When he was a boy, peasant Dum (Chartchai Ngamsan) fell in love with Rumpoey (Stella Malucchi), the Governor's daughter, and they pledged that they would always be together, no matter what. But ten years later Dum has become an outlaw, one of a band of villains who terrorise the country, and Rumpoey is forced into an engagement with the Captain who is out to defeat the bandits once and for all...
Director Wisit Sasanatieng wrote the script for this bizarre, melodramatic tribute to Westerns with a distinct Thai flavour. It combines the epic nature of Sergio Leone with the bloody shootouts of Sam Peckinpah, but remains resolutely Oriental in its presentation. It's not so much an Eastern as a pidgin Western, a cowboy movie translated into Thai.
Providing the film's heart is the love triangle between Dum, Rumpoey and the Captain, and it does make heavy weather of the romance. Our hero and heroine are destined to have a tough time of it when it comes to their relationship, and the depth of their angst and special bond is laid on pretty thick. The whole film has a cartoonish glamour, coloured in chocolate box hues.
Contrast that with the extreme violence: it looks as though about a hundred men die in this feature, whether its through Dum's fancy shooting (the opening involves a ricochet that is shown twice in case you didn't believe it the first time), or from the orgy of bullets fired between the police and the bandits. In two major sequences, it's not enough to have rifles and machine guns used, bazookas are thrown into the mix to increase the carnage. And one principal character's death involves a teeth-smashing shot that is sure to make you wince.
To be honest, I wonder if Tears of the Black Tiger falls between two stools: the gory action scenes could be a turnoff for those who like the romance, and vice versa. But here, one can't really work without the other. And it's a pity that Dum is so wooden and lacking in charisma - his friend Mehesuan pulls off the gunfighter role so much better. A curio, then, but nevertheless and entertaining one, and that's what counts. Score (which includes interludes for songs) is by Amornpong Methakunawut.
