The Times bfi
London Film Festival 2004

Toby Marshall

Tropical Malady is an intriguing, if wilfully obscure, depiction of gay love in Thailand. It tells the story of Keng (Banlop Lomnoi), a thirtysomething soldier and ice-cutter, and Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee), a younger, effeminate and more feckless man who lives in a small village with his family.

The film opens on a spectacular Thai hillside. An army patrol has stumbled across a corpse. After taking some photographs - it's clearly the nearest they've got to action for some while - they bundle up the body and head for the local village. On the way we see a man strolling around the lush greenery quite relaxed and utterly naked.

At the village Keng and Tong meet for the first time. Initially the apparently more experienced Keng takes the lead. And for some time their romance drifts along at a leisurely, almost adolescent, pace. The only source of tension is Tong's reluctance to take any of it too seriously.

During the initial phases of their romance we are introduced to a variety of locales at which Keng and Tong while away the hours. Highlights include a local village shop, which is run by a vulgar, dope smoking elderly lady, and a Buddhist cave temple, whose shrine is adorned with decorative lights that play Christmas carols. Most amusing of all is Tong's family home, where they watch TV in the open air, whilst idly chatting, and having an occasional pop at the family patriarch, rather like a Thai Royle Family.

About two thirds of the way through, the film abruptly shifts in form and content. Keng goes to investigate the disappearance of livestock at Tong's family village. From this point onwards the lyrical wide-angle shots of Thai countryside and light almost cinema verite style observations on Thai city life come to an end. As Keng tracks the beast, we enter a sinister, more fantastic and allegorical world, which transforms the relationship between the men.

Tropical Malady is a bold and perplexing film. Whilst the first viewing leaves unclear the exact meaning of the allegory, you will hanker for a repeat screening. Perhaps it's the naive warmth and casual confidence of the central characters that carries the piece. Whilst Keng and Tong do seem to be drifting at the margins of Thai society, they evidence none of the self-loathing that typifies similar characters in Western experimental film. This may be the reason that Tropical Malady was awarded the Jury Prize at this year's film festival at Cannes.