"Nang Mai" Spectres in the wild

Penek Ratanaruang returns to Thai cinemas next month with "Nang Mai" ("Nymph"), a slowpaced, minimalist offering with supernatural overtones.

 His seventh feature and first horror movie, "Nymph" pre¬miered last month in the Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

"I don't want my films to be forgotten," Penek says, when asked about the major change of style. "So when I make a film, I want the audience to understand the plot and connect with how the characters feel. The slower pace of the movie means they'll have more time to absorb the story and remem¬ber it, perhaps for years."

Penek is fed up with fastpaced Hollywood flicks that fade from his memory the moment he walks out of the cinema. "I keep up with the story, but afterwards I feel nothing," he shrugs.

He says he discovered the minimalist path by accident while making his fourth film, "Last Life in the Universe". "I couldn't control anything while filming because I had no experience of working with an international cast and crew."

Mixed reviews

The critical reception of "Nymph" at Cannes was divided.

"I found it interesting that those who didn't like the film blamed it on the minimal approach, less of a story and the slow pacing, while those who loved it praised exactly these same points."