Invisible Waves

Invisible Waves (Thai: คำพิพากษาของมหาสมุทร) is a 2006 crime film by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, with screenplay by Prabda Yoon, cinematography by Christopher Doyle, and starring Tadanobu Asano – all people that Pen-Ek had worked with on his previous film, Last Life in the Universe. It had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival and was also shown at the 2006 Bangkok International Film Festival and the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.[1]

Invisible Waves
Film poster.
Directed byPen-Ek Ratanaruang
Produced byHiromi Aihara
Faruk Alatan
Wouter Barendrecht
Winnie Lau
Miky Lee
Mingmongkol Sonakul
Michael J. Werner
Daniel Yu Wai-Kwok
Written byPrabda Yoon
StarringTadanobu Asano
Toon Hiranyasap
Kang Hye-jung
Ken Mitsuishi
Eric Tsang
Maria Cordero
Music byHualampong Riddim
CinematographyChristopher Doyle
Edited byPatamanadda Yukol
Distributed byFive Star Production
Fortissimo Films
Palm Pictures
Release date
February 14, 2006 (Germany)
February 17, 2006 (Thailand)
April 13, 2006 (Hong Kong)
April 20, 2006 (Singapore)
September 14, 2006 (Canada)
February 19, 2007 (U.S.)
July 20, 2007 (Turkey)
Running time
115 min.
CountryThailand
South Korea
Hong Kong
LanguageEnglish, Japanese, Thai, Cantonese

Plot

Kyoji is a cook living in Macau. He works for a Thai restaurant in Hong Kong and has been having an affair with Seiko, the wife of his boss, Wiwat, who orders Kyoji to poison her. After the deed is done, Kyoji is ordered to leave Hong Kong. He consults with the mysterious Monk, who gives him money and advice to contact Lizard. Kyoji then boards a cruise ship, and is given a small, dreary cabin belowdecks, where nothing seems to work properly. In trying to find his way back topside, he gets lost. Finally, up on deck, he meets Noi. Noi has a baby named Nid, whom Kyoji finds hanging on the deck rail in a harness, where Noi left the child while she was swimming. Eventually, the ship reaches its destination, Phuket, Thailand, where real life-or-death adventures begin for Kyoji as he starts to put the pieces together about what he's done.

Cast

Awards and nominations

Oscar controversy

Invisible Waves had been announced as Thailand's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Academy Awards by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand, but was then withdrawn and replaced with Ahimsa ... Stop to Run, which upset the Invisible Waves production company, Five Star Production. The film federation said that the reason for the change was that a print of the film wouldn't be available in time to send to the Academy for consideration, but Five Star, sales agent Fortissimo Films and distributor Palm Pictures stated that was not true. Earlier, the federation had opposed the film's opening of the 2006 Bangkok International Film Festival, stating that since it was an international co-production it was not truly a Thai film.[2][3]

References
  1. News release, 2006. TIFF Announces Best of International Film Festival Circuit Archived 2006-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, Toronto International Film Festival (retrieved August 18, 2006).
  2. Thailand madness is back! Archived 2006-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, Kaiju Shakedown (December 28, 2006).
  3. Soop Sip. October 4, 2006. "Oscar hopeful to open film fest", The Nation, Page 12A (print edition).
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