Last Life in the Universe

Colour, 35 mm
Thailand, 2003, 112 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

The young Japanese Kenji, who lives in Bangkok keeping his flat full of books carefully tidy, is obsessed with suicidal notions. This time he has just put his head in a noose when the doorbells rings; it´s his brother who is mixed up with the local Yakuza, accompanied by one of the mafia bosses. A wild shoot-out takes place, and the horrified Kenji is the only survivor. He runs out of the flat and encounters a Thai girl called Noi who feels similar anguish having experienced death herself. Now that fate has brought them together, the couple take refuge in a house in the suburb of Pattay. While a number of insurmountable barriers separate the Japanese man and the Thai girl, they gradually take a liking to one another. Will their affection be destroyed when they return to reality, or will it grow stronger? The film won the Jury Prize at the Bangkok IFF in 2003, actor Asano Tadanobu, who plays Kenji, won Best Actor at Venice.

About the director

Pen-ek Ratanaruang (b. 1962, Bangkok) studied art history at the Pratt Institute in New York during the years 1977-1985 and later worked as an illustrator, graphic designer and designer. After returning to Thailand, he worked for five years as an art director for commercial television. He made his first feature film Fun, Bar, Karaoke in 1997, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Festival des 3 Continents in France. The film was also screened at the Karlovy Vary IFF 1998 in the section Another View. This was followed by the films 6IXTYNIN9 (1999), for which the director won the Don Quixote prize, a Special Mention at the Berlin IFF in 2000 and the FIPRESCI prize at the Hong Kong IFF that some year, and Mon-Rak Transistor (2001) which won the Asian Trade winds award at the Seattle IFF in 2002.