Pen-Ek Ratanaruang Talks PLOY

We are very long standing admirers of the work of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang around these parts, first coming across his work with 6ixtynin9 and then immediately scrambling both backwards and forwards to scoop up the rest of his body of work. The Thai auteur had his big international break with Last Life In The Universe - a sort of wistful, melancholic dream starring Tadanobu Asano and shot by Christopher Doyle - and his latest, Ploy opened at the 2007 Cannes Festival. He recently agreed to answer a few questions for us via email and you'll find the compelte exchange below the break.

All the way back to Fun Bar Karaoke your films have included some sort of dream element put next to some sort of crime angle. Are you repeating these ideas intentionally or is it something that just happens naturally?

No, I didn't repeat these ideas intentionally. Some of these stuff were usually pointed out to me by people who had seen my work continuously -- usually my friends and critics. I guess they must be hiding somewhere inside of me somehow and when I'm not careful they slip out.

Another recurring theme in your films is the failure to communicate and this is very strong in Ploy. Do you think people are ever really able to connect with on another or are we all somehow isolated?

I don't know what usually happens to people. But in my own case, I found myself somehow isolated very often. Although I think us humans not being to communicate precisely or to misunderstand is very natural because we are all pretty insecure.

A lot was made of how Ploy was a return to a simpler, purely Thai production for you. How did it feel going back to Thai crews and casts after a pair of international films? Do you have plans to make more international films or will you stay in Thailand for the time being?

Although Ploy was made with completely Thai casts and crew it's still an international co-production between Thailand (fivestar production) and the
Netherlands (fortissimo films). I felt much more relaxed and in control with Ploy because it was intended from the beginning to be what it is without
any interference. It was like being back in comfort zone. Right now, I have two or three projects floating around in different stages. One of them is an international co-production but mainly Japanese, one is purely American, and one is completely Thai. I will make whatever is ready to go first. A film-maker is always at the mercy of financiers, you see. But it's not too bad, in my case, because all these projects are what I really want to make. And if none of them actually materialise as planned, I have something else to do anyhow. Film making is only one of the few things I love to do with my time. It's not the only thing.

Ploy seems to play something like a waking dream where it's hard to tell what is actually happening and what is only imagined or fantasized. Is it fair to read it as a film about what might be as much as what is?

One of the important things in Ploy is that I want the film to exist in a time when you were too tired to stay awake but also too tired to go to sleep. Because all of the characters haven't really sleep much. That's why I set the story to happen between 5 am to something like 10 am. It's a feeling of jet-lag as well for the main couple. I have experienced something like that many times and you are not quite sure whether what actually being said or happened because your mind and brain are too numb and a bit slow. And that's why it was important that, in the hotel suite, one room is quite dark with a shaft of strong daylight coming through and the other room is very bright. The contrast of these strong daylight and dark shadow is really irritating-- especially to the wife.

There seems to be a big shift in tone with Ploy compared to your earlier films, in a lot of ways it feels more to me like one of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's films than one of yours. Were you trying to turn a page with this one and do something new or was it less conscious than that? How thoroughly do you plan out your films in advance?

This shift in tone has already started with Last Life in the Universe. After my third film, Mon-rak Transistor, I was bored with my films. And I
was looking for a way to make films differently since then. An opportunity presented itself with Last Life in the Universe where I had to work with
many foreign elements for the first time (finance from many different countries, Chris Doyle as my dop, Tadanobu Asano as my main actor). I knew there was no way I could completely be 100% in control of things throughout the shoot, so I decided to let go many things and took things as they came as a necessity. When I finished the film, I really like the result. So I try now to continue in that path with my next two film which are Invisible Waves and Ploy. And yes, I usually plan my film rather thoroughly so I have the confidence during shooting and editing to not follow what I plan. Am I making sense?

Speaking of Apichatpong, he's been in the news a lot lately because of the censorship problems with Syndromes and a Century. Were you concerned about what might happen in Thailand with Ploy because of the sex scenes? Did you have to make changes before screening it at home?

We were ordered by the censorship board to make 8 cuts from the original version -- all of them in the sex scenes.. I was in Cannes when our producer
submitted the print to the censorship board. When I came back, the order was already issued. I had to make the cuts so my Thai investor could release the
film in cinemas in order to make some money back. If it was totally up to me I would have done what Apichartpong did, which is withdrawing my film from
release. But in this case it was not up to me, so I had to make those cuts for my investor.