
Over the years, Tom Waller has developed a signature style that somewhat carries throughout all seven films he has directed. His portfolio ranges from the metaphysical crime drama ‘Mindfulness and Murder, through the psychotic biopic on Thailand’s ‘Last Executioner’, up to the story of students imprisoned in ‘The Cave all these are both engaging, now and especially in his latest years where Hollywood influences so largely stylistically interacts with local culture. The move towards telling actual stories finally, is a fact, and with this last effort, ‘Kiss of the Con Queen’ he affirms such fact with the utmost clarity. Similar to ‘The Last Executioner’ however, in this case too the con artist in question who defrauded many within the film industry until his arrest, Davin O’Brien, has a much deeper and significant narrative background which was told in the movie The lead actor, O’Brien, along with several other cast and crew members, were co-opted in the deception.
Ryan, an Irish aspiring self-sustained actor is trying to make it work in the movie scene of Bangkok since he has decided to pursue his acting career there. To pursue his career, he is not only learning acting but Muay Thai as well, with his friends Jay and Jan, whom he finds himself haphazardly attracted to. While it is not the worst scenario out there since it has been some time since he got any good roles, he also finds out that Shaw, his father in Ireland, is unwell. Around this rather difficult period of his life, he is offered a role in own movie by Deborah Snyder, the wife of Zack Snyder, who is his own contact. Realizing that his opportunity is finally here, he throws himself into the endeavor even flying to Jakarta for the filming and paying for the required permission to shoot scenes that seem to never happen. However, with the passage of time, he starts to see that all is not well.
In terms of those who take part in the film, there are some other familiar faces. Overall the most immediate answer to the question about what for them to act is well depicted in the production, that being that some people would want to work on this film just to be a part of it. And not only because it is a big project, but because the story is interesting and the reason to get involvement definitely exists, even if the actors are famous. Philosopher and cultural theorist Svletana F. managed to reach a conclusion based on the film that goes further than simply trying to figure out if people are trying to make a point. From the point of view of many, the actors were clearly those who had a particular look and image for the film, acquiring smaller actors in terms of popularity. Looking ahead, I believe that it won’t be the missing puzzle piece, but rather two or three sequels that will definitely be necessities.
In addition to the aspects ‘elated to the movie, the movie itself is also interesting. To begin with, the depiction of the life of small scale actors, their financial and emotional stress in the cut throat industry is plausible and answers the questions about the reasons how so many of them became a victim of this con scheme as well as the con artist was able to remain so deeply entrenched and be successful for such a lengthy period. How the movie changes from being a drama with dark undertones which are overtly sexualized to suspense and then further into an action thriller is also well executed and contributes to the enjoyment the entire offered, once again in terms of popular cinema.
The last point can be also attributed to the high production value as “Kiss of the Con Queen” was shot in five locations (Thailand, Jakarta, the United States, Ireland, and Japan) with the appropriate aesthetic qualities shown in most of the locations, thanks to DP Wade Muller. In terms of visuals, everything is of high quality but done in a manner that is appropriate for the rest of the visuals. The editing of Harin Paesongthai and Mitphon Ekphasuphor also appears to be good, being able to keep the narrative\’s overall quick tempo and appropriately spacing out the moments the Queen is shown.
And regarding the Queen, Ravi Patel in the role excels in portraying the talents of this character along with many of his perversions in a very nice way, with the ‘phone sex’ episodes and the fighting ones being among the best scenes of the film. Eoin O’Brien in the role of Ryan is also credible, although there is a lot of emphasis in this part that is also intended to show his character especially his skills in fighting, which are mild in this case. One could argue that the arcs in Ireland and the romantic one are rather weak, but the whole character of the father with his movie dialogues and the beautiful Lynette Emond as Jan certainly make up for it. The second one who steals the show, however, is definitely Yayu Unru in the role of the diabolically poor devil/driver.
“Kiss of the Con Queen” is also a lesson on how one can cope with scams gross as it may sound, an entertaining movie that is sure to have an audience owing to its graphics and because it takes a rather novel approach to the genre of true crime.
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