By APA Staff
Thai director, writer, and producer Yuthlert Sippapak has been receiving international attention for his daring visual style and unconventional screenwriting. His film credits include "Killer Tattoo" (2001), "February" (2003), and "Buppah Rahtree: Flower of the Night" (2004). APA pulled him aside for a brief chat...
Sippapak graduated from Silpakkorn University in Bangkok with a degree in interior design, before moving to New York to pursue fine arts at the Art Student League of New York. He returned to Thailand in the early 1990s in hopes of becoming a director. He began submitting scripts to production company Tai Entertainment, but was repeatedly turned down. However, his script for Killer Tattoo caught the attention of GMM Grammy Entertainment, the largest multimedia entertainment company in Southeast Asia. With its release in 2001, Killer Tattoo became Sippapak's first feature film. The movie received international awards and acclaim for its brilliant action sequences and all-star comedic cast. Sippapak followed with the dream-like romance February, which earned him respect for his stylistic attention to detail.
Sippapak's most recent film, Buppah Rahtree: Flower of the Night, was released this year and shown at several film festivals around the world. Buppah Rahtree is currently one of Thailand's highest grossing films, popular for its eccentric storyline and blend of horror with comedy. Internationally, the film hasn't been received as well due to a politically incorrect portrayal of an autistic actor, but has been acknowledged for its homage to the American horror flick The Exorcist. Because of his relatively short career, Sippapak cannot claim to have an established fan base--yet. And some critics have labeled him as an “unknown quantity,” the reason being his unpredictability when it comes to a tried and true film genre. Others enjoy his sort of impulsiveness, asserting that the diversity is a reflection of his varied talents. After all, not everyone can go from action to romance to a mix of horror and comedy without batting an eyelash.
Love him or hate him though, nobody can deny that Yuthlert Sippapak is a not-so-run-of-the-mill filmmaker on the brink of international stardom. --Victoria Chin
Interview with Yuthlert Sippapak
November 9, 2004
Interviewed by Chi Tung
Transcription by Ada Tseng
APA: Can you please introduce yourself a little bit for our audience.
Yuthlert Sippapak: My name is Yuthlert Sippapak, director of Rahtree.
APA: There's a heavy undercurrent of the ghost theme in your film which also seems to be a popular trend in Asian cinema these days. What is it about the supernatural do you think that audiences are drawn to?
YS: About ghost movies? I don't know, it seems like ghost stories and supernatural things will always be with me. and still now, people keep talking about these kind of things, people like to watch these kinds of things now, and in Thailand, we love to go see ghost movies. I think it seems like a culture--ghosts are our culture.
APA: So you think it's a big part of your tradition then?
YS: Yes.
APA: I thought in addition to being a ghost story, it seemed to be a morality tale. In other words, it seems like there's a strong feminist slant--is that what you're trying to convey?
YS: Yes yes, because the movies that I directed always have this kind of message, but I just wanted to tell that this world is not a woman's world, it is like a man's world. It's kind of a hard life to be here, but I try to give some good part of the guy and is not 100% wild-life. Yes, there's the message of...
APA: Do you think this has a lot to do with how women are treated in Asian societies?
YS: I think every society treats the woman like second-class or like another species, because, maybe... I dont know, I don't know why.
APA: But do you assign any of the blame to the woman in the movie, or do you think it's pretty much the man's fault?
YS: I think it's the man's fault, because the man creates everything in this film, but mostly...but i think the man creates everything, but not to say that, uh, women must be changed...woman is affected, but man controls everything. But they have to live together.
APA: Let me talk briefly about horror movie conventions. The film doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, there's a lot of tongue-in-cheek, almost like satire. You make references to The Exorcist, etc. Did you absorb a lot of pop culture growing up--did that play a role in the making of the film itself?
YS: Uh, I just try to tell like maybe because i'm not try to tell, but it's like I grew up in American culture. When I was young, I saw Hollywood movies and kept coming into the country, but I didn't take it seriously like it's dangerous or something. But it just feels like ok, this is American culture, I just make fun of it, and not too serious about that. It's like it happens.
APA: Not just horror films, but you seem to be criticizing religion and blind faith. There are a lot of sort of so-called Buddhist followers in the film and there's a lot of hokieness to it. Are you making fun of established religion in any way?
YS: Religions, I'm trying to have some.... Islam, we got that to try to...but yeah well, what kind of questions do you.. it's kind of deep to the...
Um... I don't know, it's different. Sometimes religion is different, but one thing that's similar is the belief in ghosts. Every religion got ghosts but the way to treat, to prevent, to try to fight the ghosts is a different style, and the system of religion might be fit just for some country, you cannot...there is a different culture, even if it goes with the same system. Different religions must be something different.
APA: The ending in the film is kind of ironic, but it's almost sort of a twist on the happy ending. Do you still see your film as a straightforward love story, even though there's all these other things goin on?
YS: Yes, this is a love story, like love never dies--something like that--is the theme of the movie, but people might get it, because people enjoy horror and comedy and something like that. But I stick with love.
APA: How do you think you approached this film from a marketing standpoint--how do you market it here in the States? Do you think people pick up on all the different things that are going on in the film?
YS: I'm not sure, the first time--you mean foreign audiences? In Toronto, we have so many people but that seems like horror fans, so they get maybe 70% from, different from Thai audience, but they understand a lot, they get what is similar to the Thai audience. But here, the last showing is too many people, but they enjoyed it. Some don't get it, because it's kind of personal...personal culture, different culture... some got The Exorcist part, and they really enjoyed it.
APA: Alright, thanks a lot.
Published: Friday, December 3, 2004
