Colic
Director: Patchanon Thammajira
Year: 2006
Rating: 5.5
Country: Thailand
Colic: Colic is characterized by long bouts of crying for no obvious reason.
The cause of colic is unknown. It is defined as severe crying for 3 weeks
or more. Counseling is recommended. For the parents.
Nothing drives me crazier than a baby crying for an extended period of time.
If in a plane, I try to move to another section. If in a restaurant, I curse
the parents for not taking their baby outside. If hiding from the Nazi's
- well we know how that usually goes. Put me in a locked room with a squalling
baby and in fifteen minutes I will tell you everything you want to know.
Basically, parents just have to be patient - try and sleep when they can
- not kill each other and colic will usually pass in a few weeks or months
- unless of course it is from karma because in their previous life the baby
was just plain evil. In that case you are basically screwed and should adopt
the Moses method of getting rid of your baby as soon as you can find a river
and a basket.
A young couple move in with his mother in a large house out in the country.
The next door woman is a bit crazy collecting old newspapers and empty bottles.
The woman Phrae is pregnant and the neighbor comes over one day looking like
she was run over by a small truck and hands Phrae some old papers and whispers
to her "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid" - because there is a lot to be
afraid of. Just as Phrae delivers her baby the neighbor's house catches fire
and the crazy lady goes up like roast duck. The baby is born and starts to
cry. Medicine can't help it, a monk just looks scared and says keep an eye
on it for the next year. And things start to get a little weird around the
old homestead. Small things though. Nothing to worry about. A propane cannister
that flies threw the window almost hitting Phrae. Sounds in the night. Horrible
dreams. A death. And the baby just keeps on crying.
The film develops quite slowly really with just a few jump scares from time
to time but continues to push the accelerator down ever so slightly - until
in the final 30 minutes when all hell breaks loose with a sewing machine,
a nail gun, an overhead fan going homicidal. I have seen so many bad Thai
horror films that I don't expect much but this one isn't bad even if the
first hour crawls along like a newborn - the final part makes up for it.
