Rahtree: Flower of
the Night
Director: Yuthlert Sippapak
Year: 2003
Rating: 7.0
Country:
Thailand
Living
in Thailand, one thing you learn fairly soon is that Thai's take their ghosts
seriously. In movies they can often be the subject of mirth but in real life,
they are no joke. I have mentioned this before but it always cracks me up
to think about it. A few years back my girlfriend had two sister friends
coming over to visit. I had to go down in the condo to fetch them and bring
them up. The lights in the hallway had been out for a few days and towards
my apartment it got dark. So, I said "It has been this way since our neighbor
died last week". Literally, without a word they both turned around and ran
for the elevator. I had to chase after them to tell them I was just joking.
At least I think I was joking. If someone dies in an apartment, the value
will drop considerably. Perhaps why new condo building sprout up like mushrooms
here. But it is one of the few reasons that they put up with Farangs (foreigners).
We don't ever ask whether anyone has died in the apartment. Thais will. We
don't believe in ghosts. Though I swear I heard my mother wandering around
in her apartment a few days after she died. So, you never know.
Bupha Rahtree is a rather plain looking
student who interacts with no one - never smiles - and doesn't even have
a nickname - which all Thais do. My girlfriend's is Daow meaning star. Her
sister is Moon. Not to have one is an oddity. She is played by Laila Boonyasak
(Last Life in the Universe and a bunch of other Rahtree films). Another student
Ake (Krit Sripoomseth) has been following her for a month with the intention
of seducing this unobtainable girl. He finally does but it turns out that
this son of a multi-millionaire was doing it as a bet for a bottle of liquor
from his friends and as proof he shows them a video he secretly took of them
having sex. She gets pregnant, he pays for an abortion and leaves her in
a low-rent end of the line apartment house run by Mrs. See. The monthly rent
for these types of one-room apartments is usually about $200. He drops her
off and goes to study in England. He actually has grown to care about her
but his family would never approve. A month later Mrs. See comes for the
rent. Bupha says come back tomorrow. She does but can't get in till they
break the chain and find a dead Bupha in the bathroom. The police say she
has been dead for a month.
So, one might assume this is the time for
ghost horror. Instead, we get ghost comedy and much of it is very funny.
When the police try and take out the body it sits upright. They run out screaming.
The officer says he will write out a report. Next a fake exorcist tries,
he too runs out screaming. Then a real Buddhist exorcist. Same result. Finally,
a Thai Catholic priest and his farang assistant named Damian give it a go.
Say the Father's prayer, douse her with holy water and she gets up and screams
fuck you and beats them with a stick. All this time the other tenants are
of course leaving in droves and Mrs. See is getting desperate. Her sister
sends an exorcist from Cambodia.
The thing is it is all quite amusing - the
film has loads of low-class side characters in the hotel - a ladyboy barber
and her huge girlfriend - a Laurel and Hardy type who run the snack bar where
everyone comes to gossip - the little hottie down the street who delivers
food for her father. Lots of insults and jokes fly around. And screaming
and running of course. Then suddenly Ake comes back and it turns into Nang
Nak and gets seriously horrifying. Like all Thai horrors, there is a twist
waiting for you at the end. A love story. The first third is a bit
slow getting to the ghost but from then on this is a fun ride.
