All eyes on the cult of Mr Van

Ask about any Thai filmmaker or movie critic of a certain age how they managed to see classic world cinema works in the age before Pirate Bay, they will likely admit they got their fix from Mr Van, Bangkok’s legendary bootleg movie vendor.

He’s the subject of “The Master”, a new documentary by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit.

Named after the Thai word for his trademark eyeglasses, it was Mr Van who opened the eyes of countless Thais to subtitled cinema in the 1990s and early 2000s, before bittorrent trackers and streaming video became the main way to see pirated movies. 

Much as he did with his acclaimed experimental romance “36”, which evoked memories of 36-exposure rolls of camera film, Nawapol is again looking back on a form of outmoded media. In the case of “The Master”, Nawapol hits the rewind button to a time before Blu-ray, DVDs or even VCDs, to when we watched movies on videotape.

In a promotional image for the film, the “Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy” director holds up his prized VHS copy of “Run Lola Run”.

Other directors also pose with their Mr Van artefacts. Pen-ek Ratanaruang prizes his copy of Akira Kurosawa’s 1951 adaptation of “The Idiot” while Bangjong pisanthanakun holds tight to “Happiness”, a 1998 drama by Todd Solondz.

Banjong credits Van’s videos as a big influence, and without them, his hit 2004 thriller “Shutter” might not have turned out the same. “He is my coming of age,” Banjong says.

Others include directors Songyos Sugmakanan and Kongdej jaturanrasmee, and film critics Kittisak suwannapokin, Prawit Taengaksorn, Manotham theamtheabrat, graiwoot chulphongsathorn and Wiwat “Filmsick” Lertwiwatwongsa. Concert promoter Yuthana “Pa Ted” Boonorm and radio hosts Pongnarin Ulice and Pornchai Wiriyapraphanon also share of their time in the cult of Mr Van.

“He helped establish independent cinema,” film critic Kong Rithdee says of Mr Van, who brought in movies that generally weren’t distributed in Thailand. Since then, the indie cinema movement has gained a foothold, and the types of art-house movies he stocked are now more commonplace in Bangkok cinemas.

“He didn’t get rich from his shop. He created his shop because of his love of cinema,” Nawapol points out in promotional materials for “The Master”. “A coin has two sides. Movie piracy is illegal. It devastates filmmakers and the movie industry. Still, it is difficult to judge whether Mr Van was morally right or wrong. The movie aims to show the piracy cycle and its effects, both bad and good.”

 

Rewind the tape

_ “The Master” is screening at House cinema on Royal City Avenue in Bangkok.

_ There are no English subtitles.

_ As a premium, Nawapol has made VHS copies of his feature “Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy”, available as a prize in a drawing.

_ For more details, visit www.HouseRama.com.