Kongkiat Khomsiri

Director:

• Antapal/The Gangster (2012)
• Cheun/Slice (2009)
• Chaiya (2007)
• Long Khong/Art of the Devil 2 (2005)

Long Khong is credited as directed by the “Ronin Team” consisting of 7 directors rather than one. What’s the story behind that?

Kongkiat Khomsiri: The Ronin team. Let’s start by saying that we are all friends. We used to work together, most of us worked for P’Peud (Thanit Jintanukul) on Bangrajan before. That’s where we met. Some of us worked as assistants. I was doing screen writing. Then, later on, I was also taking part in the production, mostly working with the actors, helping them with the acting. Others did film production or design. And at some point, we agreed to do our own project. At that time, P’Peud was working on another project with another team. So the timing was right. We tried pitching our project to Five Star production studio. The team we were on made The Art of Devil 1 (Khon Len Khong). But that film wasn’t developed to the point that we were satisfied with it yet. So we looked at the film again to find its strong and weak points. I wrote a new story. And we presented it to Five Star again as the whole team.

Sort of like selling the whole package?

K.K.: Yes, like you get this story, plus the whole team to work on it.

So there is no real connection between Long Khong, or Art of the Devil 2, and Art of the Devil 1 – Khon Len Khong?

K.K.: There is no connection. The story is new. The only connection is the theme of black magic. And both movies were released by Five Star Production. Maybe it’ll turn into a series. If there’s still a market for it.

Usually in a series films are linked through characters. So you’re thinking Five Star may want to create a series linked by a theme instead?

K.K.: It’s possible. Black magic sells, so after Art of the Devil 1 the company goes on with Art of the Devil 2. But they are two totally different stories. Now the company is working on the project called Art of the Devil 3 (Long Khong 2), which is actually a proper sequel to Long Khong. The story focuses on the lead actress, Ma-Mi. They asked me to write the story. They are still using the same crew, but I’m only helping with the story. Personally, I want to try some other movie genres now.

But how is it possible to divide directing in between so many people?

K.K.: Within our group, we were clear since the beginning that we all get credited as directors. But in reality we all knew that not every one of us should actually function as the director. So the person who had done production design before continued working on the set part. The person who was familiar with management took care of the managing part, etc. As for me, I took care of the script writing part. I was clear on the visuals. Because when I write, I see it. So when we were pitching the project to the investor, I was the head of the team. But when it came to making the picture, we discussed it again. And on set, there were only 1-2 people left who made the decision whether the take is OK or not. The investor should be pleased about it.

Was that difficult?

K.K.: Film production was nothing new to us. We did feel more pressure knowing that now we were responsible for what we were doing. We all know there are always problems during production. You just have to fix them. The difficult part is that when you are the director you have to make the decisions. If you want one thing, you might have to give away something else. You’re constantly on the line.

Why have you decided to call yourself the Ronin Team? In what sense are you the master-less samurai?

K.K.: The name comes from the book that I like – the story of 44 Ronin whose leader had died. We were similar to them in a sense that now, with our leader, P’Peud, gone, we had to take care of ourselves, get a job, etc. So we have to stick together and fight on our own.

Most reviews of Long Khong quote the Ronin Team statement: "We wanted to reintroduce the world of horror flicks to teens because they present the grey area of righteousness or evil. And during that fragile and innocent time frame of life these characters are introduced to path filled with horror and gore only to be armed with what good they have inherited. Failure of them to survive, would represent the manifestation of pure evil." Is that the actual statement of the team? What do you mean by that?

K.K.: I wrote the statement myself. I can see some abnormality in teenagers nowadays. Like they manifest the extreme black and white within one person. They learn to lie since childhood. Some kids who look really cute might be really mean at heart. In Long Khong we show how teenagers like to do daring things. I wanted to take a different approach from moralising. To put it crudely, I have warned you that dog shit smells bad, if you don’t believe me, go ahead and step on it. [Laughing] You can see in the story that none of the teenage characters is actually a good person. Their corruption can lead them to destruction.

So have you achieved your goal? Have you made an impact?

K.K.: I can see some of my statement reflected in the movie. But not 100% of it. The brutality of the movie might have distorted my statement in the end. I can see it from the way people respond to the movie. They do get my point, but somehow I don’t feel they get it completely. They do not seem enlightened.

You’re talking about the Thai audience. And what about the foreigners?

K.K.: They like it. Probably for its extremity; some parts are truly disgusting. And now that the Korean/Japanese horror movies have totally occupied the market, our film appears different to them. It’s a different kind of horror. It’s well liked in the countries that like hardcore gory films. It did really well in Malaysia.

Is it safe to say then that Long Khong was a commercial success? How much money did it make?

K.K.: We spent 12 million baht from the initial budget of 11.5 million. So it wasn’t too bad. And we made 36 million. So everyone was happy.

Apart from that you received a few festival awards, like Special Mention Jameson People’s Choice Award during BKK International Film Festival. Were there any other awards or nominations?

K.K.: We were nominated in Pusan in Korea.

And what about the Thai Supannahong Awards for the actress Napakapa Nakprasit. Is that true she refused to accept it? What’s the story behind that?

K.K.: The structure on the award category in Thailand is kind of strange. Ma-Mi (Napakapa Nakprasit) was nominated for the “best actress” but the judges put her in the “supporting-actress” category because they said the lead actress was in fact the little girl who tells the story. It’s the differences between the “heroine” and the “lead actress”. If you ask me, Ma-Mi is the lead actress but the judges did not want to go with it. They kept going on saying that the character isn’t a good person and so it doesn’t fit the category of the lead, doesn’t qualify for it. How can a murderer be the “lead”?

I’ve heard it led to the boycott of the awards ceremony.

K.K.: Yes, Ma-Mi protested against the decision. After clarification between her and the association she withdrew from the nomination.

What was the location for the movie?

K.K.: Samut Songkram province.

What made you choose it? You’re not from around there, are you?

K.K.: No. But I went there a lot, and I find the place really beautiful. I also find it a place that can represent Thai culture really well. Not like in the picture of Thailand promoted by the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand), which involves elephant-riding and traditional Thai-style roofs. Samut Songkram is another kind of Thailand, with houses along the rivers and canals. It’s very Thai, but just not that well known. So we picked that location. Since we were on a low budget, we wanted to make sure we had to move as little as possible. We wanted to be able to shoot without changing locations too much.

What came first then, the budget or the script?

K.K.: The script, but when I saw the budget I rewrote it.

How long did the production take?

K.K.: Production took 3 months. Pre-production took 2 months. In total around half a year.

But you must have been preparing it for a long time? Since Bangrajan? That was in 2000, wasn’t it?

K.K.: After Bangrajan, I was still helping P’Peud with many movies. Like Khun Pan, or The First Flight for instance, the one that’s in cinemas right now. I wrote it 4 years ago. And it was ready 2 years ago. But they had some problems which resulted in the late release.

Does P’Peud work freelance?

K.K.: Yes. He worked with P’Uncle (Adirek Wattaleela) before. Now they both have their own production houses. P’Peud has started investing in movies by himself now.

Most of the horror fan reviews of the movie are enthusiastic because of the amount of gore in the film. Did you have any problems with Thai censorship?

K.K.: Strangely no. (Off the record). I think it’s because we didn’t have any bad story on the police. The cultural association and police department are the ones responsible for the censorship of the movies. The cultural association found Long Khong brutal, but the police were OK with it. But there doesn’t seem to be much logic to it. Films like Hostel or Saw got censored a lot.

The film is attractive also thanks to its very realistic make-up and special effects, which seem to be better than in most Thai horror films. How was this achieved?

K.K.: We were serious about it. We agreed to make everything clear. Most people say since movie making is an art, you can try to hide violence or make it more abstract. It’s just a difference in approach. We thought that if our movie was going to be the Art of the Devil, we had to show it clearly. We did research on human anatomy, etc. There was that German movie called Necromantic ( Jörg Buttgereit). When I saw it, it felt it so real. There’s volume, flexibility, some feelings to the flesh, you cannot achieve this with just rubber. So we were quite clear on that.

And when you burned half of the body?

K.K.: It was a simple magic trick. We made a hole in the floor. The real lower body was hidden in the hole. We replaced it with the fake lower body. The sound effect guy did a really amazing job. The sound of the flesh burning and the blood seething really adds up to it.

Apart from Necromantic, were there any other movies that inspired you?

K.K.: The work of the Japanese director Takashi Miike. Se7en. Evil Dead. It may be a B movie, but it’s really fascinating. I like the madness of it. It’s hallucinating.

One of the film fans wrote in her online review “I enjoy horror movies but Long Khong really freaked me out! I’m afraid to go Thailand after I watched it. The black magic there is real...” Is this the response you anticipated?

K.K.: Feels like I’ve passed the test. [Laughing] When we did our research we went to the real location, to Cambodia. We don’t know how real this black magic thing is, but we went there anyways. To see how they do it. Thai people all know these things exits, we’ve believed in it for a long, long time. We know it is there even if we’ve never seen it. It’s a bit like love. We know it is there, and it’s scary. In the old days when I lived in the outer province, many magical events were said to occur around my area. Somebody once told me for instance that he saw a guy with a really bad stomachache, and when that guy bent down, machete knives fell out of his stomach. I was raised surrounded by the belief in black magic. So when we were making our movie we portrayed it realistically. I think if you portrayed black magic like fantasy, the film would not make it.

But why then to use Cambodian/Khmer black magic rather than Thai black magic?

K.K.: Thai people believe that the really powerful black magic belongs to the Khmer and the Kaak (the Muslim people in India, Afghanistan, Malaysia etc.) The Cambodians have a firm belief in black magic. Even today in the Eastern provinces of Thailand Khmer black magic is taken very seriously. One way to think about it is to realise that if something is supposed to be scary it should be vague to you. What I mean is that the more mysterious or unknown something is, the more it scares us. So what’s the point of showing Thai black magic when it’s already quite familiar to people around here?

Many Thai horror films seem to follow a formula of an unexpected twist at the ending. Have you decided that the leading guy should be dead since the beginning?

K.K.: Yeah, it was all planned. Because he is the link to everything. His character runs on the idea that it’s not fair that he is the only one to suffer, when everyone else was involved. Especially the girl, since she is the one who started the whole thing. Then she drags people in, and they die. And she keeps the one she wants to be with.

What happened to the Ronin Team after the movie?

K.K.: Ronin Team was assembled for a specific project. After that we all had things we wanted to do. So after Long Khong we went on our separate ways. But right now the team is together again for Art of the Devil 3. And they came by to help me on Chaiya a few times.

Chaiya included quite a few gory scenes as well. Was that the influence of Long Khong in any way? The horror way of looking at the world?

K.K.: It’s a combination of how I like seeing the world and how I have matured to this point. I have my own way of doing movies. I didn’t study film at school. Everything is mixed together. We’re working in a Third-world country, so I want to know how I can make this Third-world country movie look the best it can. In reality, the world isn’t like Hollywood shows it. So I want to talk about the dark side. But in the darkness, there is light. I’ve been touched by two things Morgan Freeman said in Se7en. First, that this world isn’t a good place to be in; and, “but there are times in life that’re worth protecting.” That’s a fact to me.

The idea of Se7en and the Seven Deadly Sins is based on Christian teachings. Have you ever resorted to any religious beliefs in your films?

K.K.: Yes. My mom’s a Catholic, my dad is a Buddhist. I grew up in a Buddhist school. So I believe I have a balanced view on both beliefs, which I think both lead to the same goal. So that’s how I see things. You can look on the white side, or on the black side, in the end you get to the same place. But I choose to tell my tales on the black side. So my movies turn out quite raw.

You wrote the script for Pen Choo Kab Pee – The Unseeable directed by Wisit Sasanatieng. Was there much difference between your original idea and the effect of production?

K.K.: Not much. I wrote the script together with P’Wisit. He had the story and I wrote it. He also had the location in mind. So it was easier. I saw the location, it was scary. He led me through the rooms, showing me what was supposed to happen here, or there. So I just had to fill myself into the character’s shoes. I was directed by the architecture of the place.

Was it a real house or a set?

K.K.: It was a set made into a house. You could remove walls and do lots of stuff. They spent 10 million Baht making that house. It’s the same house they used in Jan Dara (Nonzee Nimibutr). They didn’t destroy the house, we just had to touch it up a bit.

And between Long Khong and Pen Choo Kab Pee, which one do you prefer?

K.K.: Pen Choo Kab Pee. I mean the work itself, not the process of working or the crew. It’s more delicate. Long Khong is aggressive, there’s lots of gore in it. But Pen Choo Kab Pee talks about love. When you’re not out of love, you keep seeing the same image over and over again. So when I was writing it, I could feel the challenge. I had to be more sensitive in writing it. With the other one I could just throw stuff in.

You followed Long Khong with Chaiya, which seems a much more complex and mature film. What was your inspiration for the film?

K.K.: I’ve always felt that Muay Thai has been selling merely like an icon, like it is for instance portrayed in Tom Yum Goong (Prachya Pinkaew). It has become famous internationally. But actually Thai boxers are like hunting dogs. That’s how I feel. Also I grew up in the period when the mafia and the boxing business were on the rise. It’s still like that today. We are promoting Muay Thai as cultural heritage, the pride of Thai culture. In reality, not many people care about these guys who box, who really do the work. These boxers are low-educated. They don’t have too many other opportunities in life. The more they bleed, the better the get paid. The audience likes it. But in the end, when they’re hurt, get sick, what do they get? They are strong-hearted guys. Some sell drugs, some sell noodles. And many get caught. This is the path of these heroes. It’s ugly too. At the same time, in Japan the guys who play Judo or Sumo are well-respected. They’re rich, they have beautiful wives. Thai boxers’ wives mostly leave them.

Prachya Pinkaew believes that Muay Thai cinema can be the calling card of Thai cinematography. Do you agree?

K.K.: I agree. I don’t have a problem with the fact that we sell Muay Thai to the foreigners. But as a moviemaker, someone who lives in this world, I want to talk about this world. I have these facts and I just want to point out the reality in the story. I can already say Chaiya isn’t a Martial Art movie. I don’t mean to promote Chaiya as the best martial art in the world. You can look at this wonderful martial art but you should also look back at yourself, you are also in this nasty world. And what are you going to do about it?

You’re right, Chaiya is certainly more than just a Muay Thai movie. What made you set the story in the 1970s?

K.K.: The time was on fire. It was like a cold-war. There was this true story about the guy who was assassinated in the boxing stadium. Lots of mafia, gamblers, drugs. If a columnist wanted to sleep with an actress, what he could write about her would give him the power to. Bangkok was developing. Everyone flocked to BKK.

Would you consider directing another horror movie in the future?

K.K.: Why not? I have nothing against horror movies. But I have done a number of horror movies and I’m thinking of and taking a break from the genre. Maybe I can gain a new perspective, come up with something different. I still find horror movies fascinating. But I haven’t found a story that I really liked yet.

What about your cinematic inspirations? What directors you like?

K.K.: Tim Burton, David Fincher, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park.

Takashi Miike worked on different media. He shot on film, digital, for cinema and TV. Could you do that?

K.K.: No.

Only film? Are you not tempted to try shooting digital?

K.K.: In the future, maybe. I like the feeling when the work goes released in theatres. Digital or film, it’s like choosing a weapon. It’s really up to you. In Chaiya I used 2 types of film. In the early part of the story, the image looks clear and bright. I used the 35mm camera. The dolly moves slow because we’re talking about these guys’ memories. It has to be pretty. And when their story gets to the present time, I used 16mm.

Was it cheaper?

K.K.: It wasn’t about the price. I told my DP that I wanted the look of the film to be a bit like a documentary. Lots of footage, then mash it around together. Kind of like City of God. So that’s how I picked my equipment. I wanted the city to look dark and dirty, so that’s what I did. Back on the HD subject, I don’t necessary cling on to the film look, but I don’t know the HD very well. I have to know what to expect of my equipment before I use it. Or it can backfire. Some people say you need a good gapher to shoot digital, or watch out for the sun when you do it. I don’t have much knowledge about it. But as for film, I know its depth, what it does. I am happy that this technology has been developed though. So in the future, I might turn to the HD. Once it’s been developed enough, movies will be made easier, quicker, and cheaper. There’ll be lots of movies. And when the market really flooded with it the real ones will stand out. Also there won’t be a monopoly.

According to my statistics, over the last 3 years horror films made up for more than 1/3 of all the Thai film releases. How can you explain the popularity of the horror genre in Thai cinema?

K.K.: I think it’s happening everywhere, not just in Thailand. For a Thai investor’s perspective, it’s safe play to do either horror or comedy. Why horror? To put it simply, Thailand has this tradition of folk-drama (Likae) and all. People watch it for entertainment. Ordinary life is stressful. When people pay money to see a movie they want the movie to take them to another world. People dream of their ideal fantasy world, having the job as a graphic designer, a nice car, etc. Reality is not that important. If they pay to see a story about a bunch of poor people living a poor, tortured life, it’s not interesting to them. To think another way, why is there always a haunted house in an amusement park? Getting scared, screaming out loud gives people a rush, a release, and it’s entertaining. So if you want to make the investor happy, especially if it’s your debut movie, go with either horror or comedy.

Anything you want to add?

K.K.: I believe Thai filmmakers are skilful. But we have no unity. Things work about strangely in Thailand. Take the writers, for instance. They don’t really have the association for them, or if there is one, it doesn’t work too well. There’s no support. The work doesn’t sell. There’s only 5-6 buyers. I don’t want people to do a movie to proove themselves to the foreigners. To show them that you can do this and that. Do it so that your country has another good movie on the list. I believe that it isn’t necessary that the farmers, or workers should watch just one type of movie. But the investors don’t have the guts to go for it yet. So if there are going to be changes, it has to start within the country first.

Nang Nak has made a big impact on the Thai movie industry.

K.K.: Yes, and there are other good movies as well. There are good films and bad films. Although there might be more bad Thai films. Not many Thai people would watch the same movie twice. Only few would stay to look at the credits. But that’s how they watch movies here. For a filmmaker it’s ok, but don’t force only one or two genres onto us. I have nothing against the current trend for comedians making movies. I believe anyone can make a movie, but if you do it you should do it for real not just record whatever comes along. But I guess everything has its turning point. When people get tired of it, they’ll seek something new.

The interview was conducted in 2008 in cooperation with Solarsin Ngoenwichit and appeared in Asian Journal of Literature, Culture and Society 2.2.