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BUOYANCY
Director: Rodd Rathjen Cast: Sarm Heng, Thanawut Ketsaro, Mony Ros, Saichia Wongwirot, Yothin Udomsanti, Chan Visal MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:33 Release Date: 9/11/20 (virtual cinema); 9/18/20 (wider virtual release) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 17, 2020 Chakra (Sarm Heng), the 14-year-old protagonist of Buoyancy, just wants some money. He has earned it, working harder than anyone else on his family's farm somewhere in Cambodia, and without it, he's just a poor boy whom the girls his age in town ignore. If his father won't pay him for the unofficial job he does, the kid decides that it's time to look for real work. He finds it, asking some friends around town about factory work and the people who can make such an arrangement. Unfortunately, Chakra, who doesn't have money for his transportation fee, ends up on a Thai fishing boat. He won't be paid, because he has to pay back the cost to get him a job. This is slavery, and some final text in writer/director Rodd Rathjen's debut feature informs or reminds us that the foundation of this stark, despairing drama comes from reality. Such enslavement and the horrors accompanying it are happening right now to hundreds of thousands of people. The horror is the central point of Rathjen's film, which shows us the terrible conditions, the easy dismissal of human life, and, most importantly to Chakra's story, the toll on the mind of one who must endure the fear of death every moment of every day. It might come suddenly, by a hard blow or a pistol, or be extended, by drowning or a terrible scene in which a man is quartered by two boats. Any reason for being killed under these circumstances would be unjustifiable, but the skipper (played by Thanawut Ketsaro) of this boat can find just about any inconsequential rationale and appears to take evil glee in becoming the executioner. Rathjen tells this story—of the boy going along with the way of things, getting close to his captors in order to survive, and eventually developing a mindset similar to theirs—with an immediate and unnerving sense of helplessness. There's no escaping this boat. There's no solace in the thought of returning home. There's nothing any of these people can do to negotiate or compromise with their captors. There is only pain, exhaustion, and constant dread. The film gradually evolves into psychological thriller of sorts—but only in the way Chakra's mind, molded by his experiences, leads him toward an ultimate act of survival. There's no satisfaction in the climax of Buoyancy, only more and shocking horror. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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