I Am with a Monk

Two legendary Thai actors, Sombat Methanee and Sorapong Chatree, form an unlikely duo of a wanderer on the run and reluctant monk, facing danger at every turn. Khom Akadet’s 1980s actioner is thrilling not only in its fight scenes, but also in the careful registers between.

The 1970s and 1980s were Golden Decades for Thai action cinema, which found its very own niche somewhere between Hong Kong’s martial arts films and the actioners shot in the Philippines and Indonesia. I Am with a Monk is among the outstanding examples for that era’s art of mayhem, featuring two of its greatest stars: Sorapong Chatree and Sombat Metanee, under the guidance of madness- and excess-prone maestro Khom Akadet.

In contrast to some of Akadet’s earlier films like Phai Kam Plerng (1977) and Maha Hin (1978) which are fondly remembered for their nonchalant attitude towards narrative storytelling in favour of relentless, non-stop fighting, I Am with a Monk operates in a more relaxed register, with the characters spending quite some time setting up their moves and countermoves, often lending the action scenes an air of set piece glory. The story of a runaway who finds shelter with a monk sports the kind of sharpness that made Sergio Corbucci’s Django (1966) a genre watershed. Entertainment at its purest!

– Olaf Möller

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