Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Invisible Waves Has a Website and a Trailer

Invisible Waves

More good news from the fine folks at Twitchthe website for Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Invisible Waves (his follow-up to 2003’s amazing Last Life in the Universe) recently went online, and there is a trailer.

The trailer (which does contain some nudity, so it’s not work-safe) is quite lovely, and while it doesn’t contain any dialog or divulge any plot points, I think it’s pretty clear that Ratanaruang has absolutely nailed the atmosphere and mood once again (the mood of Last Life in the Universe is one of the main reasons why I continue to find that movie so captivating).

The film, which stars Tadanobu Asano (Last Life in the Universe, Cafe Lumiere), Gang Hye Jung (Oldboy, Nabi), and Eric Tsang (Infernal Affairs), makes its world premier tomorrow (February 14) at the Berlin Film Festival. Here’s a brief synopsis from the film’s festival entry page:

This atmospheric, violent thriller revolves around a hitman called Kyoji who has just killed his lover, Seiko. She was the wife of Kyoji’s boss, Wiwat, who, when he heard about the affair, hired his rival to murder the unfaithful Seiko. Kyoji hides himself away on a cruise ship bound for Thailand. On board he meets a mysterious beauty named Noi. A passionate affair ensues. Their destinies are more interwoven than Kyoji and Noi could ever imagine.

Overwhelmed by guilt for his deeds, Kyoji feels as if the whole world were against him. His passage to Phuket is not the only event to be accompanied by the strangest of incidents. No sooner does this ex-killer reach Thailand than his problems redouble and take on sinister proportions. For now he’s being followed by a number of colleagues, paid assassins, sent by his former boss. As Kyoji fights for his life and struggles to cope with mounting feelings of guilt he discovers the truth about the secretive Noi.

Furious, wounded and thirsting for revenge, Kyoji might even make it home again.

According to Ratanaruang, the film is about why people kill and how they live with and resolve their guilt. It attempts to show that a person who hires and a person who kills are as much a victim as the person he kills. Everyone is a victim and everyone is full of guilt.

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