Dennis O'Rourke
Good Women Of Bangkok

THE REVIEW

There are films where reality is so devastating and heartbreaking that it almost becomes fiction, almost like a tragic and profound event. "Good Women Of Bangkok" is one of these.
because here a true story is told, with melodramatic twists that appear almost like a setup, a staged performance as a publicity stunt.

A director (the same Dennis O'Rourke, a great documentary filmmaker), after being left by his wife, heads to Bangkok to find a prostitute and make a film about her life.

The focal point is a woman, Aoi (a stage name that in Thai means "Sweetie" or "Sugarcane"), who talks about her troubled life, the need for money to save her family, the hatred towards men which often forces her into extreme and violent sex.

We notice her deep pain towards this humiliating work, behind her fluorescent pink lipstick, thick-framed glasses, and dark skin. And these dramatic moments full of shame are interspersed with the unkind statements of Thai and foreign clients (Australians, Japanese, Americans): "no one gives head like her."

The talented Australian director synthesizes in just 80 minutes a real punch to the stomach, sometimes tender and poignant, other times disturbing and raw, like the life of a prostitute, that of Aoi.

With the camera always in hand, O'Rourke spies on her even while she eats spaghetti or talks with a friend, showing that in reality, she is a very normal woman, like all the others.

Simple shots, enveloping editing, spontaneous acting and at times engaging for an interesting and particular film that deserves to be seen in its entirety.

Just the lost, dazed, and seductive look of an Aoi who has lost everything and who sacrifices herself to help her loved ones is enough to feel electrified, to feel empty inside, feeling pity and pain for her and many other women who end up in such misery.

The swirling colors of Thai '90s discos, the trashy house music, topless dancer-prostitutes who dance wildly among mischievous tourists mix with the poverty of the countryside, the harsh reality hidden behind the gaze of a lost woman, alien to a world where commercialized sex reigns supreme, overshadowing even love and the purest of human feelings.

But "Good Women Of Bangkok" is not just a documentary about prostitution (which it intended to be), but a love story. The more the director films his actress, the more he falls for her, urging her to stop, to think more about herself than about her loved ones.

But she, with her wounded doe eyes, softly whispers: "I'm sorry, it's my destiny."

An absolute must-see, with an extra-large pack of tissues.