Two polar opposite characters - a quiet and meticulous Japanese librarian with a shady past and designs on ending his life (Asano Tadanobu) and a feisty, straight-talking thai female escort (Sinitta Boonyasak) - have one thing in common and not much else it seems. They are both utterly lonely, albeit for different reasons - she is recently bereaved of her sister, he for a reason never fully disclosed is distanced from the world, an introverted outsider with no good reason to go on. Thrown together by a sequence of events (chance or fate?) they take solace from each others presence. From this, lets face it, not original germ grows an enchanting, touching and idiosyncratic movie.One that's not concerned with characterisation, an intricate plot or histrionic's but with how two troubled, contradictory people growcloser and in the process rediscover a reason for being, for going on in the universe. Due to the language barrier (they flit from talking Thai, Japanese and English to understand one another) they may not have meaningful discourse, but here the meaning is hidden behind the formalities, the pedestrian, the everyday.

I'm not going to launch into an extended essay or spew to many superlatives but believe me when I say its a strange delight. Assured, amusing and touching, this multi-lingual film is replete with a dry wit, a surreal element that leaves a lot to interpretation and a deft ability to prick the emotions. There are laudable performances from the two central characters, and a third from Christopher Doyle's shifting oblique camera-work and composition. And despite its clear East Asian cinematic influences (in tone it reminds me of Kitano's Dolls - the lingering pace and melancholy signature theme music– and it features a yakuza based subplot) Last Life evokes modern day Thailand in all its chaotic ramshackle splendour brilliantly.

Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) is a depressed, introverted Japanese man living in Bangkok with suicidal fantasies. He is not so simple as his quiet demeanour hopes to portray. His past is complicated and therefore he controls his present state with an OCD-repressed lifestyle. His clothes are colour co-ordinated, his socks ironed and folded, and his books are stacked so neatly there's an urge to reach into the TV and throw them around the room just to set the sterile organisation off-kilter.

The dream-like unreality of Kenji is punctuated by his meeting of Nid (Laila Boonyasak) and her subsequent departure. Her sister Noi (played by Nid's real-life sister, Sinitta Boonyasak) is suddenly in his life, and her home serves as an escape for a disturbing event that happens in Kenji's apartment. Their personalities are as contradictory as they are complimentary - she is as messy as he is organised, as free as he is controlled. He brings her life into order and she brings his into disarray.

The developing romance between the two is difficult to categorise. Kenji imagines on occasion that Noi has become Nid; it's almost as if Noi is the next best thing and he doesn't appreciate her for herself. This is however usurped by the ending, of which I won't give away. That has to be down to individual interpretation and perhaps can't be seen definitively anyway.

Director and co-writer Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's portrayal of a Japanese man and Thai woman's blossoming relationship is illustrated with their stilted dialogue - it veers from Thai, to Japanese, to halting English. Their mis-understandings of language are juxtaposed with their understandings of each other. There is nothing so clear as body language and this film relies heavily on the physicality of the two leads, both of whom give near-flawless performances. Asano in particular cannot be helped being taken to the viewers' heart; it's obvious here why he has such a high status in Japan. Boonyasak is not so sympathetic, but she is perhaps not meant to be, and she serves her purpose well.

There's some brilliant comic moments peppered throughout, but the poignant moments counter-balance these well. The ending gives some insight into Kenji's past but must be viewed more than once to appreciate. This is not a simple or straight-forward film, but nor is it complicated or pretentious.

Last Life in the Universe is difficult to sum up without mentioning its imagery, of which you have to see for yourself to appreciate, or describing it with the words 'beautiful' and 'subtle' - I almost managed it.

I've seen the plot before, at least in some fashion. A man and a woman meet under tragic (or tragicomic) circumstances. They are complete opposites, but begin an unconventional, semi-romantic relationship. It took me the whole movie to think of where I had seen it, but I did finally come up with a title (Monster's Ball). So I've seen the plot before. It's been done before. But it hasn't been done too often, and I tend to like stories like this. Besides, it's all in the way it's done, and, man, is this done right. Tadanobu Asano, best known as the masochistic villain Kakihara of Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer, plays a withdrawn Japanese man living for unspecified reasons in Thailand. He works in a library and the walls of his meticulously organized apartment are lined with stacks of books. Through a couple of events, which are too good to spoil, he meets with polar opposite Sinitta Boonyasak, a Thai girl who works dressed up as a Japanese schoolgirl, and is probably something of a prostitute. Asano moves in with the girl and there is a connection (in that order). This is a subtle film that flows like a gentle brook. Christopher Doyle, easily the best cinematographer working today, lends his impeccable style to the picture (director Ratanaruang says many kind words about him in a 20 minute interview on the DVD), and the music, by Hualongpong Riddim, is simply amazing. Takashi Miike himself appears late in the film in an amusing role, and he's given the film's best line. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's direction is truly impressive, and his attention to detail is particularly worth praising. It's a wonderful film, one that will live with me a long time.