Thailand may not loom large in the world as a cinematic powerhouse, but with Tears Of The Black Tiger has offered up a florid, high octane B-movie with a split personality served up as a spaghetti western and campy melodrama. For those whose cinematic tastes lean towards the bizarre and outré, then Tears Of The Black Tiger should hit the spot.
Basically, it is the timeworn story of a poor boy in love with a rich girl from a politically prominent family. Naturally, they can never be permitted to marry – but still try to keep their romance alive in the midst of numerous turbulent, violent events beginning in childhood and continuing into their adult lives.
While these are very typical story elements, what stands out most about Tears Of The Black Tiger are the rich, mesmerizing visuals. First-time director Wisit Sasanatieng has incorporated many visual and thematic influences from other cinematic of the past such as Sergio Leone and Douglas Sirk, according to many film critics. Indeed, Tears does seem to celebrate Leone’s style largely through the use of numerous close-ups and stylized gun violence to further dramatize the narrative as Leone is well known for in his “spaghetti westerns” which made a huge star of Clint Eastwood in the 1960s.
When considering the overall visuals of Tears, though, it may be the influence of director Douglas Sirk, whose style stands out as the most influential. Sirk is now lauded as a master of 1950s romantic melodramas even though his directorial efforts were excoriated by critics in their own time. A trademark of Sirk’s films are the lush production values and rich color palette which are even more pronounced in Tears Of The Black Tiger and creates a beguiling, distorted perspective.
The dizzying, high color saturation in the film and the obvious artificiality of the sets give Tears the look of an avant-garde production although it still follows a fairly linear narrative. As a freshman effort for director Sasanatieng, Tears Of The Black Tiger offers up an entertaining if bewildering mix of action & adventure, horror-style blood letting, homoerotic subtext, and 1950s style melodrama – a worthy addition to any home video collection of the weird and outlandish.
