Independent filmmaker Pharm Rangsi (Dae Por Nak Pattana Phoo Ying Yai and Siang Tao Fah Nah Tao Klong) is back with a new ghost flick made with the considerably bigger production power of the Golden A studio, Pawn Shop. But while it stars popular actor Noi Pru as its leading man, it doesn’t take long to realize this is no commercial Thai ghost film aimed at scaring audiences out of their seats. We barely flinched at the ghost, but rather struggled to connect with the film’s lofty themes about greed and pain.
The film opens with the owner of a struggling Chinese pawn shop, who has been worshipping a ghost in his house for many years. Pushed by his wife to make ends meet, he prays for the first time to acquire wealth. His prayer is answered, but with the condition that his wife must be sacrificed. He then hacks up his wife in her sleep and business picks up. The film then cuts to bar owner Neung (Noi Pru), husband of Dow (Kratae Supaksorn), who one day, tired from work, falls asleep while driving and accidentally hits his neighbor’s little daughter who goes into a coma. Wracked by guilt and needing to compensate the family, he sells his house and other assets. With life tough for him and his wife, he comes across a flyer for the pawn shop, which now operates under a hidden agenda: to offer customers a deal of one million baht in exchange for pawning their lives to the ghost. Neung accepts this deal—and he’s not the only one. Three others, each with different needs for money, have done the same. And each soon discovers that the bargain they’ve entered into comes with a heavy price.
While the film’s basic premise is not too hard to comprehend, it’s made puzzling by the editing that deems time and sequencing unnecessary. Some dialogue is simply bizarre and unrealistic, giving the film a surreal edge. Still, despite these odd inclusions, the desperate motives of the characters have us clinging to some semblance of reality.
The story feels like an indie take on the ghost movie 1408 (2007), while Noi’s relentless waking from dream after dream reminds us of Inception (2010). If you were to read deeply into the symbolism, you might say that the pawn shop represents the idea of suicide and that the underlying meaning of the film is that all the greed and suffering end at death. But there’s just too many aspects of the film that don’t come together. It’s a pity because the beautiful photography urge you to look for something meaningful that’s just not there.
Pawn Shop is a film for cinematography-lovers—and, particularly, fans of Noi. For a non-film-student audience, it is an unusual take on Thai ghost films with overcomplicated storytelling and a distinct lack of logic. (A final word of caution, the English subtitles are disastrous.)
