Les Larmes du tigre noir

Harvey Weinstein famously used to buy up foreign films and then would refuse to distribute them to American theaters, thus reducing competition in the arthouses for the films he actually decided to release. Tears of the Black Tiger was one of those films. Now Magnolia Films got it away from him and has it available. It's a Thai Western, with some of the weirdest and wildest production design to be seen. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to that amazing trailer that played the art-house circuit back in January. While it certainly is a lot of fun in parts, the pacing is poor and the story gets so bogged down in romantic melodrama that at times it's downright boring. Still, those fun parts make it worth sitting through. When the Sergio Leone-esquire violence begins, it's always entertaining. And it has a couple of the best movie deaths ever.

Tears of the Black Tiger is certainly a unique cinematic experience; part western, part comedy and part tragic melodrama, this Thai movie is perfect for those looking for an alternative to predictable Hollywood pap.

Dum is the handsome hero of the film, a member of the notorious Black Tiger bandits and a crack shot with a six shooter. Rumpoey is the love of his life, who has agreed to marry Dum; despite their class differences, she has arranged to elope with him. When Dum misses his rendezvous with Rumpoey (due to being caught in a gun battle), she is heartbroken and, under pressure from her father, accepts a proposal of marriage from Police Captain Kumjorn.

In a battle between the police and the bandits, Captain Kumjorn is taken prisoner; Dum is given the job of killing the policeman. As a last request, Kumjorn asks that Dum informs his fiancée of his fate and produces a photograph of his wife-to-be. On recognising Rumpoey's picture, Dum frees Kumjorn, but in doing so, he puts his own life on the line...

Stylish, funny and occasionally completely off-the-wall, Tears of the Black Tiger is an affectionate homage to Thai movies of yesteryear and Hollywood westerns. It is a strange mix, but it works. Only an occasional lull in pace stops this from being a wholly successful film, but don't let that put you off from watching it—the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Heavily stylised scenes and surreal imagery combine with over-saturated hues to produce a most aesthetically pleasing film; the look is reminiscent of musicals from the 50s whilst the occasional moments of graphic ultra-violence could be straight out of a Tarantino movie. Each character is perfectly cast and the comic-book approach taken by the actors in the realisation of their roles complements the overall style of the film.

Tears of the Black Tiger is a fun film that is destined to become a cult favourite amongst fans of bizarre cinema (and may even improve on repeat viewings, as with most cult movies).

Now where on earth did this movie come from? Why was there no warning? Shouldn't we have seen it coming somehow? Like PISTOL OPERA, TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER boldly paints itself across the screen in bold bright colours as if to say to the rest of the movie making world "Are you so fresh out of ideas already?". Unlike PO though, TOTBT is not just utterly removed from filmic convention - it's just in utterly the wrong time and place.

The movie is basically a 1950's Hollywood Western/Melodrama... made in 21st Century Thailand (and with tongue firmly in cheek). The clothes, the hairstyles, the sets, the camerawork, the soundtrack, the acting, the script... all spot on for 50's America. The movie has even been bizarrely colourised in a way reminiscent of very early colour film stock, but obviously done digitally and deliberately, with an eye to the exact shifting of colours that best suits each shot. Hues are shifted to colours the world is not meant to be, and saturation is selectively ramped up to 1000 to create lurid pinks and shocking yellows and an absolutely unique look to the film. It looks weird, but fantastic.

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER has two major advantages over PISTOL OPERA. Firstly, they remembered to include a story. And it's a really good one... a melodrama in the finest tradition, featuring love and loss and friendship and rivalry and hatred and sorrow and jealousy and heroism and good and evil and all the finest things in life. The script is very well thought out, full of lots of details that are woven together in a way that keeps you on your toes.

The mood is definitely spoof, and absolutely pitch perfect. I haven't laughed out loud so much since SHAOLIN SOCCER, yet secretly really caring about what was going to happen to the characters. Acting is as over the top as the soundtrack, in permanent crescendo, delivered with a straight face and sincerity that would make the most melancholy of viewers at least giggle a bit.

I enjoyed this movie so much - so utterly out of nowhere, inexplicable, funny, sweet, moving,... where did these ideas come from? It all fits together and makes so much sense you think perhaps the idea was obvious all along, but I'm pretty sure that it was in exactly one persons head ever before he put it on film. And then there are few curveballs that are *definitely* ideas of an insane but brilliant mind .

Very highly recommended!

Tears of the Black Tiger is one of those films that works so hard to entertain you, it is hard not to enjoy immensely, if only for its sheer exuberance.

The story is simple. Dum, the Black Tiger, is the best shot there is. He works for a ragtag group of mercenaries lead by Fai, whose motto is, "If you're against Fai, you die". When they capture the captain of the military group trying to shut them down, Dum has to choose between his allegiance to his men or honouring the wish of his old flame, Rumpooey, who is engaged to the captain. That's about it really, but the story is not the reason to watch this film. Its main appeal lies in its style.

Shot with the tone of a Western but in the style and colours of Thai theatre, it is beautiful to watch and often hilarious in its tongue-in-cheek over-the-topness. Shootouts are frequent and bloody, yet wholly unrealistic. Yet they are never intended to be. The opening sequence sets the tone perfectly. As Dum and his colleague raid the hideout of traitors to Fai, the film plays a particularly extravagant stunt twice, offering the title card "Did you get that? If not, we'll show it again!" in the middle, playing the same sequence in more detail.

The set design and colouring of the film is exaggerated and lush, all deep reds and greens. There are frequent musical interludes, but not in the Bollywood style, rather songs which explain the emotional state of certain characters, the high point being the main love song - ridiculously over-sentimental - and the cowboy-esque Bonanza-style riding song, a country and western inspired, cheery melody about loneliness.

The five main characters - Dum, Rumpooey, Kumjorn, Fai and Mahesuan - are wonderful. Dum is all emotionless precision and repressed feelings, a man of action who hides his deep-down longing for his former love. Rumpooey, the love interest, is quietly hilarious in that she just never seems to do anything, a knowing side-swipe to cheap melodrama of the 50's. Kumjorn is the dashing, slightly pompous good guy that you don't want to win, but don't want to die either. The two best though, are Fai, a classic machine gun and vest bad guy who has the films funniest shot in his first shootout - look out for it, its quite subtle - and Mahesuan, Dum's right-hand man, who has the best evil laugh EVER, using it whenever he gets the chance, also one half of an inspired shootout or two. His duel in the first half hour is also one of the funniest shots for any film fan.

It is a very violent film, but the kind of violence that is truly comic-book, overly-red blood (think cheap hammer horror), taken to a level of exaggeration which rather than making you gag, just makes you wince and laugh. And that is the point. Some people have said that is just terrible, but it is knowingly terrible. It is never attempting to be anything like high art. And in its badness, it is often beautiful and brilliant.

The only niggle is that it has a tendency to slow down a little in its lingering, slow shots, but never for more than a couple of minutes in what is only an hour and a half of mickey-taking, action packed hilarity.

Good looks, good sets, good idea, great fun. 10/10

Sackley

Version: Thai audio, English subtitles (by SBS)

There's something quite awesome about a movie that's advertised as a musical western that turns out to be a musical western in which the cowboys carry rocket launchers and wear very colourful shirts. Awesome.

In the rather colourful countryside of the rather colourful modern Thailand, a gang of horse-riding, machine-gun toting, Thai cowboys led the by the colourfully villainous Fai (Sombat Metanee). Dum (Chartchai Ngamsan), also known as the Black Tiger, is a member of Fai's gang, and obviously the fastest shot in all the (colourful) land. Dum is competing with fellow gangster Mahesuan the police captain Kumjorn for the affections of Rumpoey (Stella Malucchi), so naturally this leads to shootouts, exploding brains, and lots of evil laughs. How awesome.

'Tears of the Black Tiger' seems to be a combination of elements from 'Once Upon a Time in the West' and the 'The Quick and the Dead', only with a lot more comedy and melodrama. And colour. At times it may resemble 'Once Upon a Time in the the West', and then go into Sam Raimi mode during an action sequence, and then go into long scenes developing the melodramatic and colourful love story. Have I mentioned the colour yet? This one colourful movie, and will often induce a visual overload of pinkness. Is that even a word?

'Tears of the Black Tiger' can go from melodramatic romance scenes, to the cheap violence that you might expect from Sam Raim or an early Peter Jackson movie (read: 'exploding heads') very quickly. I'm pretty sure this film could set a record in that department. Its a funny movie, and the action scenes are generally very exciting. I'm also convinced that the creators of this film took on a bet to discover just how much of the colour pink can be displayed in one movie. I never knew pink-shirted cowboys could be so tough.

'Tears of the Black Tiger' is generally entertaining. I thought it was a little long, but I think most people should enjoy this - 8/10