Hacker Cinema
Ong-Bak
องค์บาก
2003 · Film · 105 min
Directed by Prachya Pinkaew
When the head of a statue sacred to a village is stolen, a young martial artist goes to the big city and finds himself taking on the underworld to retrieve it.
1 positive3 neutralfrom 4 commenters
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4 comments on Hacker News
Ong bak was the real movie reference to use for tree climbing.
I speculate, but have no data, that most exercises carried out by tourism boards like advertising, cultural events, etc. barely move the needle on tourism because they're based on the usual drab formula of advertising and cultural events.
To really create interest in a country, one has to export a desirable mainstream cultural product like food or media. One has to tell a story, and good branding requires a compelling story.
I mean, if all there was were nice advertising of sandy beaches and temples in Thailand, etc. I'd probably not be motivated to visit. Nothing wrong with it, but there's no emotional connection because there's no narrative (sandy beaches are everywhere, and there are temples in most Asian countries -- there's nothing distinct about these things in themselves). But the tourism board of many countries stick to this formula because there's not much imagination on what else there is to be done.
On the other hand I've eaten Thai food regularly due to the ubiquity of Thai restaurants in North America, watched viral tearjerker Thai commercials on Youtube, watched Muay Thai (popularized by American movies like Kickboxer, and more recently by Tony Jaa's movies like Ong Bak), read stories about Bangkok's traffic jams where people have to pee in a cup (probably hyperbole), seen Thailand featured on travel shows like Bourdain's -- the result of which I now have a human connection to Thailand and made me want to visit. (I did a few years ago and really enjoyed it)
I can't say I have the same feelings about Indonesia for instance, even though it's the 4th largest country in the world and probably quite fascinating to visit. Australians frequent Bali because it's a nearby tropical destination, but I'd bet many people around the world couldn't tell you much about Indonesia if you asked them. Now imagine if Indonesia started exporting its food, which I can attest is quite good based on what I had in Amsterdam. That would start a whole new conversation about Indonesia.
> Since 2014 -- when Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger laid out plans for three episodes and “at least three” spinoff movies -- films have needed reshoots, rewrites or changes in director.
Hearing that a movie has had the director replaced, and a sizeable percentage of the movie reshot, has become a red flag to avoid. It would be easy to dismiss this as a Disney-specific issue, if Warner and others weren't also guilty. These become like a Frankenstein's monster of plot, cutting back-and-forth from one mood to another so quickly that the movie feels tone-deaf.
There is a rumor that there was no overarching storyline planned for these 3 last episodes - the "plans" alluded to in the article are merely that 3 movies would be created. This lack of storyline planning has allowed the "creative disagreement" between directors of Episodes 7 and 8.
Controversy has become another red flag - where the movie isn't good enough to stand on its own merits, and has to leverage some cause. Particularly egregious groups even dare leverage the "if you're not with us, you're against us" trope.
> The company is dealing with reports that its next stand-alone “Star Wars” movie may be delayed and an effort by one faction of fans to remake “The Last Jedi,” which came out in December.
There was a "defeminized" cut of The Last Jedi that removed whole characters and the Canto Bite side-quest, but there was only enough story left to make a 45-minute bite-sized Star Wars TV show episode. This group would have to add a lot more content than merely embellishing and tightening the current plot.
> The franchise also hasn’t proven it can connect with Chinese audiences, a key market for the film industry. Moviegoers in that country don’t have the same nostalgia for “Star Wars” and prefer to see Marvel films.
Viewing a back-translated sub/dub of Episode 3[0] may shed some light on this - so much of the movie is driven by character or plot, while Marvel movies are more action-driven. Marvel stories are more generic, so are easier to follow without understanding the words. It's similar to how Ong Bak[1] has a generic "retrieve the MacGuffin" action movie plot, and is quite watchable untranslated.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XziLNeFm1ok
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368909
He's obviously never seen the movie Ong Bak