Thailand doesn’t produce a lot of what most people would classify as “good movies”, so when one comes out that looks a little bit different, I like to support them. That’s why I went to see “Distortion” (Khon Lok Jit), the latest movie from renowned Thai director, Nonzee Nimibutr, (Nang Nak) recently. And, boy, it couldn’t have been a bigger piece of junk if Nonzee had tried. Terrible over-the-top acting, a story line that can’t pull itself out of the gutter with its molestation, rape and psychotic gay men themes and, quite frankly, one of the most homophobic movies I’ve ever seen. In fact, the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie are so bad I had problems staying until the end. If this is what Nonzee Nimibutr thinks is good cinema, I doubt I’ll be seeing anything else he directs.
In “Distortion”, we meet Keun, a psychiatrist who helps the police with criminal profiling. There’s a murder in Bangkok, and he’s sent to the scene. As the investigation proceeds, Keun meets Kwang, a childhood friend, who was supposedly sexually molested by her father. Keun and Kwang go together to the prison where Kwang’s father is being held, but discover he committed suicide. Keun then hypnotizes Kwang so she can remember what happened and, hopefully, learn to forgive her father. Then, with no real reason as to why, Keun starts experiencing hallucinations and seems to be in the middle of a mental breakown.
Confused yet? Don’t worry, the story gets worse. Throw in a few gay characters, who all seem to be pedophiles or rapists, add a storyline that Kwang wasn’t really molested by her father but was instead set up to believe she was by Keun for some bizarre reason, and finally add a gay serial killer who goes around killing rapists. Garbage doesn’t even begin to describe the screenplay or the story. And the ending? Don’t even get me started.
What’s so odd about ‘Distortion’ too is, from the trailer it looks like an interesting psychological thriller that may actually be thought-provoking. Instead, the only thoughts it provokes are questions about Nonzee Nimibutr, who seems to think filming a movie where all his ‘good characters’ are straight and where all the ‘evil characters’ are gay, and one in which just about every gay character in it ends up dead, and you really have to think “homophobic much”?
Luckily, ‘Distortion’ didn’t last long in Thai theaters, so if you do want to see this truly dreadful Thai movie you’ll have to wait till it comes out on DVD. Me? I’d recommend giving this one a wide berth.
Title: Distortion (Khon Loke Jit) คน โลก จิต
Director: Nonzee Nimibutr
Cast: Arpa Pawilai, Artit Wiboonpanitch, Boonyisa Jantrarachai, Sarunyu Prachakrit, Suchao Pongwilai
