I don't think Tropical Malady's been reviewed here. This is a Thai film which finished high in the Village Voice poll, but I found it disappointing. It falls neatly into two parts. It starts off with a group of Thai soldiers finding a dead body in a field, and they take it to a country town to dispose of it. As they take off, we see a naked man walking down a road unseen. This naked man is a shaman who we will not meet again until more than half way through the film.

One of the soldiers then goes to a big city (Bangkok, I assume), where he meets a young man from the country and tries to start a gay relationship. This takes place through a series of episodes, many of which go on too long, and some of which are irrelevant. This section really needs editing. I get the feeling it's padded to give the two sections of the film equal length.

The soldier then returns to the village where he overhears a report of a cow being killed by a monster. At this point the screen goes black for twenty or thirty seconds.

We are then told of a mysterious shaman who could take the form of animals and was once killed, but whose ghost still prowls the jungle. The soldier goes into the jungle to investigate. He comes across tracks of a wild animal, but as he follows them, they transform into human footprints. These are the prints of the naked and ghostly shaman, and for the rest of the movie the soldier will pursue and be pursued by the shaman. This is intended to parallel the first half of the movie.

This second section of the movie is much more effective, with great use of jungle scenery and sound effects, and I was creeped out during a lot of it. However, it's not enough to recommend the movie.

Green Cine.

Mondo Video is best.

I have just wallowed through the first two installments of Eros. Wong Kar Wai's The Hand and Steven Soderbergh's Equilibrium. I had to turn it off. Perhaps after some distance from those two exercises in whatever-the-fuck, I might enjoy the Antonioni. I have such a bad taste in my mouth right now.

Tim -- Excellent points and excellent post.

Hey, you just saved Billy a post.
And speaking of that fellow, today I snagged a copy of Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D. I didn't realize that it had swept the Oscars in 1991. Thought it was a much earlier film. Turns out it's in that great run of Toxic Avenger flicks.
Let me know if you want or need a copy or some copies of Sgt. K-man. If so, I'll toss it in when I send some off some dvd's to friends in NYC.

Billy, I wonder if you know either Seymour Wishman (producer, distributor) or Laurence Lerman (film critic, flunky)? I think they were both connected with Kino, but had dealings with Troma. Both NYC folks.