Chanthaly

 There aren't that many movies from Laos - 40, according to IMDB, maybe half of them released after Chanthaly. It's a very traditional, still staunchly communist country, with that regime's mistrust of anything fantastic. So Mattie Do's and spouse Christopher Larsen's achievement of making three horror movies over the last decade or so is impressive on multiple levels - not the least of which is that they all kick major ass.

 This was their first feature, after only a little experience in Laotian TV, and it shows. Made wholly in the couple's house at the same time they lived in it (the film took about a year to complete), it's a little bit rougher, a little bit less assured, but it's recognizably of a piece with Dear Sister and The Long Road, which was one of the best movies I saw last year.

 Chanthaly (Amphaiphun Phommapunya) lives with her father in a walled-off house in Vientiane; for all her adult life, she's been taking in the world outside in small snippets when the car gate opens, zealously guarded by her dad (Douangmany Soliphanh, who co-wrote). She has a heart disease, the same one her father insists killed her mother at childbirth. Which is strange, because she carries with her some vague memories of her mom, including a particularly upsetting one where she watched her die.

 And then she starts seeing her at night.

 

 The first two acts of the movie revolve around Chan's attempts to discover the truth about her mother, and to try to determine if she's actually seeing her mother's ghost, or if she's hallucinating due to the drugs she's taking to keep her condition in check.
 That plot's a very slow burn, interweaved with more mundane dramatic concerns - a possible suitor (Soulasath Souvanavong), a childhood friend (Soukchinda Duangkhamchan) who obviously carries a torch for her, and her clashes with her dad as she rebels against his rule. It's very well written but a little bit staid, a very traditional gothic yarn... until a twist contorts the movie's third act into a completely different beast.

 That it's a first movie comes across in the certain clumsiness to how some of the early scenes are structured - the pacing seems a bit off, but either it quickly gets better or I got into sync with its rhythms, because I stopped noticing after fifteen minutes. The sound design is a much bigger problem, with the thrum of machinery or night sounds way too high in the mix on most scenes.

 It's not really scary, at least not to these jaded eyes, but the horror elements are very well handled; no visual or practical effects to speak of, just clever framing, editing and blocking. The film just looks good in general, with careful compositions and good use of different color schemes; Not bad for someone whose formal training was being given a book on directing by her husband and watching other people do it while working as a makeup artist. The actors are great, too, particularly Phommapunya, whom Do met while on the makeup department of a TV show.

 Fun fact: The movie was effectively made open source as a stretch goal towards funding their next movie. You can watch it on youtube or download it from the Internet Archive; there was even a contest to remix all the footage (used and unused) to tell a different story.

 It's a really good movie, is what I'm saying. I have no idea if these films are so enthrallingly weird because of their maker's sensibilities, all the tiptoeing around political strictures, or the incorporation of local customs and superstitions. Likely to be some mix of all three, I guess. We're lucky they seem to have managed to gather an immense pool of talent around them; Can't wait to see what they come up with next.