One Take Only

After a brief introduction to prostitute Som (Wanatchada Siwapornchai) on the job with a sweaty fat client, the opening credits give some idea as to what is in store over the following 90 minutes.

Recalling SE7EN in it's abstract stylised editing - all clandestine snapshots of drug preparation - and NIN-esque soundtrack, the title sequence is trying too hard to be hip and cool. As does what follows.

Via the use of hand-held camera and jumpy editing techniques, director Oxide Pang Chun (THE EYE; BANGKOK DANGEROUS) introduces us to the hustle-and-bustle of everyday Bangkok. Into this cluttered location he throws Som - unhappy with her lot - and Bank (Pavarit Mongkolpisit), a young drug dealer who dreams of being a hardened criminal.

Bank's dreams are literally brought to life on the screen, via lots of flashy cinematic trickery (slow-motion, jump-cuts, repetitive flash-cuts, etc) and colour-hued light effects. One such daydream has Bank wishing he could avenge the beating of his friend - by lining up the rival gang blind-folded, and twatting each one on the back of the head with a crowbar!

One day while drinking at the minion-infested Central Point, Bank notices Som sharing lunch with a group of female friends. He joins their group and cracks a crude joke - much to the disgust of the group in general, and much to Som's amusement.

The next day, Som saves Bank from a good hiding on a freeway bridge … and they become friends.

Their friendship blossoms on an innocent level over a quick period of time - to the extent that, one day while sunbathing on a rooftop, Bank tells Som that he dreams of doing "one last job" that could set the pair of them up for life.

At this point, neither of them really knows what the other one does for a living …

The story is a simple one, stretched out to feature running time by an abundance of extraneous detail and unnecessary stylistic flashiness. And by the time the "one last" drug deal goes wrong, only complete film novices will fail to see where this plot is taking us …

Certainly well-made on a technical level, ONE TAKE ONLY is a victim of style over content. With performances that are merely adequate, and a plot as thin as wafer, the film relies too heavily on it's annoying use of filter-coloured screens, flashbacks (such as when Bank recalls his parental rejection as a child) and a terminally distracting persistence of applying fast-forward/slow-motion/skewered angles, as if Pang were directing an MTV commercial.

Even the techno soundtrack becomes an annoying attempt at 'cool' that just doesn't work …

The film looks a little grainy on this Tartan release - and there is minor artefacting to report of. Some scenes (daytime settings, in particular) do look crisp and clear, but the duller scenes do undeniably suffer on this disc. The 'anamorphic 1.85:1' transfer is a little off-kilter too …

The main menu offers a choice to watch the movie in Thai with or without English subtitles. Hmmm. I chose to watch it with the subbies!

Audio is presented in 5.1 and I can't say I have any complaints. Good job done on this front. Nice and loud in all the right places.

Extras include film notes by Justin Bowyer, the original theatrical trailer - which is OK, filmographies of Pang and the leading actors, and the usual Asia Extreme Trailer Reel (which in this instance includes trailers for FREEZER, SHIRI, HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE, DARK WATER and VERSUS).

Too stylised for my liking - and surprisingly tame despite it's themes of prostitution, drug dealing and inner-city hostility. The sex scenes are carefully filmed to offer little in the way of explicitness, and are too contrived to be considered erotic. Similarly, the violence is shot in a detached 'aren't I clever, I revert to black-and-white whenever violence occurs' manner that kills any potential dramatic tension - instead constantly reminding us that we are merely watching a film.

But, hey, I never professed to be the World's greatest Asian genre film fan. This is certainly a well-made picture in it's own right, and likely to appeal to anyone who enjoyed the similarly (though even more-so) MTV-style BANGKOK DANGEROUS.

Tartan's disc is not the best presentation the film could have hoped for. But it could have been a lot worse.

Disc specifications are as follows: 16 chapters, largely uninvolving menus (reproducing the awful techno score), a keepcase packaging, and Region 0 PAL encoded.

Review by Stu Willis