Twelve Twenty

One of three films commissioned by the Jeonju International Film Festival in 2006. It is a short film based on Beauty and an Airplane, a short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ratanaruang’s film tells the story of a man (Ananda Everingham) who falls in love with a woman (Khemapsom Sirisukha) he sees at the check-in counter of an airport. Most of the film takes place in the sleek blackened interior of the plane’s cabin — the camera panning between the two seats, lighting now one, now the other of the occupants. The two passengers never exchange a word, title cards occasionally allowing us to know what the man is thinking. Those familiar only with his work on Dumplings or Wong Kar-wai’s films might be surprised at cinematographer Christopher Doyle’s uncustomary restraint. Christopher Doyle doubles as both taxi driver and captain in the film.