Six years after he graduated school from New York, Nattawut Poonpiriya began to produce his first film of his own with GDH 599 (GDH 599 is a film studio in Thai entertainment ). His debut film called Countdown it is a thriller movie that is not an easy find in Thai films.
The film Countdown received substantially positive feedback. This result leads the film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2013. Although the film would not be awarded, Nattawut Poonpiriya name began to be known in the film industry. Five years after the first film production, he developed the idea for a screenplay until he released his second movie thriller Bad Genius.
Bad Genius portrays the story of Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying), a straight-A and intelligent student who receives a full scholarship from one of Thailand’s prestigious schools for academic achievements. On the first day of school Grace (Eisaya Hosuwan) is the only one who befriends her. In order to be permitted to perform in the school play, Grace needs to pass the exam.
127 our experts are availableright now
Lynn decided to help Grace cheat on her essential exam. Word starts spreading and everybody wants help from her. Then Pat (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) offers an idea to help students cheat on the STIC test: an important standardized test used to get in prestigious colleges in America. Lynn consents to do it, but she cannot do it without Bank’s (Chanon Santinatornkul) help. She devises an exam-cheating plan which eventually rises to international levels.
Bad Genius is significantly effective deceitful heist film and a teen drama. The main characters are all seventeen-year-olds to eighteen-year-olds in their final year of high school, but their scheme to cheat and an attempt to get a score that meets the requirements of the American colleges. The film plays out in a dramatic and tense a manner as an adult equivalent film.
Bad Genius is one dynamite of a Thai film. Who would have thought a basic idea of cheating on exams can go stupendously. This film is full of some marvelous twists and turns that help keep the intensity at incredible levels all the way through.
The writer-director Nattawut Poonpiriya does very well to establish the reasons for cheating on the exams for the characters. In addition, the excellent screenplay is the key that makes the film engaging and keeps the viewer interested in the story. The film finds heart in Lynn’s situation and moves dexterously between the expected narrative tempo to leave viewers genuinely caring about her fate.
Bad Genius is inspired by real-life scandals of students cheating on the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT). The film presents the structure of school exams and teen social issues. This film presents the dark side of the education system in Thailand. In the education system of Thailand, many people have probably cheated. Therefore, what happens in the film is not surprising and it invites us to think back to the story of cheating on tests in the past. The film starts to present cheating on a small exam in school, then expands so far that it developed into a business.
During the climb up to the peak of the cheating theme, the film also does not forget to mention other issues that strike back to the education system in Thailand. Whether it is a tutorial nowadays that reflects the problems of Thailand education that many students choose to study for exams rather than to learn. At this point, to study for the exam means you gather statistics of the exam and then you take the old exam to practice.
However, it is the fact that the system selects people with high scores. Moreover, the film also reflects something that goes beyond the examination room which is the attitude of fraud, rather than cheating. It is scary because students in the film have an idea of cheating as not being wrong.
In the central role, Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying does a wonderful job as the eponymous bad genius, demonstrating an important, entertaining and likable lead for the thriller side of the story. A second main character, Bank is played by Chanon Santinatornkul. He acts very well especially when he uses facial expressions and gestures reliably. Their performances make the audience feel sorry for them and ready to sympathize with what they are facing.
Another remarkable thing about this film is the editing. Editing makes the film look fun and thrilling to watch, like a horror film where a character is being chased. The filmmaker also allows the fun to bleed into every situation and snag that comes along in the students’ path through success.
The inherent suspense builds all the way throughout the film, making it enjoyable to watch. The weakest point of the film is the simplicity of minor issues that easily support the main issues. It appears effortless to produce ways in which the filmmaker wants to present. Many things can be a script for content and lack of reasonableness for it, but it does not materially affect the film.
In the film, there is a direct message to the education system that giving priority to examination results, rather than the lesson or knowledge that the student will receive. Bad Genius tells a universal story that the students faced with a potential crisis with which more and more students on the planet seem to be experiencing.
Likewise, Poonpiriya deserves an enormous amount of credit for not only addressing this subject matter with an enthusiastic sense of levity but for his all-around skills as a filmmaker.
