Eastern Eye
Madman
Entertainment 2009
13 Game of Death known as 13 Beloved or 13
game sayawng in Thailand, is a very unusual film based on a comic book by
Ekasit Thairat. It is a dark and confronting thriller which is a sort of reality
TV Game which pushes the limits of the player step by step, until the final
challenge is truly frightening indeed. At any stage you can loose of the money
you have won unless you complete the task required of you, never mind having to
deal with the consequences of the actions you have undertaken along the way.
Puchit (Chit for short), played by
Krissada Terrence is an average guy. He works as hard as he can, but is not
particularly successful. He sends money home to his mum and has a girlfriend
who is a small time pop singer. On this day, however, things go from bad to
worse, his car is repossessed, a co-worker encroaches on his territory and
steals a big sale and he is sacked from his job. Just as all seems lost he gets
a strange phone call...
The caller identifies Chit and clearly
knows a lot about him. He advises him that he has been selected to enter a
competition in which 100 million baht is up for grabs; entry is only open to a
select number of people who have financial and personal problems. Chit is not
convinced until the caller recites to Chit his education, career and
experiences (including his recent sacking). It also seems the caller is
watching him. He is offered a “taste” - kill a fly with a newspaper and win an
immediate prize, he does so with a sense of exhilaration as he receives an SMS
advising his bank balance has increased.
He is given the terms of the competition,
which include not discussing it with anyone else, not trying to find who is
controlling the competition and that he must complete all thirteen challenges
to win. Each task becomes more perverse than the last - he must eat the fly he
has killed, make three children cry, beat up a homeless man for cash and eat a
meal of shit.
As you can imagine this is just the
beginning. We slowly watch Chit move down the slippery slide of madness as
every aspect of his morality is destroyed in his quest for success. It is an
interesting and fascinating concept, at what stage would you stop if you have
won lots of money and knew you would lose it all if you did not continue? This
is a strange tale of money, morality and obsession. The complexity of each task
increases as each level is completed and a bit like a reality TV show or a
computer game gone wrong, the risks get greater and greater.
Along the way we have his girlfriend and
the police trying to find out what is going on and Chit trying to win the game
before he is arrested. The cinematography is nicely done with the flashback to
Chit’s abusive childhood also adding a deeper layer to his experiences, he
regrets what he is doing but feels compels to complete each task at whatever
cost.
While this is a successful thriller film
with an unusual premise, there are some problems. The omniscient nature of the
controllers of the game who seem able to see everything seems a little
contrived and no attempt is really made to explain how this is possible, in
addition some of the special effects seen a little overdone.
13 Game of Death is certainly a different
sort of Thai film; it starts with a very grand idea and works to explore it in
an innovative and creative way. The plot is intriguing and the character
development solid, while I have some misgivings, in the end it is a very
successful and suspense filled film which is very different from run of the
mill horror cinema.
This review will appear in Volume 2:1
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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