Thailand has often served as the dangerous-yet-exotic setting
for many Hollywood action flicks; from Leonardo DiCaprio’s
“The Beach” to James Bond’s “Tomorrow Never
Dies,” it has been hard to discount the country’s
ability to provide worthwhile cinematic locations.
But now, Thailand is being used by filmmakers for more than just
its striking landscapes; the country’s cultural depth has
become an essential part of the stories Thai filmmakers are
telling.
The UCLA Film and Television Archive will be taking a closer
look at Thai culture in a new series titled “Bangkok: Cinema
City,” which will showcase eight different Thai films made
over the last decade. As the first and largest series of Thai
cinema in the United States, “Cinema City” is an
important opportunity to catch a glimpse of the diversity that
characterizes contemporary Thai filmmaking, according to Cheng-Sim
Lim, co-head of programming at the Archive and curator of the
series.
“Starting around 1996, there was this burst of energy and
creativity, and the emergence of a new generation of
filmmakers,” said Lim. “People have noticed a
renaissance in Thai cinema, so we selected films that were made in
that time.”
In fact, the film industry in Thailand has been able to use its
past success with international filmmaking to fuel its own domestic
movie industry. In the last three years, Thai films have been able
to survive on their own, making profits in Thailand box offices
alone.
“They’ve gained a share of their domestic box
office, up to roughly about 30 percent, and it was less
before,” said Lim. “I wouldn’t say it’s
dominant, but it’s definitely improved.”
And that improvement is due in part to the wide variety of films
being made in Thailand, Lim added. While other Asian countries have
struggled to fight the overwhelming power of Hollywood blockbusters
in dominating the attention of movie-going audiences, Thailand has
been able to do a surprisingly impressive job of maintaining a
balance between American-made films and its own domestic
cinema.
“There is this commercial film industry that has been able
to improve its standing with its domestic audience,” said
Lim. “But you also have the emergence of an independent
sector with more avant-garde filmmakers, which really represent a
segment of Thai filmmaking that wasn’t quite there
before.”
And as different sectors of Thai cinema receive more and more
attention, many critics, as well as international audiences, are
starting to take note that Thai filmmakers are capable of telling
unique stories from their own individual perspectives. According to
film Professor Chon Noriega, filmmaking throughout the Asian
continent is so diverse that there is no one way to generalize it
as a whole.
From the fast-paced revenge thriller “Bangkok
Dangerous” to the gender-bending coming-of-age story of
“My Girl,” Thai films have done more than just create a
diverse range of plots. As a result, the once simple standards of
Asian cinema are becoming more and more blurred over time.
“The only thing that one can really comfortably say about
Asian cinema is that it is all very different,” said Lim.
“While it all really depends on the films, if they continue
to be exciting as they have been in the last few years, the
international interest will continue.”