The World of Movies: Chanthaly
Written by Rachael Crawley
The World of Movies is a series that explores global cinema, drawing on films from many countries, industries and eras. This week, we look at life, death and memory in Laos.
Chanthaly.
May contain spoilers.
This week’s film is one that I have been looking forward to for a while. Chanthaly (Mattie Do, 2012) is distinguished both as the first horror film shot entirely in Laos, and the first Laotian feature directed by a woman. Do’s three movies have been influential in modern Laotian cinema, both abroad and domestically. Chanthaly is a tale of the mind and body, and weaves well-known horror tropes with an examination of family and trauma. However, it is anything but straightforward.
The title character (played by singer Amphaiphun Phimmapunya) suffers from a life-threatening health condition. Her widowed father keeps her stuck in a sheltered life at home. While she is supposedly running a home business, in practice she is mostly left alone and bored. She continues to have confusing visions of her late mother, whose life and death seem to be forbidden topics. As with many a horror protagonist, curiosity drives her to investigate these memories, and then things get weird.
As Chanthaly, Phimmapunya is excellent, a young woman held back by her health yet struggling to be independent. As the plot contains a fair amount of ambiguity, she is tasked with a challenging balance, but maintains it very well. Douangmany Soliphanh shines as her father – outwardly loving and anxious, yet somehow always in opposition to her. In the final third, when the movie changes quite rapidly, both actors find additional nuance. Soukchinda Duangkhamchan, as a potential love interest, also has some notable moments.
Chanthaly.
From the beginning, this film is quite strong on mood. Do mostly avoids ominous music or jump scares. There is almost no gore. Instead, she creates dread out of stultifying boredom. Long before we see anything supernatural, Do manages to make a quiet, utterly ordinary home seem threatening without overtly spelling it out. Chanthaly’s stifling existence is expressed in muted colours and mostly ambient sounds. Plenty of horror movies take place in the home, but it is impressive how easily this one combines the sinister with the mundane. After a while, the movie starts to ebb into a different approach – without spoiling particular plot points, it incorporates its horror elements into a wider perspective – but this tonal shift feels organic and true to the characters.
Chanthaly is not easy to classify. It is both a ghost story and a rather grounded view of family. Do herself considers it to be arthouse. It takes from the horror genre while wandering comfortably outside it. There are moments of fright, leisurely reflections, and excellent character buildup. Ultimately, it ties together into something complex, but still cohesive. This is the type of film that, I suspect, might work even better on rewatch.
Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities to watch this movie. Do and screenwriter Christopher Larsen have put the film in the public domain, which means that it is easily accessible for viewers worldwide. While horror fans would certainly enjoy it, Chanthaly makes a satisfying watch for a broad range of filmgoers.
Rachael Crawley holds a Master's Degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, and has worked with film in Canada and in Europe. She adores language and cinema, and how these subjects interact with each other.