by SARAH ROWLAND

Attention Fantasia junkies: If you can't wait till June 2006 for your next dose of totally insane cinema, Bangkok Loco is a perfect fix. Set against a garishly psychedelic Thailand, the frenetic musical comedy revolves around Bay, a mop-topped rock drummer who is a devout Buddhist trying to achieve the 10th level of sacred drumming. During a particularly mind-altering practice session, he comes to from his rapturous state, only to realize his sticks have been replaced by cleavers and his kit has been replaced by his landlady. A set-up, or drumming gone wrong? Bay doesn’t stick around to find out.

And so begins his two-hour run from the law. Along the way, there are countless visual puns, endless pop culture references and the funniest drum sex scene to hit the big screen in a long time. This banging crescendo is not only the pinnacle of what is sure to be a future cult classic, it’s also what inspired director Pornchai Hongrattanaporn to take on Sompope Veichapipat’s screenplay.

“When I was reading the script I was kind of wondering whether it would be possible to make it into a movie,” says Hongrattanaporn, who prefers to go by Pink. “But then I became so enthralled by the drum-playing love scene and how I was going to execute it. And I started thinking about how the drum sticks could symbolize penises and from there, ideas for the whole movie started to flow.”

Pink began adding his own gags too, some of which will be lost on non-Thai viewers. One particularly perplexing scene is when the mystic master percussionist falls to his death and is buried under a set of dinner plates with the letter “R” inscribed on them. As Pink excitedly explains, when the Thai word for “master” is broken down it literally translates to “R plate.”

And there’s more where that came from. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been collecting them into my own personal gag collection.”

Judging by some of the more Leslie Nielsen-inspired moments like when a post-coital Bay gets out of bed to go "wash his cock" and then proceeds to earnestly hose down an unsuspecting rooster, I half expect Pink to tell me that he got his sense of humour from watching a subtitled version of Airplane. I was wrong. Apparently, his gag-disorder started in the womb.

“When my mother was pregnant, my parents prayed to the monkey god instead of the handsome god—true story,” he insists, as he sits up in his chair, clapping wildly.

Thanks to his parents’ primate prayers, Pink says, he’s a lot funnier than he is good-looking. But he’s pretty happy with how things turned out. “I think that I’ve had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by accomplishing this film. There are so many obstacles for Thai filmmakers. For instance, Thai audiences are not as loyal to domestic cinema as other Asian countries, the government doesn’t support the industry and funding is almost non-existent.”

With that in mind, Pink has a message for North American moviegoers: “If you give us chance, in return we promise to try and make the best films that we can.”

BANGKOK LOCO SCREENS AT EX-CENTRIS SUNDAY, OCT. 16, AT 5:20 P.M.

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