Sunday, July 14, 2024

PATTAYA HEAT(2024) NYAFF 2024


Possibly the best film at this year's New York Asian Film Fest is a grand crime caper with a smart ass attitude. The NYAFF write up called it Tarantino-esque, but quite frankly this film is operating at a so  much higher level that is totally free of the cinematic referential nonsense that Tarantino traffics in.

Told from the POV of a corrupt cop caught in a web of nonsense and surrounded by various people who are less than savory. How they all connect up is the film-and it's such a thrilling ride I'm not going to say any more.

Sitting down to watch this film I wasn't sure what I was going to get. My trip through the festival slate this year has been a very hit or miss affair.  Sure there have been some good films, but at the same time there have been some rather bland films that made me wonder if the programmers had lost their touch.  That thought disappeared moments into PATTAYA HEAT pulled me, handed me a drink and whispered in my ear "you wanna hear a great story?"

This film works because the film has a great cast operating at the top of their game, a director who tweaks things so that we are charmed by these not very nice people, and script which is perfectly modulated to keep us staring at the screen until the final fade out.

One of the best films of 2024? Oh hell yea. This is pure movie magic. This is the sort of film that will make you fall in love with the movies all over again.

Track this movie down any way you can.

Highly recommended.

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