Tawan young wan yoo

This crazed Thai film from director Phornchai Hongrathanaphorn starts off with great promise. Making a mad dash away from a crime he didn't commit, Bay (Krissada Terrence) is a devout practitioner of Drums of the Gods and races to the safety of his fellow perky percussionist, Don (Nountaka Warawanitchanoun). From there, the film continues its lunacy. Pursued by police inspector Black Ears (or Black Eyes, depending on which subtitle you read), a giant panda of a sleuth, Bay, Don, and her bandmates elude the authorities at every turn. It isn't until they're caught (and easily escape) that the film slowly grinds to a halt.

Even at 98 minutes, this film is a half hour too long, seeming to trip up on its own twisted internal logic. Inevitably reaching its forgone and anticlimactic conclusion, BANGKOK LOCO is worth a look due to its frenetic opening half hour and maniacal sight gags. Its bizarre cultural jokes, however, fell flat with this viewer, reminding me of those jokes buried in old Warner Brothers cartoons that were probably hilarious to audiences of the time but have lost their cultural resonance over time.

The most fun I have had with a film since Kung Fu Hustle, and one of those rarities that I have wanted to watch through again immediately after the credits. Bangkok Loco is an exhilarating, vivid, and utterly mad film that combines martial arts, musical numbers, police thriller and cinematic homage in one in your face package. It has everything: drowning dogs, policemen with black eyes (and ears), 70's décor and haircuts, gore, references to Star Wars, Requiem for a Dream, The Stuntman and James Bond at least, yellow tracksuits in purple landscapes, tea parlours, drumming competitions, cheesy songs and two headed women. Oh yes, and the director's first name is Porno something. It's the sort of surreal, fresh product which Hollywood seems utterly unable to concoct, probably as it requires the fresh eyes of a different culture to reassemble so many familiar elements into such a jaw-dropping package. Either that or the production team were on something stronger than green tea.

The region 3 disc has a razor sharp image values as well as excellent sound which makes the most of the larger than life cinematography and the great score. Forget the nonsense posted here about Loco running out of steam towards the end - it does no such thing. Although well subtitled, one amazing thing about this film are the many no doubt Thai-specific in jokes, which would make it even funnier for local audiences.. For more of the same type of Thai film madness, check out SARS Wars (Khun krabii hiiroh (2004)) - but even that doesn't quite match the delirium on offer here.

I stumbled upon the 2004 Thai comedy "Tawan young wan yoo" (aka "Bangkok Loco") without ever having heard about it, and of course I opted to sit down and watch it given my interest in Asian cinema. And trust me, I had no idea what I was in for here.

Let me say that writer Sompope Vejchapipat definitely put together a very entertaining and unique movie. I was genuinely entertained by what transpired on the screen, and the storyline was very nicely written, with a lot of funny moments, outrageous characters and just delivering a good entertainment all together.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in "Tawan young wan yoo", but then again I am not all that well-traversed in the Thai cinema. But I will say that the cast carried the movie quite well with their performances.

If you enjoy comedies and don't mind something being outrageous, then you should give "Tawan young wan yoo" from director Pornchai Hongrattanaporn a chance. I enjoyed this movie and had some good laughs along the way.

My rating of "Tawan young wan yoo" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This is one damn extremely creative and bizarre movie that I found difficult to comprehend and unsatisfying to watch.

The creativity is nice on a promising start -- there are so many unexpected sequences, either in puns, or visual effects/defects in colours, or unexpected things showing up in the movie that you can't not but take notice. This is a movie to get ideas about doing creative things in your own movie. The music/soundtrack is also really interesting and fun to listen to as are some of the quirky characters who are well-known in Thailand.

The challenge will be that those unfamiliar with the Thai culture/language will find this movie difficult to decipher beyond the superficial gloss of blues and outlandish wardrobes and sets.

Overall, this is not for mainstream anglophone audiences and will appeal to those who can take a huge grain of salt with the rather tangled plot and story development of this movie.