Invisible Waves tells the story of soporific gangster and chef, Kyoji (Tadanobu Asano). After Kyoji unintentionally kills his lover, who also happens to be sleeping with his boss, he moves to Phuket. He is trailed there by Lizard (Ken Mitsuishi), a Hawaiian-shirted caricature of a 1940s Hollywood clich””’?, who menacingly disrupts Kyoji’s daily movements. Kyoji is never allowed to settle into his new life, and soon realises that his boss is responsible for orchestrating a sinister scheme. Kyoji therefore plots his revenge.

An oblique and absurd gangster film, the violence of Invisible Waves is always implied and there is no traditional suspense until the final scene. The film’s simple plot is also punctuated by moments of slapstick comedy, and the cruise ship sequence as Kyoji travels to Phuket is worthy of the brilliant French film-maker Jacques Tati. Doors inadvertently slam shut, taps come on at the wrong time, and engine fumes pour in the only cabin window. And in a similarly perverse but well-executed scene, two gangsters diverted from their life-and-death tussle to tend some soup cooking on a stove.

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang was the spotlight director at MIFF in 2004. This American-educated Thai film-maker often exudes a subdued calm through his films. For Invisible Waves, Ratanaruang once again teamed with Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle. The film is beautifully shot and Doyle’s drifting, off-centre camerawork supports the understated grace and lethargic feel of the film.

While informed by the Hollywood and French tradition of gangster films, Waves has a slower pulse. Ratanaruang’s recent films all veer close to minimalism, with little dialogue, little action and little plot development. In Invisible Waves, this subtlety can at times mask the narrative advancement. But be assured that it is there, however slight it may seem.