“POP AYE” — 2½ stars — Penpak Sirikul, Bong the elephant, Thaneth Warakulnukroh; not rated, probable R for language and sexual content; Sundance Film Festival
“Pop Aye” tells the story of a man in search of redemption, on the run from his personal demons and frustrated by an uncooperative universe.
Thana (Thaneth Warakulnukroh) is at the tail end of a distinguished career as an architect in Bangkok. But his legacy is about to be wiped out with the demolition of his cherished project, a showpiece of a shopping center that has fallen into disrepair. Even worse, his younger co-workers are leaving him out of the production loop at the office and at home he’s having marriage troubles with his wife, Bo (Penpak Sirikul).
So he buys an elephant.
Well, it isn’t quite that simple. Fed up with the hand middle age has dealt him, Thana goes for a walk and comes across a performing elephant named Popeye (Bong) that he recognizes from his youth. So he buys the elephant and decides to take it out of town to the small village where he grew up, where he will give it to his aging uncle.
Thus we have the image of a middle-aged Thai man walking a massive elephant on the side of the road, trying to find meaning from a life that is falling apart. Thailand is an exotic place, but this curious sight is enough to draw stares, not to mention the attention of the police, who cite him for violating standards of “urban tidiness.”
Thana extends his hand to a homeless man named Dee, who he and Popeye find along the road. Dee is living in an abandoned gas station and is convinced that death will soon come to take him to heaven, where he will be reunited with his deceased brother. Thana buys the man some food and even provides a way for him to get transportation so he can visit his ex-wife while he still has time.
Unfortunately, this light and kindhearted premise hides a growing darkness, as “Pop Aye” explores Thana's deeper and more dysfunctional nature. Not long after leaving Dee, Thana winds up at a dive karaoke bar, where an ugly encounter with a prostitute makes his weaknesses all too clear to the audience.
The darker content is an apt illustration of a man who is suffering, but it stands as a stark contrast to the lighter tone and the dry comic humor used earlier in the film. Warakulnukroh's performance emotes a kind of empty yearning that feels effective for his character.
Director Kirsten Tan allows her film to breathe, but in some ways "Pop Aye" takes too much time to get where it is going. When Thana and Popeye finally get to their destination, several storylines come to a head in ways that feel more ironic and realistic than cathartic, though there is a certain poetry to one particular twist at the end of the film.
In the end, “Pop Aye” is a sad but effective portrait of a man who feels like his legacy and contribution to life is slipping away from him. For Thana, it just happens to lead to buying an elephant. The film’s tone and its blunt presentation of Thana’s sad state tend to undermine the lighter moments, but the message gets across.
“Pop Aye” is playing as part of the World Cinema Dramatic category at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film is presented in Thai with English subtitles.
“Pop Aye” is not rated, but would have a probable R rating for language and sexual content; running time: 104 minutes.
Joshua Terry is a freelance writer and photographer who appeared weekly on "The KJZZ Movie Show" from 2013 to 2016. He also teaches English composition for Weber State University. Find him online at facebook.com/joshterryreviews.