13 Beloved (aka 13 game sayawng)

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
5/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
5/10

Year made: 2006
Runtime: 114 minutes
IMDB page: here

This is the 1st Thai movie that I have watched all the way through. I can't really comment on the Thai movie industry based on this one film, but, eh, I'll go ahead with the review anyway.

The title doesn't make any sense to me either, beside the 13 part. Beloved? Beloved what?! But then, that's the English version, and I dare say the Thai title is a bit less elusive.

Premise: Pusit (beside having a terrible name, at least in English) is a very unlucky bastard, perhaps the unluckiest. He just lost his job as a salesman for Yamaha in Thailand. His car got towed due to his late payment. His girlfriend has dumped him for an abusive punk who had promised her an advancement in her singer-wannabe career. He barely has enough money left to buy a pack of cigarettes, and his mother just asked him for some money to pay off his younger sisters' school tuition. Yeah, bad day a'ight.

Then he gets this mysterious phone call that says he can get $500 immediately (or some other medium-sized amount of money... I'm not too good with the currency exchange) if he kills the fly buzzing around him with the roll of newspaper on the floor. He's a bit freaked that the caller can obviously see him, but follows the instructions on a whim. And sure enough, he gets the money forwarded to his bank account. The caller then tells him that if he chooses to play this game and complete 13 tasks, he will get some money after each task, and the amount will increase with each task. After finishing all 13, he will get $100 million. If he fails or chooses to quit at any point, he loses all that he has earned. So begins this twisted version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as the tasks get increasingly bizarre, disgusting, dangerous, and mean-spirited.

Acting: The lead actor is pretty tough despite his appearance as a geek. Everything's realistic and you have to sympathize with this poor office drone even though he's a wimp. This game has finally given him a chance to be a man. Perhaps at the cost of his humanity.

Script: this is clearly a piece of thriller trash, in a good way. Some of the tasks are ... mean-spirited and tasteless, but they egg you on. You really want to see what crazy stuff the game will come up with next, and how Pusit is gonna handle it. You get hooked, which doesn't happen in every movie. The ending is surprisingly lame and tame, nothing too twisty, but enjoy the ride anyway.

PS. I enjoyed the little design that comes with the task number. It's on the movie poster.