Slice (2009)

Wow, shit. Slice is a heavy piece of Thai cinema. It wasn't really what I expect, actually it was a good thing - but I was kinda into watching a more commercial and "simple" serial killer-movie, but got a very brutal, downbeat serial killer/childhood-drama with some stunning visuals and excellent acting. It starts of with a farang pedophile getting stabbed in his hotel room - the little boy as a witness - by a person in a big read cloak. The man's genitals are then cut off and he's stuffed in a red bag and dumped into the sea. This isn't the first victim for the killer, who attacks virtually everyone that has some special sexual fetisch - neither it's illegal or not.

The police handling the case, the nasty Papa Chin (Chatchai Plengpanich) get's fifteen days to solve the case when the son of the chief of police is killed and get his anal ripped open, and hanged up-side-down outside in the public - wearing female underclothing! He remember that his old friend Tai (Arak Amornsupasiri), an ex-cop - nowadays in prison for killing another officer - once talked about a friend of his, Nat, who might be involved in the case. He get's Tai out of prison, gives him a gun and a cell phone and tells him to find the killer in fifteen days - and so Tai goes back to his childhood village and soon we learn the tragic story of Nat, a boy that wanted to be his friend and maybe more...

I guess this could be one of the most graphic and controversial Thai thriller ever and the style of the movie, a lot of non-shaky handcamera, experimental visuals and naturalistic acting was probably something that turned of the normal Thai audience - it became a flop to, which is a damn pity because it's one of the best Thai movies I've seen in a very long time. This is a movie that never lets the audience calm down and go back to that normal state of non-thinking, non-controversial relaxation. When some shit happens here it happens big, and it won't take long until something even worse happens. The stuff in this movie is something that never, and I mean never, would happen in an American movie. The story deals a lot with pedophilia, which is a very rare subject in Thai cinema (I think this is the first time I see it), and the abuse that both children and women are victims off.

But because the murders are so fierce, it's hard to first connect to the killer - understand why he or she is doing this - but after every detail of abuse, every crappy person that lives in the earth shows up, fuck someones life up over and over again, it's starting to make sense. Everything comes together in the end in a way I think is good, but I would have prefered a slightly different ending. Good or bad means nothing in Slice, which makes it even more interesting.

And yes, for fans of gore and violence, you have a lot to see here - but I doubt you will find any enjoyment from it. The only scene that might pass as "entertainment" is a shoot-out at a sex-club, which is filmed very arty, in slow-motion, with lots of blood and violence. The set is also a weird carousel and the first thing that came to my mind was a Roman orgy! It's hard to describe, so give the movie a try and see what you feel about it.

Because feeling is everything here, thinking and analysing is further slices down in the cake.