Arnold Is a Model Student - Arnon pen nakrian tuayang

Directed by Sorayos Prapapan

Starrings: Korndanai Marc Dautzenberg, Virot Ali, Chayut Anantapong, Natanon Jariyaprasertsin, Anaphat Rueanhiranthanakit, Siraphop Punmanee, Yanin Pongsuwan, Winyu Wongsurawat, Siriboon Naddhabh, Niramon Busapavanich, Darunbhorn Likitkererat

Country: Thailand

Year 2022

Review Author: Roberto Matteucci

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“Bangkok traffic is terrible.”

Anne Cheng is one of the most authoritative Sinologists in the world. She considers Confucius' thought based on three essential principles: “l'apprendre, la qualité humaineet l'esprit rituel.” (1)

The three principles do not apply individually but must be respected together. In this way, the study has validity. Success is not easy. Even Confucius himself, in the Dialogues, claims he has not yet succeeded:

“The Master said, In terms of unstinting effort, I can measure up to others, but as far as exemplifying the junzi in my persual conduct, I have not yet grasped it.” (VII, 33). (2)

Education, learning, researching, teaching must have just an aim: creating a noble man, capable of working for the community and becoming “l'homme de qualité” on the moral level. This is the junzi. Anne Cheng's definition:

“Le junzi est donc « l'homme de qualité » ou « l'homme de bien », par opposition au xiaoren « l'homme petit » au sens moral, ou « l'homme de peu ».” (3)

Can a student have many qualities, like being a mathematical genius, winning a distinguished prize, receiving a scholarship, attending a school abroad but, at the same time, being dishonest, corrupt, false and cowardly?

This is Arnold, a high school student in Bangkok. He is the negative protagonist of the film Arnold Is a Model Student - Arnon pen nakrian tuayang by Thai director Sorayos Prapapa presented at the 15th Bangkok World Film Festival 2022.

In a prestigious high school in Bangkok, the classes are all lined up for flag-raising. The principal welcomes Arnold. Arnold is a handsome boy, massive, nice, lively. He is clever. He won the Math Olympics Game and could study for one year in the United States. Today is his return. The headmaster uses his victory to advertise the institution and attract more students.

Arnold is still a teenager, a little naughty but captivating. He arrives late, plays with his classmates, while his image is displayed on posters among the most deserving students, as happens in every Thai institute.

Arnold is smart. He is aware of his importance and, sometimes, he has a few advantages as well. He wants money to go back to America. A shameless teacher offers him a job at his school. The tests for enrolling in Thailand's most famous colleges are arduous and complicated. Therefore, Arnold is hired to suggest answers to children of wealthy families with poor math predispositions. Arnold accepts this trade for cash, not caring about his friends. He abandons everyone and flees.

The arguments are social: private school, meritocracy, stress and exam difficulties. Then, there are the political arguments and the Thailand situation. Interesting topics, instructive but something doesn't work.

Arnold is bivalent. He is friendly. He is cheerful and joyful. His classmates envy him for being brilliant. He has been to America. Arnold triumphs, while they live in doubt, in the normal uncertainties about the future like any teenager.

Furthermore, Arnold has a dark side. He is lively but he also suffers. His father is dead. He is disillusioned, fragile, immature, selfish, thinks exclusively of himself and is ungrateful to his companions.

However, it is not just Arnold. There is a splendid and original female teacher, a character from another era. Extravagant, fiery, she appears in the video with incredible empathy.

The film begins with an impeccable sequence. Some boys dance. They perform bizarre choreography. It is jovial and accompanied by an excellent and harmonious soundtrack.

The first part is elegantly directed by a desire to have an enjoyable tone, but suddenly, there is a sharp rift.

Arnold's conflict with himself is overcome by a fake political group of overexcited female students, who appear out of nowhere. Why does the filmmaker portray the girls as fanatics? Maybe should they be fun? They are not. It seems they need an exorcism. These students are completely dazed. They annihilate the initial rhythm, they break the tension. It should be a symbol of active women but in reality, they are caricatures. They are offensive burlesques of female students.

The consequence is a film dominated by boredom. Deep boredom.

The plot twist is divided into two parts. There is the departure of Arnold, who does not cry because he moves away from his companions. He cries because he leaves his mother. The second is the protest by a bunch of students. Here, the students do not cry but the viewer does, emaciated by banality.

The opening is the only positive feedback can be found. For example, the pleasant and ironic scene of the class students' self-introduction. One behind the other, they quickly express their dreams: who wants to be a doctor, who wants to be a veterinarian, who wants to study and who wants to be a critic of film critic. A perfect sequence: fast, insightful.

In the next phase, the direction deficit increases with exasperating slowness. The themes disappear. The film turns into a botched farce.

Long shots. The camera is driven apathetically, calmly, tediously, as in the workshop scene. Absurd pauses, extremely soporific, like reading a tedious letter. The camera persists on insignificant details. He kills rhythm and expectations.

It is the first feature film by Sorayos Prapapan. So far, he has directed acclaimed short films. Probably, the author is not used to two hours of story. The direction and the script are wrong. The script is lengthened, the plot with endless shots, mostly without meaning and very boring. Moreover, the editing is useless.

What happened? Thai cinema has a profound cultural influence, a fascination with great, intimate, choral and humorous stories.

What were the director's motivations? Directing a comedy? Of course, that was his goal. He wanted to hear the audience’s laughter.

Sorayos Prapapan's statement to a sincere question from reporter Yun-hua Chen for filmint. is disorienting:

“The film is incredibly funny, but the audience in Locarno did not seem to laugh that much?

I thought, what’s wrong with you people? They might be shocked or shy though. In some of the jokes, I was giving the audience the opportunity to make fun of our Thai accent portrayed in the movie, but they did not laugh. Maybe they are too politically correct? Or maybe they were shocked? When I screened my short film that was supposed to be very funny, people laughed a bit in the end.” (4)

Spectators should have laughed during the Locarno Festival. However, the audience remained indifferent. The director accuses the public. It is the public that is ignorant.

Unfortunately, the story is unclear, neither comic nor derisive, due to the filmmaker's fault. People pay to watch films. They do not laugh at commands.

If the Swiss audience did not laugh, it was not about cultural shock. The only reason is the film's dullness. It is boring for everyone around the world. In fact, neither the Swiss nor the Bangkok viewers laughed.

Democracy does not exist only if someone wins. It exists even if someone loses, and respect should prevail. The junzi should prevail. The man of quality should prevail but Arnold, like Ensor, hides among the masks.

1. Anne Cheng, Historie de la pensée chinoise, Édition du Seuil, Novembre 1997https://www.google.it/books/edition/Histoire_de_la_pensée_chinoise/R-rwCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=anne+cheng+Histoire+de+la+pensée+chinoise&printsec=frontcover

2. Confucius, The Analects of Confucius, 2015 translated by Robert Enohttps://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf

3. Anne Cheng, Historie de la pensée chinoise, Édition du Seuil, Novembre 1997https://www.google.it/books/edition/Histoire_de_la_pensée_chinoise/R-rwCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=anne+cheng+Histoire+de+la+pensée+chinoise&printsec=frontcover

4. Yun-hua Chen. “Global Change and Local Protest in Thailand: An Interview with Sorayos Prapapan on Arnold is the Model Student (2022)” October 23, 2022 http://filmint.nu/interview-with-sorayos-prapapan-on-arnold-is-the-model-student-arnon-pen-nakrian-tuayang-yun-hua-chen/