The Dumb Die Fast, the Smart Die Slow

No postman rings twice, but Manop's gutsy reinvention of the hard-boiled film noir has deep roots in American thrillers of the late 1940s. It comes complete with a criminal 'hero', a trashy, ruthless femme fatale and a dog which is forever scratching around where it shouldn't - not to mention dazzling chiaroscuro compositions and a camera as mobile as the wife's morals. Salak (Sorasak Wongthai, a perfect cypher of bruised masculinity) is an expert safe-cracker on the run from the police who is offered work as a handyman by garage-owner Boonpreng, a serial husband apparently with very poor taste in wives. The current wife Chanang (Aungkana Timdee, as fatale as they come) learns Salak's secret and blackmails him into helping her rob Boonpreng's safe... A seasoned social critic, Manop Udomdej expertly uses generic conventions to deliver a devastating account of crime in a time of materialism and bad faith. (T.R.)