Ploy
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Current user rating: 91/100 (5 votes)
Profile
- Movie: Ploy
- Thai: พลอย
- Director: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
- Writer: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
- Producer: Rewat Vorarat
- Cinematographer: Chankit Chamnivikaipong
- Release Date: June 7, 2007 (Thailand)
- Runtime: 130 min.
- Language: Thai
- Country: Thailanad
Synopsis
Wit and Dang, married for seven years, fly trans-Pacific from the USA to Thailand to attend a funeral. They check into Room 603 of a five-star hotel in Bangkok at 5.30 in the morning, ready to crash for several more hours. But Wit is out of Lucky Strikes, and goes down to the hotel bar to buy some. He stops there for a coffee and can’t help noticing the only other customers in the place, a young man and woman. The man is trying to entertain the woman by showing off his juggling skills. The barman, Nut, tells Wit that they are high on something. Soon afterwards, the young man has nodded off at his table and the young woman is bumming a cigarette and light from Wit. Struck by her Afro hairdo and her unusually direct manner, Wit finds himself (somewhat to his surprise) opening up to the girl. Her name, she tells him, is Ploy and she will turn 19 tomorrow. She’s been raised by her grandmother in Phuket – which is where Wit himself comes from – and she’s there to meet her mother, who is due in from Stockholm and is expected to check into the hotel around 10.30 am. Ploy hasn’t seen her mother since she was two, but has her mother’s photo on the screen of her mobile phone. Intrigued and charmed, Wit invites Ploy up to Room 603 to relax while she waits for her mother. 603 is actually a mini-suite, with a separate bedroom and living room, but Dang is not best pleased that her husband has brought a conspicuously nubile stranger to the room. Exhausted by the long flight and disturbed by a scrap of paper she found in the pocket of Wit’s jacket while he was downstairs, Dang initially demands that Wit send the girl packing. But Wit refuses, saying that Dang is being unreasonable and unkind. During the following few hours, none of them sleeps very much. Provoked beyond endurance (and starting to entertain murderous fantasies), Dang finally pushes Wit into a frank exchange of views about the state of their marriage. Meanwhile, down the corridor in Room 609, an altogether more sensual assignation is taking place. The barman Nut is meeting the room-maid Tum in secret for some light role-playing and some deep-tongued satisfaction. With Wit asleep on the bed and Ploy asleep on the sofa, Dang herself goes downstairs. In the coffee shop she, too, meets a stranger: a bric-a-brac trader named Moo, who recognises her from her long-ago career as a movie actress and introduces himself as a fan. Hearing that she’s there alone he invites her back to his place, where the situation soon gets more than a little out of hand … The film’s closing scenes raise important questions. Will Tum and Nut find lasting happiness? Will Wit and Dang ever speak to each other again?
Cast
- Lalita Panyopas - Dang
- Pornwut Sarasin - Wit
- Apinya Sakuljaroensuk - Ploy
- Phornthip Papanai - Tum
- Ananda Everingham - Nut
Trailer
Image Gallery
Film Festivals
- 2007 (12th) Pusan International Film Festival - October 4th-12th - A Window on Asian Cinema
- 2008 (37th) International Film Festival Rotterdam - January 23rd-Feb. 3rd - Sturm und Drang
- 2008 (10th) Deauville Asian Film Festival - Features Competition - March 12th-16th
- 2012 (14th) Deauville Asian Film Festival - March 7-11, 2012 - Regard: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Ki Says:
Jun 07 2007 11:54 pm
Marital problems are a familiar subject in cinema that has been brought up in countless ways, but when that subject matter is taken on by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang you can surely expect something unexpected. His latest film "Ploy" contains that familiar subject matter and also features a similar cinematic style to his more recent films (Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves), yet the film still stands out for the unique manner in which the movie unfolds and the resulting revelations brought upon the viewer.
The movie is set in a upscale Bangkok hotel. A married couple, Wit and Daeng, arrive from the United States to attend a family funeral. They have been married for 7 years (8 if you go by Wit's recollection) and the tension in their marriage has slowly increased with each passing day..
Once they settle into their hotel room, Daeng decides to go down to the hotel bar to buy a pack of cigarettes. Daeng ends up having a drink at the bar and watches a teenage couple goof around as they are the only other patrons in the bar. After the teenage boy passes out on the table, the spunky young girl comes up to Wit and strikes up a conversation. Daeng learns that the girl's name is Ploy and she is 19 years old. The girl is waiting for her mother to arrive at 10:30 in the morning. It's now 5:30 am and the bar is soon ready to close. Wit then decides to be a good samaritan (or is there more?), by inviting Ploy up to his hotel room to take a shower and a nap prior to meeting her mother.
When Wit and Ploy go back to his hotel room, his wife lets them in, but doesn't hide her displeasure at seeing her husband's unannounced teenage guest. In private, Wit explains to Daeng that he just wants Ploy to stay for a few hours until her mother arrives. As the couple try to sleep in the bedroom and Ploy sleeps on the living room couch, all the problems that has been brewing in their relationship seems to finally come out into the open.
From there the movie weaves a distinctly Pen-Ek Ratanaruang styled expose on the frailty of marriage & relationships. What happens during the next 24 hours zig zags (or does it?) between reality and dreams, with the basic problems of marriage brought to the forefront : jealousy, envy, insecurity, loneliness and boredom. All these elements come together in a narrative structure that never reveals what is actually real and what is a product of one of the character's dream. When you think about it, this does reflect perfectly how people in everyday life unknowingly act upon their own insecurities - which manifests itself so well from their dreams.
If you watch a lot Pen-Ek Ratanaruang films you know there's usually a handful of insider jokes about the director's past films or about the actors in his films. In "Last Life in the Universe" a poster of "Ichi the Killer" was posted in the background of the library where Tadanobu Asano worked (Tadanobu Asano starred in "Ichi the Killer"). For "Invisible Waves" the female lead (played by Hye-jeong Kang) was named Noi while her baby was named Nid - the same names as the sisters in "Last Life in the Universe". This time around, in "Ploy", when the hotel maid opens a closet door, you can see the hotel room door in the background and the number on the door is "609" - a reference to one of Pen-Ek's earlier films "6ixtynin9".
Speaking of "6ixtynin9", Lalita Panyopas the main star from that movie, returns from semi-retirement to play the neurotic Daeng in "Ploy". Pen-Ek Ratanaruang did state that Daeng was written without any specfiic actress in mind, but after Lalita Panyopas was cast for the role, Pen-Ek wrote into the script that Daeng was a former Thai actress.
The more subjective area of the film is really where the movie shines and the fun comes about. The dreams that each of three main characters has reveals so much about the characters themselves. Daeng, being the jealous wife, dreams of suffocating Ploy with a pillow. Ploy, meanwhile, dreams of the hotel bartender and the hotel maid having a highly erotic encounter in a nearby hotel room. Probably the most interesting aspect about her dream, would be the manner in which the couple made love (lots of oral sex given to pleasure the woman). Finally, Wit's dream comes about in a nightmarish scenario with a worst case scenario happening to his wife. Towards the end of the film, the movie does take an unexpected turn into the thriller genre, but if you take a look at Wit's face during the final scene in the movie, the answers to what really transpired are explained there.
"Ploy" is a unique film that brings to light marital problems in unexpected ways. Part comedy, part thriller, part drama, and 100% entertaining, the film made me think about my own personal actions and how it could be related to any type of pent up insecurities. One final thought to leave you with - although "Ploy" is probably a common Thai name, there does seem to be a bit of wordplay with that title. When Wit explained to Ploy why he argued with his wife, he explained that their arguments often worked as a mechanism for the couple to become closer. When taken in that context, was it a subconscious ploy to bring Ploy up to his hotel room for that reason?