SOI COWBOY (2008)

Cast

Plot

'Soi Cowboy' is shot in two parts; the first in black and white is an observation of the monotonous existence of the life of a fat white man and his pregnant Thai girlfriend both in their cheap Bangkok room and as tourists in Ayutthaya. The second colourised story observes the thoughts and cares of the rural poor and follows her 'brother' returning home to his up-country village as a paid hit-man to kill his older brother. In a final surreal coda in a sleazy cabaret bar the two lovers return she as a dolled up prostitute and he as a punter. Made by a British director 'Soi Cowboy' is highly influenced by current Thai cinema and is either 'a fascinatingly distinctive, intelligent movie' or 'pretentious... an undergraduate homage to both Antonioni and Apichatpong Weerasethakul' to quote two critics from the same newspaper stable. Personally, as long as you can handle slow cinema, I thought this an acutely observed insight into 'sex tourism' and an East meets West culture clash.