Manta Ray (2018 ) - Written and Directed by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
I was recommended this film as an example of Thai surrealist cinema. I watched with the least amount of background info and preconceptions -- I only knew it is about immigrants -- and while I enjoyed the human drama, I was not terribly impressed by its surrealism. When I read reviews, however, I was astounded by how every reviewer understands the theme -- the plight of stateless Rohingya Muslims -- and its relation to the surrealist scenes.
The film opens with a man wielding a submachine gun in a jungle. The jungle is illuminated, not just with the sum, but with rotating disco lights. The man himself is festooned with Christmas lights, which forms a sort of camouflage among patches of light and shade. In another part of the jungle, a band of men is burying a corpse. One of the gravediggers takes off his red ski mask and reveals a head of hair dyed blond.
This nameless man is a fisherman by trade (the credit only lists him as "Thai Fisherman"). He lives alone; outside of work he prefers to keep to himself, drinking himself to vomit in his hut. Fisherman has a strange hobby though: he would venture into the jungle and dig out crystals (which he locates by putting his ear to the ground), bring the crystals to the water's edge, and, whistling, cast them one by one to the sea. He think doing so will attract giant manta rays.
One day, during his adventure in the mangrove, Fisherman found a wounded man lying unconscious in the black mud. He brought him to town, paid a doctor to treated his wounds, and slowly nursed him back to health. The man, whose facial features are more South-Indian than Thai, is mute. Fisherman names him Thongchai, after a famous singer.
Fisherman teaches him to dive and to ride the motorcycle, and brings him along in his gem-finding and manta ray ritual. The mute Thongchai becomes Fisherman's confidante. Their simple, carefree lives is depicted in a most touching manner. We also learn that Fisherman's wife left him in a most degrading manner.
One night, Fisherman receives a call from a "boss", urging him to do a job that he has "quit". Soon after, Fisherman disappears altogether. Thongchai, who has waited for his return every day, is told that Fisherman has drowned. A dejected Thongchai retreads his past adventures with Fisherman, alone, voiceless, doe-eyed and vision-haunted. This is where the film is at its most poetic, sad, and powerful.
Then Fisherman's ex-wife appears, and the story takes a melodramatic turn. Her dealing with Thongchai has not gone unnoticed, and it is here that I feel director Aroonpheng is perhaps too blatant in his metaphor -- the immigrant as the impostor. At this point, the surrealism only gets in the way, and the disco-ball-in-the-jungle effect is more distracting than magical. Whether you find the ending effective or not would depend on whether you can look past this flaw.
Manta Ray is undoubtedly inspiring to people familiar with the geopolitics of Thailand and its neighbors; those who are not can nevertheless enjoy a deeply human drama. But if you are simply looking for interesting surrealism or arresting cinematography, you might be disappointed.
