Soi Cowboy (2008)

50% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
12% want to see it
(66 ratings)

Love, loyalty and self-preservation set the stage for this look at two dysfunctional relationships. Danish expatriate Tobias Christensen (Nicolas Bro) is a struggling filmmaker who shares an apartment with his girlfriend (Pimwalee Thampanyasan), who is pregnant with their first child. Tobias met his… More Love, loyalty and self-preservation set the stage for this look at two dysfunctional relationships. Danish expatriate Tobias Christensen (Nicolas Bro) is a struggling filmmaker who shares an apartment with his girlfriend (Pimwalee Thampanyasan), who is pregnant with their first child. Tobias met his girl after he moved to Bangkok; she was working as a prostitute in the city's Soi Cowboy district, which is crowded with brothels, bars and sex clubs, and he rescued her from life on the street. However, while she seems grateful and affectionate towards Tobias, she isn't especially attracted to him and she's concerned about the lack of security in his line of work. The woman is still in contact with some of her friends from her days working in Soi Cowboy, and she learns that things have taken a turn for the worse for her pal Cha, who is an errand boy for a Thai mob boss. Cha's brother, who also works on the fringes of the underworld, has mysteriously disappeared, and he sets out on a journey to find her, while the semi-happy couple pays a visit to Ayutthaya to see the sights. Soi Cowboy was the second feature film from British director Thomas Clay after his controversial debut The Great Ecstasy of Robert Charmichael; in one scene, Tobias tries to buy a copy of Clay's first feature from a black market DVD dealer. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 56 min.
Directed By: Thomas Clay
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

Studio: Network Releasing

Critic Reviews

Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
Clay doesn't want for ideas but his symbolism is in grave danger of smothering the story
Edward Porter, Sunday Times (UK)
There is skill, thoughtfulness and chutzpah here, but not enough to create the sort of mesmeric power that a film of this kind needs.
Jason Solomons, Observer [UK]
This wilful obscurantism comes across merely as a pose, an undergraduate homage to both Antonioni and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
It mostly maintains an artful minimalism you will either find subtle or terminally boring.
David Jenkins, Time Out
Here is an artist who has gone back to the drawing board and pared down his act to deliver a stark and complex humanist message with technical brio and a broad knowledge of cinema, demonstrating real poise and originality.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
Soi Cowboy, confirms Thomas Clay's arthouse cine-literacy but suggests that he might not know what to do with all the movie references that he spreads liberally through his work.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
A mysterious, hallucinatory and weirdly enthralling metaphysical essay.
Rob Daniel, Sky Movies
Soi Cowboy's wet concrete pacing, dialogue free scenes, and prolonged takes will test the patience of even the most understanding movie buff.
Carmen Grey, Total Film
Dislocation and desperation are the twin linchpins of Brit director Thomas Clay's Thailand-set slowburner.
Anton Bitel, Film4
A bold experiment or a crashing bore? Clay's muted hybrid is a bit of both, in unequal measure.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Cast

Nicolas Bro
as Tobias Christensen
Pimwalee Thampanyasan
as Koi
Petch Mekoh
as Cha

Natee Srimanta
as Older Brother
Somluk Kuamsing
as Uncle
Art Supawatt

See full cast

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