Tears of the Black Tiger

Wisit Sasanatieng's 2000 Thai film is an experiment in colour that fuses the western with Thai melodrama of the 1950s. Dum, a peasant's son, and Rumpoey, the daughter of a wealthy family, are in love; torn apart for years, the forbidden attachment survives. When tragedy comes, Dum becomes the gun-slinging outlaw known as the Black Tiger. The film's real subject is the image: the colours are digitally exaggerated, the sky is pink, the blood is nearly paint. That choice rebuilds the aesthetics of old Thai posters and hand-tinted lobby cards. It was the first Thai film selected for the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. Miramax acquired the rights, changed the ending from tragic to happy and shelved it; the original version only reached American cinemas in 2007 through Magnolia Pictures. Who it's for: viewers who like Thai cinema, genre fusion and visually daring films. Who it's not for: anyone wanting realism, or who will find the heavily stylised colour artificial.