Content Warning: Discussion of Portrayed Sexual Violence
Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang is reuniting with Asia-based cinematographer Christopher Doyle for his upcoming psychological thriller Morte Cucina. This will mark the first time the two have collaborated since 2003 when they worked on the romantic drama Last Life in the Universe.
Set in the world of Thai cuisine, Morte Cucina follows a talented young chef named Sao that encounters the man who sexually abused her years ago and her path to revenge. According to the logline, Sao’s revenge will achieve “a rather unexpected result.”
Morte Cucina is not only Ratanaruang’s first feature working with Doyle since 2003, but it is also his first feature film overall since 2017’s noir crime thriller Samui Song, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Well-regarded for his work in arthouse cinema, Ratanaruang has been considered one of the main progenitors of a new wave of Thai cinema. According to an interview with Future Frame’s Ron Morris about his then-recent release 6ixtynin9, Ratanaruang is more interested in telling his own stories through film than consciously creating more arthouse films. “I’m making films because it’s convenient for me to tell my stories,” he explains. “It’s just a means to get my stories out to people. It would have been just as fine if I could write novels or songs or make music or visual arts, but I don’t know how to do any of those things.”
The film received funding from Film Fund Luxembourg and will be produced by Soros Sukham for 185 Films and Conor Zorn from Little River Entertainment. Ratanaruang is set to start shooting this project by the last quarter of this year, which will soon be followed by a 2024 international release.
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