6ixtynin9 (DVD)

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But there aren't enough of those outrageously comic moments to drive this as a comedy, and that leaves viewers pretty much at the mercy of a plot that's interesting to watch but not all that emotionally involving—again, because of the predictability.

The things to watch—and appreciate—are actually Ratanaruang's cinematic techniques. More than anything, his shots add variety and interest. Out of nowhere there will appear a fish-eye lens shot, or a down-angle shot, or a slightly blurred shot that slowly comes into focus as the characters speak. My favorite shots are those when Ratanaruang separates the audio from the video and keeps one in real time while moving the other forward. Example? Tum answers the phone, and we watch and hear her talking. Then she begins to clean up evidence around the apartment, while we still hear her voice continuing that same conversation—the implication being, of course, that she cleans the apartment after the phone call. But it's as innovative as the old Warner Brothers cartoons where Friz Freleng and company would radically change backgrounds while the action in the foreground continued. Shades of "Traffic," there are also shots which are deliberately grainy or shot in red.

Video:
There are no indications and I didn't measure, but this 118-minute film appears to be presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, in color that is for the most part true and vibrant. There are, however, scenes where the colors wash out a bit and the film turns slightly grainy, just as there are brightly-lit frames that tend to betray imperfections in the film, with tiny flecks of white and black visible but not intrusive. None of these imperfections affected my viewing experience.

Audio:
"6ixtynin9" offers a Thai Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack with English subtitles. The sound is adequate, not spectacular, with some scenes having a slightly hollow tone to them, but again, nothing that affected my viewing experience.

Extras:
Apart from the trailer, Palm Pictures previews, and weblinks I wasn't able to access with my iMac, there are no extras.

Bottom Line:
"6ixtynin9" is an interesting exercise in filmmaking, more than it is an engaging thriller or comedy, primarily because the two genres tend to work against each other, and because Ratanaruang relies too much on coincidence and the same plot devices throughout. But it makes for an entertaining enough night of cinema, and I'm guessing some viewers will enjoy it even more than I did. "6ixtynin9" comes from the director of "Last Life in the Universe" and it won Best Feature at the Brooklyn International Film Festival, the FIPRESCI Prize at the Hong Kong International, and the Don Quixote Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

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