Mobile Men

Thailand

2008

3 Min

Color

Thai

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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Mobile Men features the filmmaker operating the camera himself, riding in the back of a pickup truck as it speeds down the highway with two other men. One of the men is a taciturn soul, a Thai-Yai man, who points to his Converse canvas shoes and other articles of clothing. Then another man grabs the lens of the camera, and he steals the show — a guy from Surin in Northeast Thailand who becomes increasingly bold about showing off his tattoos, finally whipping off his shirt, and putting the microphone that had been taped to his chest on his elaborately inked left shoulder while he screams to illustrate how painful getting the tattoo was. But all you can hear is the wind whipping past. —Thai Film Journal

Director

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul (Thai: อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล; born July 16, 1970) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Blissfully Yours, which won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival; and Syndromes and a Century, which premiered at the 63rd Venice Film Festival and was the first Thai film to be entered in competition there.

Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Weerasethakul has directed several features and dozens of short films. Themes reflected in his films (frequently discussed in interviews) include dreams, nature, sexuality (including his own homosexuality), and Western perceptions of Thailand and Asia, and his films… read more

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sylvain

27Apr12

Mobile Men or how to convey the feeling of freedom in the strongest way without words.

sylvain

27Apr12

(and in only 3 minutes)

Marcus WP

25Oct11

i went from hating this to really really liking it in a matter of months. strange.

Tristan P. Teshigahara likes this

WhatsUpWill

21Sep11

Apichatpong does more ground breaking work with his short films than most film makers do in their lives.

sylvain likes this

Lights in the Dusk

13Nov10

For a film created from a single, continuous three and a half minute shot of two men in the back of a moving pickup truck, this is hugely captivating stuff. The accidental effect of characters travelling as if by force through the landscape is mesmerising; while the continual thud/crackle/thud of the wind hitting the microphone creates a hypnotic, otherworldly rhythm to the these images of movement without restraint.