Pop Aye (2017)

In classic indie road movie fashion, childhood friends reunite and undertake a journey to their hometown, Circumstances and chance bring them briefly into and back out of the lives of a variety of individuals. One of the friends is a middle-aged man having a moment of crisis.

The other is an elephant - a large, expressive presence with his own mind and inclinations. Bong isn't in the MDL database and I'm not sure how Adrien would feel about adding him in, but the film itself appropriately recognises him as 2nd lead in the credits.

The movie is set entirely in Thailand, with Thai cast, crew and dialogue, but Singaporean screenwriter/director Kirsten Tan brings a different tone to it. She's also lived, worked and studied in several countries so perhaps this film doesn't truly belong to any one country. The film-making itself is quite capable (it's her debut feature-length). Aside from the elephant, the story is solid but unremarkable - it's a road film. The people they meet along the way are a mix of generic and more realised individuals, though the individuals are also types.

The more realised individuals are treated with respect. As characters, they're both unconventional and obvious, in that indie road movie fashion. I'm of two minds on this - Tan could have done more, but the familiarity of the types also brings a sort of calm normalcy to it, like the mundaneness of a job-induced moment of mid-life crisis and the way life is full of individuals if we bother to take the time to notice them.

At times there's a gentle, dry, slightly absurdist (because elephant) humour. The overall indie vibe tone is familiar - in many ways, I wanted something less generic and a distinctly Thai feel, especially the freedom and spark we see from many Isaan directors. But this is solid indie fare.

With an elephant.

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