Jan Dara

Thailand's most famous and successful director Nonzee Nimibutr's third feature is a gorgeous film based on The Story of Jan Dara, a controversial erotic novel of the 1960s. It begins in Bangkok in the 1930s and scrutinises Thai social history through the life of the protagonist. Born into a wealthy and corrupt family, Jan is rejected by his father because his mother died during his birth. He searches for nurturing female companionship throughout his life and uses sex as revenge and consolation, each encounter characterised by a palpable lack of love. The film is shot in hues of white, cream and sepia, with splashes of crimson to suggest family skeletons of lesbianism, incest, adultery and betrayal. Ultimately, resistance is futile: Jan's frustration turns him into a version of the man he most abhors.