6ixtynin9

Tum worked at a finance company and was laid off in the Asian economic crisis. She lives in a Bangkok apartment block, in flat number six; the numeral on the door has come loose and turned upside down into a nine. One morning she finds a box full of money outside her door. It is not hers; it was a delivery meant for number nine. She keeps it. Then people start coming to the door. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang writes and directs. The background is the crisis of 1997. The Thai economy collapsed, unemployment rose fast, and the character's choice is built as a direct result of that condition. The tone is black comedy. The bodies accumulate, the solutions grow absurd, and the narrative treats it as a daily problem rather than a thriller; Tum stays calm and the calm is the source of the comedy. It takes place almost entirely in one flat; the space is closed and even when the camera goes out it returns to the same corridor. Ratanaruang drew international attention with this film and counts among the founding names of the Thai new wave. The narrative draws no moral. Nobody is punished and nobody learns anything. Who it is for: viewers who like Asian black comedy and single location thrillers. Who it is not for: the violence is sudden and crude, the rhythm is uneven, and most characters last one scene.