It wasn’t until I read the liner notes for the Palm Pictures release of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s 6ixtynin9 that I realized that the man had four films to his credit rather than three. I had been under the impression that 6ixtynin9 was Ratanaruang’s debut, but that is not correct. His debut is an earlier film titled Fun Bar Karaoke and a quick scan online turned up an English subtitled VCD of the film.
I need to be clear right from the start: this is not a good edition of the film. Good quality VCDs have a/v quality slightly better than VHS and this one’s not even close. It appears to have been mastered from a second or third generation tape source and it has all of the grainy video, pixelation and soundtrack warbles that you’d expect to find on a low grade bootleg rather than an official release. Plus it’s cropped. Under normal circumstances I’d say this was one to avoid purely based on the low-grade edition. But I’m not going to say that. Why? First, because I firmly believe that Ratanaruang is poised to become a major force in world cinema and, as far as I know, this is the only way to see this film. Second, it’s good. Exceptional even. While it doesn’t rise to the heights of Last Life in the Universe it most certainly bests Monrak Transistor and, I would even say, edges out 6ixtynin9 in the Ratanaruang catalog. That this film has been so thoroughly overlooked boggles the mind and I can only hope that the praise now being heaped upon its creator will lead to someone, somewhere picking up the rights and giving us a solid DVD release. You listening Palm? This is DEFINITELY one to add to the catalog.
But enough of that. What about the actual film? Fun Bar Karaoke revolves around Pu, a twenty four year old woman living in Bangkok and working for an ad agency. Her mother died young and so Pu has been raised by, and lives alone with, her father – a chronic drunk who spends his nights drinking at karaoke bars and having flings with the hostess girls only to turn up at home the next morning passed out drunk, often beaten up or covered in vomit. To complicate matters Pu’s father falls in love with a hostess girl who also happens to be the girlfriend of a violently protective mob boss while, simultaneously, Pu falls in love with Noi, a truly sweet natured young man who also happens to be in said mob boss’ employ as a bodyguard and hitman while he raises money to move to America. Complicating matters even further Pu is having recurring dreams of her mother and has become convinced that the dreams are an omen of her father’s impending death.
Got that? It should be fairly obvious now that Ratanaruang’s love of genre mash-ups is not a new thing but has actually been with him right from the beginning. Is this a crime actioner? A romantic drama? A tale of family angst? Social commentary? A supernatural thriller? Yes to all of the above. But, strangely, the film never becomes the sort of muddled mess that cross-genre films most often do. Ratanaruang has such a strong vision and his characters are so clear and compelling that the film never seems to pay any mind to the genre elements. It simply exists in its own fascinating world. The diverse elements dovetail seamlessly into one another and it just never seems jarring when one segment of the film flows into the next, a major triumph for both Ratanaruang’s direction and the brilliant performances by his entire cast.
Ratanaruang has to walk a difficult line with all of his characters. They all exist in the midst of a sort of internal tension. If we are to care about them at all they must be dead certain in every step they make because to veer even a little to either side would completely shatter the moral complexity that the film requires. Pu could very easily have slipped into self-indulgence but she never does. Her father, likewise, could have – and likely should have – degenerated into a completely unsympathetic caricature but becomes a fully fleshed out person by film’s end. And what to say about Noi … honestly I’d be perfectly happy if Ratanaruang were to one day go back and devote an entire film to this one character. Ray MacDonald – who has shockingly appeared in only one other film according to the IMDB – is simply fantastic. While he has a definite capacity for violence with a calculating, cold blooded edge he is also comes across as a true innocent. The two aspects of his character simply should not be able to co-exist, but they do and the fact that I never once questioned whether that made sense is a testament to the film’s success.
Fun Bar Karaoke is fascinating to look at as a piece of history, containing so many elements that would recur in Ratanaruang’s work. But, more than that, it is a fantastic film in its own right.
Like I said, the VCD aint pretty, but it seems to be the only edition there is of this film world wide. You can get it here.