Since Ong Bak, I've gotten more into Thai martial arts movies than I ever was before. This year's festival spoiled me with two excellent Thai fighter flicks. If there is an absolute dream-team double feature I'd say comes to mind from this year's Fantastic Fest, it'd be back-to-back viewing Chocolate with Muay Thai Chaiya.
Muay Thai Chaiya follows three guys who meet in a thai boxing camp one summer and become inseparable friends. One of them is the son of a legendary former fighter whose brother gets a shot at the big time in Bangkok. We follow the three boys to adulthood in what honestly becomes something of a Thai boxing Goodfellas.
The fighting is clean, traditional Muay Thai stuff, less sensational than in Chocolate, more gritty and realistic. The story takes these guys from best of young intentions to their adult lives, replete with ridiculously violent encounters inside and outside various fighting rings. As you progress in the movie, they get further away from traditional Muay Thai, with bits of official sanctioned fights thrown in.
My mind draws a blank thinking of a similar movie's story to compare Muay Thai Chaiya to, but it's a "coming of age buddy fighter drama" in the diaspora of fighting movies. It does this against the backdrop of the disco era, which they nail to a T (as I assume, having not been alive or in Thailand in the 70's).
Even though I mention Goodfellas, don't expect this to be some crime epic. There is some descent into the underworld of Bangkok, but I'm more generally referring to this being a loss of innocence movie with a brotherhood theme and lots of polyester. I'm definitely recommending this one to all of my friends who dig fighting movies, but it may not be the best one for them to watch with their wives or significant others who can't handle graphic gun/blade/spear violence.
Aside from some sentimental bits with sad-eyed, longing calls of someone's name ("Piaaaaak" "Sripraaaiiiiii" "Samorrrrrr" "Paaaoooooooo" they cry) melodramatically sitting you back from the edge of your seat, the action, intensity and momentum of the movie keep you engaged throughout. It was nominated for the Thai equivalent of Best Picture, Actor, Director, Cinematographer, and a few others, and won Actor, Supporting, Art Direction, and Editing. It definitely deserved accolades for Editing and particularly Art Design, though I hesitate to jump in on foreign language (that I don't speak) acting.
This a great cinematic pairing to Chocolate, like I said. It'd be even better to throw some Pad Thai in for a mid-movie meal. I smell a great programming tie-in for Tim and the Drafthouse this coming January when Chocolate hits limited US release.
I don't know if there are Region 1 plans for this movie theatrically or on DVD, but it came out in Thailand last year, so I'll do some research and post an update in my new recurring feature, "Region0" later this week.