Dir/scr: Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Thai. 2007. 105 mins.
Thai auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang's most mature, measured film to date, Ploy offers a darkly poetic variation on the theme of The Seven Year Itch. Though its slow pacing demands a certain patience, the slow waltz of story, editing and camerawork goes beyond the surreal, open-ended ditherings of the director's last film, Invisible Waves, to deliver a solid dramatic punch and an unforced moral message. This is such a tasty slice of cinema, by turns onieric, erotic, funny and emotionally perceptive, that it could easily have made the Cannes competition rather than the Quinzaine sidebar. Ploy imposes its own unhurried rhythm but then rewards its viewers for their indulgence, and within the arthouse niche that it will inevitably inhabit this could turn out to be a strong seller for Fortissimo, possibly outdoing Last Life In The Universe: it's difficult to see distributors in territories with resilient cineaste audiences passing this one up. Critical buzz and further festival dates should help to get the word out. Right from the beginning it becomes clear that we are in a transit zone, both geographical and emotional. We see a couple arrive at Bangkok airport, take a cab and check in at an anonymous contemporary hotel in the small hours of the morning. The husband, Wit (Pornwut Sarasin), goes down to the bar for a packet of cigarettes and starts chatting to Ploy (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk), a vivacious, Lolita-like girl who claims to be waiting for her mother, and looks younger than the almost-19 she declares. As there are still several hours to go until Ploy's mother arrives, Wit invites her to get some rest in his suite, where he has left his wife Dang (well-known Thai film and TV actress Lalita Panyopas) asleep. But she's not asleep now, and is understandably annoyed with, and suspicious of, her husband. Just like her, we're never quite sure whether Wit's invitation was purely altruistic, just as we're not sure whether Ploy's acceptance was as innocent as it seems – or rather, didn't seem. Ratanaruang plays with this uncertainty in a masterly way throughout the film – in fact, Ploy (the film) is a fine example of his skill as a scriptwriter as well as his assured way with actors, staging and framing. Meanwhile, in an apparently unrelated story, Nut (Ananda Everingham), the barman we saw downstairs, meets Tum (Phorntip Pananai), a chambermaid, for a gently erotic illicit encounter in a hotel room. Australian-Laotian Everingham is a hot star in Thailand – though its difficult to know whether his fans at home will be amused or annoyed by the fact that, as the director declares in the press book, "he spends most of his screentime inside a girl's skirt". Gradually the connection between the two plotlines is revealed, or half-revealed. Because although the dreams Wit, Ploy and Dang have during their fitful slumbers invade the story (and this may or may not be one of them), they do so with an inventive edginess that keeps us guessing. Charnkit Chamniwikaipong proves a worthy successor to Chris Doyle, who worked as cinematographer on Ratanaruang's last two films: Ploy is beautifully framed and shot, most of the time in a painterly half-light that stresses the transitional zone that Wit and Dang's relationship has reached: it's a kind of emotional twilight. Music consists mostly of subdued electronic suspense chords and fugue-like organ notes, with more dramatic free-jazz impro raising the temperature near the end. Even a torch song delivered straight to camera by Tum, the chambermaid, does not break the mood: like everything else in this impressive film, it is perfectly judged. Production companies/backers
Fortissimo Films
A Five Star Production
The Film Factory Ltd International sales
Fortissimo Film Sales Producer
Rewat Vorarat Executive producer
Charoen Iamphungporn Cinematography
Charnkit Chamniwikaipong Production design
Saksiri Chantarangsri Editor
Wittaya Chaimongkol Music
Hualampong Riddim
Koichi Shimizu Main cast
Lalita Panyopas
Pornwut Sarasin
Ananda Everingham
Apinya Sakuljaroensuk
Phorntip Papanai
Thaksakorn Pradabpongsa
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From left, Lalita Panyopas, Apinya Sakuljaroensuk and Pornwut Sarasin, chat with the press.
Following a world premiere during the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, the latest film by Thai auteur Pen-Ek Ratanaruang made its Thailand premiere on Tuesday night in a screening for the press and celebrities.

Before the screening of the new film, ''Ploy'', the director and his stars took the rostrum for a question-and-answer session, during which Pen-Ek pulled out a digital camera and took photos of the presenter, the press and the actors.

===Film plot===
''Ploy'' is a drama film, about a middle-aged Thai-American couple, portrayed by popular Thai soap opera actress Lalita Panyopas and Pornwut Sarasin, a first-time actor whose day job is working as vice president of Thai Namthip, the distributor of Coca Cola in Thailand. The couple have returned to Thailand for the first time in many years to attend the funeral of a relative. 

They arrive at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 5 a.m. after a long-haul flight from the U.S., and check in to a hotel. The wife, Dang, just wants to sleep, but the husband, Wit, wants some cigarettes, so he goes to the hotel bar to buy some. There, he strikes up a conversation with a 19-year-old girl named Ploy (17-year-old first-time actress Apinya Sakuljaroensuk), who's waiting at the hotel for her mother. 

Wit then invites the girl to his and Dang's room, so she can take a shower and relax. This poor judgment by Wit ignites feelings of jealousy and anger in Dang, and causes the couple to review their marriage of seven years.

Lao-Australian leading man Ananda Everingham is in a supporting role as the hotel bartender. As a counterpoint to Wit's and Dang's bickering, the bartender engages in an erotic tryst with a hotel maid (model-actress Porntip Papanai) in a nearby room.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang, second from left, snaps photos with his digital camera, during a press conference for his new film ''Ploy'', which co-stars, starting third from left, Ananda Everingham, Porntip Papanai and Thaksakorn Pradabpongsa.
===Censorship fears===
The press screening was held at SF World Cinemas at CentralWorld shopping mall in Bangkok. Given the presence of Coca-Cola's Pornwut in the cast, it was perhaps not a coincidence that cans of Coke Zero, a new soft drink that is just being introduced in Thailand, were being doled out for free.

According to early reviews at Cannes, ''Ploy'' contains a high level of nudity and eroticism, which is uncommon for a Thai film, because Thailand has no film-ratings system and instead adheres to a strict censorship code that excises nakedness and sex scenes.

Ahead of its Thailand premiere, Aphiradee Iamphungphorn, co-producer for Five Star Production, said she knew the film would have to be re-edited for Thailand, but "hopefully not more than we can bear." To get past the censors, Pen-ek created a special Thailand edit of the film, in which the sex scenes are toned down.

''Ploy'' is the director's sixth feature film since he made his debut in 1997 with ''Fun Bar Karaoke'', which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. Since then, his films are regularly featured on the festival circuit, and are submitted by Thailand's film industry for consideration by the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

Pen-Ek's latest film is a return to screenwriting, after his previous two films, ''Last Life in the Universe'' and ''Invisible Waves'', were scripted or co-scripted by Thai writer Prabda Yoon. It also marks a reunion with leading actress Lalita, who starred in his second feature, 1999's black comedy, ''Ruang Talok 69'', as well as Porntip, who co-starred in Pen-Ek's 2001 musical-comedy-drama ''Monrak Transistor''.

''Ploy'' opens in Thailand cinemas on Thursday.