Last Life in the Universe

And I thought Mon-Rak Transistor was a masterpiece...

Last life in the Universe, or "Reung Rak Noi Nid Mahasarl", is problaby one of the best films made by one of the best Thai directors, Mr. Pen-Ek Rattanareung. I'll not waste time talking about this movie's sypnosis, but I'll just give some patricular reasons why this is a must-see Thai movie. First of all, this movie barely has a plot. It's all about emotions. Every elements you see in this film is... alive. They all have reasons for their existance. While a camera stays still for most of the time, lets you feel the very feeling of certain scene. Thanks, Chris. Secondly, the sotry is a love story, which doesn't seem so ordinary, but very ordinary itself. It's just natural. That's the way people who don't know each other talk, and even in a different language. You simply beleive they are who they are, there was no acting no pretending. It was just soooo natural. Last, because the subject matter is very precise, and sometimes hard to understand, you simply don't have to understand it. I mean, some parts of movie are very confusing, just ignore it. Try to absorb the moods and feelings this movie has to offer... You'll just feel really good after walking out of the theater. No other Thai movies are like this one. Pen-Ek himslef said that in previous movies, it seemed to him that he tried to tell everything too much, too straight. This film certainly doesn't do that, and it certainly is his masterpiece for me.

The last 3 or 4 movies that I've seen lately made me fall asleep in the over air-conditioned, too comfortable theatres in Bangkok, which sometimes provide a blanket and pillow in a lazy-boy chair in the high-class places (at a surprisingly low price). But last night, I didn't even blink my eyes once while watching this wonderful movie. I was impressed... It was beautiful from the very start until the end.

This movie was magic... It didn't pretend to be perfect, and it's not, but it works so much on your feelings that you go out from it with mixed feelings. The jokes are very funny (for example the morning after the green papaya salad), the dramas are tear jerking, and you have to watch every details because there's a lot to watch. Believe me, it won't get you bored or sleepy, it's pure pleasure from the start until the end, no boring parts promise!

I hope that this movie will get more attention, I do recommend it to all. It's not an easy of family movie, some rough scenes, but go see it... I will go see it again, and I will buy the official DVD when it's available, not the pirated copy found in some markets... 4/5...

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.

there's something about this movie that makes me just want to break out in a big smile, and it has nothing to do with my thinking the lead actress is really pretty. the visual composition of this movie as with most movies by Christopher Doyle is amazing. you could stop the movie at any point and it would make an award winning photograph. Tadanobu Asano also displays in this movie why he is one of my favourite actors. his performances in this movie, ichi the killer and zatoichi should rate him as one of the best actors outside of Hollywood(not that that makes him worse than anyone there, and he should stay out of Hollywood but thats a totally different subject for another day). the film itself has a pretty simple storyline, but follows a rather similar tone to another movie that was released last year, lost in translation. personally i felt this movie was superior because it seemed less contrived and pretentious. plus the extra little storyline with the yakuza is fall-off-your-chair funny. with hints of wong kar wai this is a very refreshing movie that should help get back your faith that good movies can still be made on small budgets.

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.