Thai film-maker Nattawut Poonpiriya’s Bad Genius (2017)
immediately brings to mind films like Rian Johnson’s Brick (2005) and Richard
Kelly’s Donnie Darko (2001); one put an interesting spin on the neo-noir
characteristics by setting it in a suburban high-school, while the other brought
mind-bending sci-fi themes to high school. Bad Genius brings the heist film
setting to school. Instead of robbing truckload of precious metals or bursting
through bank vault, the students’ mission here is to cheat on an international
exam, which is actually made as intense and unexpectedly thrilling as a
detailed robbery. Drawn from real-life exam cheating scandals, Poonpiriya’s
second feature provides top-notch popcorn entertainment and savvy social
commentary – from institutional apathy, class inequality to academic pressures.
Right down to the melodramatic twists and misleading setups, Bad Genius
includes all the caper-movie elements, for best and worst. Winning the best
feature film award at New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) and becoming a huge
blockbuster at domestic market, the film had resonated with and entertained
audience around the world because of its universality (who doesn’t hate this
exam-oriented education system!).
The titular anti-heroine is a timid, straight-A student Lynn
(model-turned-actress Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying’s first role) whose
excellent grades gives her a chance to enroll in an elite school. Lynn hails
from a middle-class family, but her determined (recently divorced) father Vit
(Thaneth Warakulnukroh) is eager to provide his daughter the best education. Lynn’s
initial reticence to join the school is shattered by school headmistress’
proposal of a scholarship. At grade 10, Lynn enters the prestigious private
school. The narrative is told in flashbacks with grade 12 Lynn and her
classmates are being interrogated in a darkly-lit room. Lynn’s first friend at
the school is Grace (Eisaya Hosuwan), a gregarious, chirpy and
not-so-academically-smart girl with wealthy parents. She is naturally drawn to
acting, but the school demands higher GPA to pursue ‘extra-curriculars’.
Hence Grace makes Lynn to tutor her, further providing the title ‘Mentor
Lynn’. Excessively gifted in
mathematics, Lynn easily finishes the exam, while her friend Grace desperately
stares at the questions despite the tutor’s efforts. Lynn cleverly slips
answers to Grace and this later catches the attention of Grace’s rich boyfriend
Pat (Teeradon Supapunpinyo).
Pat offers a business proposition: a tempting amount for
providing answers during the exams. Lynn discovers how her father scavenges for
money to pay strange additional fees at school (despite the scholarship). Vexed
by this, Lynn devises an elaborate code to relay answers at the exam hall.
Soon, quite a few classmates line up to learn Lynn’s ‘tutoring’ methods. The fool-proof
quality of the cheating plan is tested when another poor, scholarship student,
Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul) finds something amiss at the exam hall. Bank’s
single mother runs a broken-down laundry shop and he finds the idea of cheating
at exams disgusting. Due to Bank’s complaint, headmistress gaze falls upon
Lynn, while simultaneously the reason for Lynn’s ever-expanding income is
discovered by her father. But, unyielding Pat and Grace approaches Lynn with a
far bigger business proposition: to help them pass the Standard Test for
International Colleges (STIC) and consequently achieve their parents’ dream of
going to Boston College.
On paper, it may sound how a comparatively lowbrow activity
like cheating in exams can provide the adrenaline rush of high-tech thieves
breaking into a vault. This is where writer/director Poonpiriya and his script
team (Tanida Hantaweewatana, Vasudhorn Piyaromna) completely surprise us. Their
first victory lays in the mostly genuine characterization of Lynn, a mousy girl
who embraces deceit after facing with double standards of the system (the golden rule of heist films: the protagonist always steals from the system that
has stolen from them). The fine character development combined with detailed
and precise evasive plans lends one delightfully tense moment after another. The
director perfectly makes use of the visual grammar of heist films: quick cuts,
tense close-ups, ticking-clock moments, etc. Except for the final
confrontational scene between Lynn and Bank, director Poonpiriya cleverly
embeds thematic elements alongside the entertaining portions. The acerbic
commentary on the enlarging rifts between haves and have-nots and futility of
academic tests largely follows the ‘show-not-tell’ approach. The detached shot
of Bank’s mother doing laundry and later the highly focused shot of Pat’s
parents having dinner at an opulent restaurant speaks for itself. We repeatedly
see the shot of Lynn looking into her reflection on multiple mirrors, hinting
at the multiple conflicts tearing her apart from inside. The darkly-lit room
where the students conceive the cheating plan perfectly contradicts the final
shot as Lynn enters a very white room. Such detailed visual schemes and
carefully conceived angles predominantly drives the mood of this crime-caper film.
The performance by the group of largely inexperienced young
cast is nothing short of astounding. Good-hearted caper movies don’t only
succeed with the plans, but also triumphs over wrong temptations. Bad Genius
follows such narrative thread, where we in a conflicted manner root for Lynn to succeed as well as hope for the ‘right’ thing to win over. Like the compassion
showcased towards grown-ups wronged by the system, the narrative here boasts
enough empathy for the students, including Pat and Grace who are relentlessly spoiled
by their clueless parents. Good heist movies always make up for meaningful
entertainment because the robbery isn’t just about high-tech gadgets and mastermind
plans. It’s often driven by desperation, greed, burgeoning societal pressure
among other things. In fact, the success of a heist movie relies on our very
personal reaction to the material filmed. Bad Genius definitely prolongs the
narrative for the sake of melodramatic twists and infuses misleading behavior
just to surprise the viewers. Yet for all its narrative missteps, the film extracts
an immediate reaction to its societal themes without getting in the way of
lively action. In the end, Bad Genius (130 minutes) turns out to be a highly
dynamic, complex and surprisingly poignant caper cinema.
Trailer
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