Pee Mak

CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️3.0

True love never dies, it only transforms into necrophilia.

holly 🐇5.0

just a man and his beautiful scary ghost wife whom he loves with all 14 of his iq points

Jon Peters3.5

Not too many countries can claim their highest grossing box office hit of all-time is one from the supernatural genre, except Thailand with director Bangjong Pisanthanakun's PEE MAK (พี่มากพระโขนง, Phi Mak Phra Khanong, 2013), another adaptation of the popular folklore story of Mae Nak Phra Khanon, or Nang Nak. The difference here, is the inclusion and focus on the comedy of the events, making it a fun counterpart to NANG NAK (นางนาก, 1999 - my review here), which took the story of ghostly love seriously. It's a subversive look at the legend, as Amber T. writes in her essay Mind Your Own Business: How Pee Mak subverts the Vengeful Female Ghost Story, “Pee Mak directly places the focus on her male counterpart, effectively absolving her of the role as the tale’s enduring villain. Shin and Aey grow more and more frustrated as this young woman does not fit the archetype of the image they have constructed for her in their own minds.” As does the audience, especially those familiar with the legend, in which a beautiful young Nak is pregnant, her husband Mak is drafted into the Thai army for war, only to return not knowing that Nak died and he's living with a ghost. Pisanthanakun centers the supernatural horror and comedy with the legend’s deep sense of romance, an undying love for someone that not even death could stop. As Puak (Pongsathorn Jongwilas) states, “Mak is whipped.”One would be too, if they married Nak, played by the lovely and beautiful actress Davika Hoorne, or Mai, as she's sometimes credited as. Amber T. adds, “throughout [the film], Nak is never once in control of her own identity and how men around her view her: she goes from victim, to villain and back again, when all she really wants to be is a woman.” Despite what Mak’s goofy friends think, what's so wrong with being together, even if one is a corpse? Love is eternal. At least theirs is, and it's what is on the inside that counts. Right? PEE MAK finds plenty of humor, from pop culture references to slapstick to even Thai-centric humor that will go over any Western fans’ heads. “Pee Mak makes for a refreshing and enjoyable experience. It is never scary, but it is frequently laugh-out-loud funny and populated by characters who for the most part, we actually care about. The film is quintessentially Thai, riffing on historically significant cultural touch points, while shooting squarely for a modern, contemporary crowd pleaser and hitting its mark dead on,” writes James Marsh. Humorous hi-jinks aside, PEE MAK is one of the more romantic supernatural films around.