TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (FA TALAI JONE)
Thailand, 2000, 101 minutes, Colour.
Chartchai Ngamsan, Stella Malucci, Supakorn Kitsuwon.
Directed by Wisit Sasanatieng.
Tears of the Black Tiger was received rapturously at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. It was considered "totally unique". However, it is probably not unique at all, but rather is a pastiche of action films over the last fifty years. Its pastel-colour style resembles the lush melodramatic soap opera films of directors like Douglas Sirk in the '50s. The action sequences borrow from Kurosawa as well as Sergio Leone. The action is the very straightforward linear plotting of many Asian films, especially with action and revenge themes. Put them all together with a varied musical score ranging from New World Symphony to Grand Old Blarney to Ennio Morricone style spaghetti western score and you have this film.
It has a particular appeal in Asia with its straightforward storytelling, stereotype characters, shootouts with more than a touch of violence. For western eyes it looks more like a parody and pastiche (which in part it is) and would seem just a load of nonsense except for its enjoyment in being watched as a parody. It was one of the biggest moneymaking films in Thailand in the year 2000.
1. The title, expectations and tone, the touch of Zorro and action films of the past, spaghetti westerns, romances?
2. The technical style: the artificial and pastel-coloured images, the stylised and staged settings, the polyglot musical score?
3. The borrowings from various film genres from east and west, action, soap opera, romance, violent western?
4. The basic plot and its being told via flashbacks to make it a touch more complex? The childhood of Dum and Rumpoey, different class, their attraction towards each other, Dum being punished, Rumpoey not helping him, giving him the mouth organ with her name on it? The years passing, his being a student, her going to the university? Their encounter and his refusing to acknowledge her? His rescuing her from the student attack? The promise that they would meet each other? Her going in the rain to the gazebo (with the opening of the film and its romantic mood)? The photo, his not arriving? The story of Dum, his father's house being attacked, Fai and his rescue of Dum as he was about to kill himself? His joining the Black Tiger group? His friendship and rivalry with Mahesuan? The police attack on the Black Tigers, the shootout, the captain and his revelation that he was going to marry Rumpoey, Dum letting him go? Fai considering him a traitor? The shootout with Mahesuan and his jealousy? Dum going to the wedding, meeting the captain and Rumpoey, warning him? The attack, the shootout, the confrontation between the captain and Dum, his dying - and the photo of Rumpoey being pierced?
5. The stereotypical characters: Rumpoey and her wealth, disdain, love, studies, attacked and rescued, romantically going to meet Dum, engaged, relying on her nurse, the wedding ceremony, her response to Dum's arrival, his death? Dum as the peasant hero, his misfortunes, his sadness at Rumpoey's treatment, his father's death, despair, the gang, the violent attack? His change of heart, the captain killing him? Mahesuan as the jealous rival (with his artificial laugh)? His death - especially with the hole in his hat? The captain, seeming gallant, his reaction to Rumpoey, the wedding, the confrontation and his death? Fai as the bandit chief? The members of the Black Tigers, the police, the governor?
6. An artificial Thailand - existing only in the movies and for movie audiences? Themes of revenge, violence, justice, love and romance, pathos?
