During my formative years as a film consumer, Anthony Minghella directed The Talented Mr. Ripley. I remember seeing the film with a group of friend who quickly disregarded it because of Tom Ripley’s apparent sexual orientation. To them it was a “gay” movie. But like all of Minghella’s work, Ripley was beyond such a simple descriptor.
Minghella directed some of the most thoughtful films about love and loss, Ripley included. The only comparable working director is Ang Lee. Though history may hold Minghella in the same regard as it does a Bergman or a Felinni, this former head of the British Film Institute will at least be considered one of the most important voices in British at turn of the 21st century.
Minghella directed such contemporary classics as Truly Madly Deeply and The English Patient (for which he won the Best Director Oscar). His other works included The Talented Mr. Ripley, Breaking and Entering and Cold Mountain. He had just completed a 90-minute pilot for HBO’s The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Though he was a known in recent years as director, his roots as a writer were apparent in his often passive, literary cinematic style.
The sudden loss of Minghella is shocking and sad. Still, I can’t help but think that, wherever he is now, Mighella is watching all of us who mourn and saying, “Thank you for missing me.” Because we do, and we will.
13: Game of Death is everything I wanted Saw to be. This psychological thriller/splatter film from Thailand is just topical enough, just perverse enough and just tense enough to make for an entertaining evening of blood, shit and satire.
The film follows Chit (Krissada Terrence), a music instrument salesman who is having the worst day of his life. He’s broke. His car has been repossessed. And to top it off, he loses his job. When Chit seems to be completely out of luck, he receives a mysterious phone call telling him he can win loads of cash. All he has to do is complete 13 tasks for an Internet game show without fail and without question. But what starts out as a simple game evolves into something more violent and disturbing than Chit could have expected.
I know I’m watching an effective movie when 30 minutes in, I’m nauseous. 13: Game of Death cultivates its sickeningly twisted tone with such nonchalance that it’s disturbing. Unlike gruesome American horror films that try, and try hard, to shock audiences, this Thai thriller hardly ever feels forced, making it much more effective.
Equally effective is the dark sense of humor that pervades the narrative. The tasks are often disgusting, but it’s hard to turn away because the are completed with an unexpected comedic flair. No, that’s no permission to cast Shia LaBeouf in the inevitable American remake, but it is a solid recommendation for anyone who prefers a little belly laughing with their blood.
13: Game of Death, starring Krissada Terrence and directed by Chukiat Sakveerakul is available on DVD today.
