Customer Reviews

Tears of the Black Tiger

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Saw this at the theater and was wowed away by how visually stunning this film is. I was excited to order it on DVD, and received it today, but was disappointed by how low quality the transfer is. The colors are dull and blurry compared to what I saw on the big screen. Total let down because the visuals make the movie.

Surreal Western with over saturated color sets and bright costumes that of-set the overt violence.

Boy from the wrong crowd falls in love and turns his back on his ne'er do well gang. Has to fight it out against former allies in the end.

Looking forward to seeing this with proper subtitles and a better film transfer as I have the Thai DVD that came out several years ago....and believe me it WAS HARD TO FIND!

That's because Thailand is all that, and much more.

The five stars are because I love Thailand. If I could, I've have given it ten stars. But because of barrage of melodramatic - okay, corny - cliches, the cacophony of tossing everything familiar film trick into a cinematic blender, imposing the unique Thai logic, making incredible production gaffs first year film students would avoid and the really misleading hype of its marketing, I just can't. It's not clever parody nor artistic exaggeration; it's just seems an adolescent idea of such. Then too, Amazon just wouldn't allow 10 stars anyway.

Well, 'Mai Pen Rai'. Support this movie as a homage to Thai cinematic growing pains. That Thai phrase means 'Never mind, it doesn't matter'.
Oh, and the art direction, a Thai forte, is real pretty.

Better to recommend THE LEGEND OF SURIYOTHAI. It's as colorful and imbibed with Thai spirit, but less of a parody in a blender. And more informative re Thai history, too.

outstanding flick. i expect most viewers not to "get it," more's the pity to them (come on now, thai culture's not THAT alien to you all, is it?). visually breathtaking, maniacally acted and directed. deserves a wider audience and more appreciation than it's sure to get, sadly...

its jaw-dropping from the 1st frame 2 the last one. Its an explosion of colors, visually its a miracle. a must-see 4 movie goers

A great little film that is part sentimental nostalgia film, part John Woo ripoff, part John Wayne, and part homoerotic romp. Crazy colours, amazing ricochet bullet. "Did you catch that? If not, we'll play it again." Vintage stylish credits roll five minutes into the film, with cheezy song. Cheesy showdown on what looks like a theatre stage between Dum (the hero) and Mahesuan (one of the villains). Dum shoots the snake instead of Mahesuan. Ten years ago, at Ban Plana Station, there's old train footage, and then the gorgeous "Sala Awaiting The Maiden", with its central scenes. The water turns ridiculously red after the fight. The filmmaker uses constant rain, at least in the intense scenes (confrontation, battle, etc.). The moon scar that Dum got from Koh, the broken flute, the hankie and the harmonica. Then there are the comedic scenes: "Did you say goodbye to your wife?" "Yes, sir, all seven of them." There's the crazy blood brother oath, and all of the battles - the best fighters seem to always kill two men with one bullet. How? We've already had one "Ten years ago" scene, here comes another "One year ago" scene, which shows our star-crossed lovers' reunion in Bangkok, when he pretends to not remember her. Then there's the attempted rape by Koh, and of course the rescue by Dum. The movie finally gets serious, and seriously good, with the lyrics of the end that tie it all together. "Love is like a bull corralled/ Captured but untamed/ He'll buck and charge for freedom/ Love will not be held." The two lovers on the beach speak with their thoughts, everything is symbolic (art house crowds love that, it's the language they speak). The gang ambushes the wedding, they even bring their midget on a pony. What a cowboy gang!

Dum is betrayed again and again - when will he ever learn? She and the captain have their heads tied together, what a sad wedding. Dum looks into her eyes and tells of the ambush. Now the captain knows. After he sees the light, he becomes a bad guy, smokes like Fai. Of course, at the ambush at the end, it is raining heavily. The palace looks like Salzburg International Preparatory School, where I went for two years. Great cheezy scene during the rainy shootout, while Dum and Mahesuan stare each other down in the rain, there is a crescent moon above Dum (remember his scar?), and we see a shooting star flare through the sky. Also the rain falls only on Dum's face, Mahesuan's face is dry. And why not?

Throughout the movie the sad song intervenes from time to time, and there is the image of wildflowers choosing that time to fall, they all fall. At the end, they are two pictures side by side, the star-crossed lovers cannot meet, they are permanently on both sides of it all.

Combine several Thai cinematic arts forms from the past, Thai Likay theater, an American, Sergio Leone (at least one scene references Once Upon a Time in the West) and Thai western influence, a beautiful but bizarre palate of pastel and harsh colors, extreme violence, melodrama, songs, non-linear storyline and you get the unique Tears of the Black Tiger. It was incredibly popular in Thailand helping spawn a novel based on the script and a radio play. It was even shown at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. After hearing about this for years I finally got to watch this and I am glad I did. It is quite an uncommon viewing experience.

Chartchai Ngamsan (The Tsunami Warrior; he also worked with Wisit in a Thai Wrangler Jean commercial, you have to see it) is Dum the Black Tiger a taciturn good guy working as the number one henchman for a bad gang dressed like cowboys in a b-western clothes led by Fai who has no mercy for those who cross him. Fai's former number one is Mahesuan (Supakorn Kitsuwon: Ong Bak 2), Dum's blood brother who has a laugh like a Shaw Brother's villain and a completely forced deep voice which is hilarious (and a good reason to stay away from the English dub). He is jealous towards Dum because of his quicker draw and the fact he lost his highest standing with Fai.

Dum is a peasant lower caste boy who fell in love with a high caste Supanburi province politician's daughter Rumpoey (Stella Malucchi) in his youth and has pined the years away loving her. They both have not forgotten each other. Years later they re-found each other, but she has a forced engagement to a police captain because of her father. This does not stop him from protecting her from local ruffians and from them both loving each other. But she does not know he is a criminal. Will this affect her affection?

There are some lulls in the storyline which goes over the romantic triangle too long, though I have to admit it did make you feel (sometimes frustrated) for the doomed romance. Action aficionados might be more annoyed by this that I was. There are also some plot issues with attempted suicides, character changes and situations that sometimes felt forced or not belonging to the plot -- though to be fair, the film was never meant to be realistic.

The strengths outweigh the negatives though. This is a particularly peculiar film and I do not often see films that take as many chances as this one and not end up a befuddled mess. It is a lot of fun with its bizarre mixture of comedy, action and romance. I feel several scenes are so interesting that I do not want to spoil them by describing them to those who have not seen this. Tears of the Black Tiger is a beautifully directed movie with an engaging use of non-realistic colors, painted expressionistic backdrops and some of the most interesting cinematography choices I have seen since Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985). While I have seen a decent amount of Thai cinema it has been mostly relegated to Thai action cinema of Tony Jaa, Dan Chupong and Panna Rittikrai with a few art and epic films thrown in. This is now among my favorites from that country along with Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong. Now I have to find Wisit Sasantieng's next film Citizen Dog.

Make sure you get the uncut version (110m) of the film such as the Magnolia R1 release (2007), luckily they were able to save this from Mirimax who had sat on the rights to this movie for over five years, which besides the Thai language release (both 2.0 and 5.1 mixes) also has an English dub (both 2.0 and 5.1 mixes) and a "Making of TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER" extra TV special that is 45 minutes long. It is a great extra with the production team, the actors discussing everything related to the making of the film. There is much discussion of past Thai cinema which is useful to anyone learning more about the older cinematic days there. The cut version takes out the extreme violence which I think hurts the flow of the film since there are some integral scenes that were shortened.

I am sorry, but this movie stinks. I don't care how many people write good reviews, I couldn't wait for the movie to end. In fact I nearly turned it off half way through. I think people claim they like it to follow some art crowd. "Chariots of Fire" stank, and I don't care how many awards it won.

The positive aspect of this movie is the splendid use of color contrast, especially the bright red of the woman's dress and lips nearly matching the roof of the Pagoda in a drab blue-green background. Some of the backdrops were cartoonish, others just colorful.

When you have a bunch of Thai guys running around in cowboy outfits with Clark Gable mustaches, you expect something funny to happen, which it did when the main character, a likable outlaw, shoots his gun. Unfortunately this "Trinity" aspect wasn't used enough to save this film. Our outlaw is part of a weak love triangle which involves a woman who he knew when he was 10, now the governor's daughter, a captain in the militia hunting outlaws, and our bad guy, "The Black Tiger." Dum (the Black Tiger) is the main character, short for Dumas. I wasn't sure what this meant. Was this something in Thai lost in translation? A reference to the author Dumas? or a slur that the guy is simply a dum-as?

The colors in the movie are nice, it might rank 5 stars on acid. Please don't attempt to watch this movie sober, leave that to the professionals.

Tears of the Black Tiger is an amazing and ground breaking film. Fans of low-budget films that push the limitations of their situations to create unique works of entertainment/art deserved to be seen by a wider audience!
I am excited because this film, along with Nang Nak, introduced me to Thai Cinema.. and now I want to see more! Does anyone know if Yam Yasothorn will be available in the United States soon? Or where I can find the soundtrack to this film? Fans of this film should check out 6ixtynin9 by Pen-ek Ratanaruang as well! Enjoy...

Amazing. I just saw it in the theater in a limited run on a whim. There is so much to say about it. I don't think this film is really for everybody. If you like Fassbinder, Leone, Pekinpah, Sirk, Itami, Ford, and the like....well, this is for you. I've never seen anything quite like it(the colors are almost sickening at times), yet it reminded me of so many other films. It's subtle and obvious at the same time. Almost every cliche is there, and all of them are handled with deft wit and humor. I quite liked the musical cues, particularly the scene where the girl replaces the young hero's wooden flute with a harmonica. The music changes from flute to harmonica at the instant. And so much of the music is overbearing and melodramatic, like the very precise melodramatic acting. I'm sure this alone would make most people find it silly or hate it. Well, it is silly. But it is a particular kind of silly that takes a very special brain to create. The picture that I first saw of it convinced me I had to see the movie. It is from a very theatrical stand-off that was so strange and colorful that you really need to see it for yourself. There are also a few moments of total absurdity that Stephen Chow fans will really enjoy. Every time I think of this movie, I smile.