MIFFest 2024: Tenement (by Inrasothythep Neth & Sokyou Chea) | Review
Inrasothythep Neth and Sokyou Chea’s Tenement is a cultural horror motion picture that manifests into an eerie messenger with strong visuals and a perturbing score, peeking from a distance to murmur nightmares.
The main focus of this year’s MIFFest is to showcase films that are rich in diversity and traditions. In its first year of introducing the Afterdark section, which comprises horrors and thrillers, it’s very evident that Tenement is one of its primary selections. The illusive wonder that sparkles around Tenement is that it enchants with its perplexing darkness, devoid of any forewarning signs.
Soriya (Thanet Thorn) and Daichi (Yoshihiko Hosoda) have a strong embodiment of love for each other. Soriya resides in Japan with Daichi, where she pursues her career as a manga artist, driven by a deep-seated desire to strive for excellence. Plans for Soriya to visit her homeland emerge upon hearing her mother’s death, which she uses as an opportunity to reconnect with her distant relatives and to polish her career route. She arrives in Phnom Penh with Daichi and decides to stay at a rented apartment in Metta despite hearing rumors that it has a sour history. Time starts ticking, and Soriya finds herself stranded, with no way out to confront her deepest fears.
The emphasis on highlighting Cambodian practices and beliefs thickens and concentrates the concept of horror, giving the entire presentation a refined and intimate feel. The directors, Inrasothythep Neth and Sokyou Chea, channel their devotion to Cambodian essence through various means, such as ceremonial offerings, prayers, and sudden jump scares, all of which are somehow narrated through the traditions of Cambodian arts. The indirect use of horrifying visuals appears unannounced and repetitive, yet each visual carries a mass of raw and unearthed predicaments, channeling back to the historical past of the hauntings faced by Soriya and Daichi.
The splendor of Jean-Charles Bastion’s score, at its apogee, intensifies the experience of witnessing terror that builds up aggressively in response to the disturbing occurrences, similar to Hans Zimmer’s remarkable composition for Dunkirk. The score that consists of Cambodian percussion and western mixtures intensifies in frequency and tempo, infusing the film’s atmosphere with a denser creepiness and building pressure. The score shatters the peace like an orchestral blast, squeezing us into claustrophobia-infused fear that intensifies in various volumes and dimensions.
The combination of actress Thanet Thorn’s perfect calibration towards the horror vibe and the duo directors’ vision to cocoon Soriya’s hauntings as a conundrum makes Tenement an enigmatic tale that wants to be felt and absorbed more deeply than simply following the narrative. The film, a talented illusionist, adeptly manipulates the audience’s trust and realism, leading them towards a trap that resembles a magnetic lock. It could be a tragic experience of witnessing possession from a host’s mind or a massive fight in search of a freedom light. A phrase of caution is that the film watches us closely, just like a pair of eyes behind two religious idols as shown in a scene of the film, and that remains powerful.
Our writer Niikhiil Akhiil is on the ground at the 7th Malaysia International Film Festival.
