2024 has become a significant year for Thai science fiction, with various ambitious projects shaping the new direction of the genre. Among these, Taklee Genesis (ตาคลีเจเนซิส), directed by Chookiat Sakveerakul, the latest President of the Thai Film Directors Association and the mastermind behind Pisaj (2004), 13 Beloved (2006), and The Love of Siam (2007), stands out. With over 20 years of experience and a relentless drive to push Thai cinema boldly forward, Chookiat’s latest work showcases his vision nurtured through his track record of diverse genres, including thriller, family, romance, and queer films, now blended with science fiction and his passion for social issues.
Taklee Genesis exemplifies this vision by boldly exploring the complex relationship between Thailand and American power during the Cold War and the lasting impact on Thai and Southeast Asian history. It combines personal identity, historical memory, and speculative futures, presenting a narrative that challenges us to reconsider the legacies of power, culture, and resistance.
Amidst bouquets and brickbats from the local audiences, the film dares to confront and invite us to reflect on these enduring influences that shape our present, even decades later.
Reflecting on my relationship with America, I find myself in the same boat as millions of Thais—enthralled by the siren song of American pop culture. Watching Titanic in the cinema at eight years old transformed an ordinary night into a life-altering experience. The magic of cinema, with Hollywood’s flair for dramatic, unapologetic individualism, opened up a universe of storytelling possibilities that captivated me for over two decades, ultimately shaping my journey as a filmmaker.
As I grew older, however, I began to see the complexities hidden beneath this enchantment. The influx of foreign cultural superpowers, sugarcoated with entertainment and turbocharged by social and technological change, has woven a tangled web of influences into our cultural identity. The shift from rural traditions to urban modernity, compounded by the relentless stream of media, served straight to our smartphones, has left many of us navigating a chaotic intersection of local and foreign. Within this turbulence, Taklee Genesis finds its voice—not just as a film, but as a mirror to our collective struggle to balance relentless change with deeply rooted traditions.
Taklee Genesis centers on Stella, a Thai-American single mother returning to her childhood home in Don Hai, Udon Thani, after a plea from her childhood friend, It, about her ailing mother. Accompanied by her daughter, Valen, Stella embarks on a journey that unravels across millennia. Upon arriving, Stella discovers unsettling mysteries: her mother’s request to retrieve her long-vanished American father from another spacetime, and the peculiar immortality of community leader Jamnoon and his son Kong, who have remained unchanged even after 30 years have passed.
The story escalates when Stella receives a mysterious radio transmission from her father. His message reveals a temporal paradox: while decades have passed for Stella, only 30 minutes have elapsed for him. The mystery leads Stella to the heart of the story—the Taklee Genesis device at Ramasun Camp, a secret Vietnam War-era project exploring faster-than-light travel.
The film ambitiously traverses millennia, linking Thailand’s ancient Ban Chiang Civilization—a Bronze Age society celebrated for its ceramic innovations and social complexity 3,500 years ago—to U-Dawn, a dystopian vision set 200 years into the future. These temporal shifts transform Udon Thani into a rich speculative tapestry, weaving entertainment with incisive reflections on Thailand’s historical journey.
Central to the narrative is the Ramasun Camp, modeled after actual U.S. military bases in Thailand during the Vietnam War. These installations represent the profound and lasting effects of America’s intervention in Southeast Asia. Between 1965 and 1975, the United States and its allies dropped over 7.6 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—more than double the tonnage used during World War II. Among the horrors were the 270 million bombs scattered across Laos and the widespread deployment of Agent Orange in Vietnam, both of which have left enduring environmental and human devastation, killing generations to this day.
This historical backdrop echoes through the film’s narrative, embodied by Lawan, a Laotian princess who morphs into a bloodthirsty monster from the effect of the Taklee Genesis experiment. Her haunting presence in Don Hai and the desolate future of U-Dawn highlight the inescapable legacies of conflict and the exploitation of vulnerable communities, which continue to shape regional memory and identity.
At the story’s core lies the Warp Ball, a small but potent device capable of altering past, present, and future. As Stella retrieves its missing components across various spacetimes, her actions unintentionally bring disaster to the societies she encounters, paralleling the historical recklessness of foreign intervention in Southeast Asia.
The Warp Ball emerges as a powerful metaphor, raising questions about the ethical consequences of wielding unchecked power and the complex interplay between history, memory, and identity.
Taklee Genesis offers a profound exploration of Thailand’s tension between traditional values and Western influence. Through half-blood characters, Stella and It, the film examines the complexities of hybrid identities, reflecting the cultural dualities many Thais navigating in a world shaped by modernity and globalization.
The narrative critiques the enduring impact of U.S. intervention, particularly its role in shaping Thailand’s historical narrative. Even archaeological discoveries across the country and at Ban Chiang, conducted in partnership with American institutions during the Cold War, allowed the U.S. Military to gain information on the communists, reflecting how Thai heritage was mediated through foreign agendas aimed at countering communism.
The film underscores the political consequences of U.S. involvement, highlighting how American support for Thailand’s military government facilitated significant human rights abuses.
This is poignantly illustrated through the backstory of Kong and Chamnoon, characters who remain ageless due to their earlier exposure to the Taklee Genesis device. Chamnoon, the former bodyguard and lover of Princess Lawan, bears endless love and guilt for not being able to protect her, leading to her transformation into an eternal monster. Meanwhile, Kong’s timeline is tied to the tragic events of the Thammasat Massacre in 1976, where government forces turned the university into a killing field for student protesters. Kong, misunderstood as dead, was sent to Don Hai to dispose of the bodies.
In a climactic sequence, the Causality Breakdown juxtaposes the government’s brutal crackdown on the students with a futuristic rebellion in U-Dawn, where a spaceship from the “Capital” dramatically traverses dimensions to massacre rebellious youth at Thammasat University.
This parallel draws a grim conclusion: political dynamics in Thailand will remain unchanged, and the dire consequences of America’s prioritization of its geopolitical interests over democratic values will persist.
Through its layered narratives, Taklee Genesis argues that Thailand’s ongoing struggle for identity and democracy cannot be disentangled from the historical legacies of foreign influence. The film invites viewers to confront the profound and often painful complexities of Thailand’s modern journey, urging reflection on the forces that have shaped—and continue to define—who we are today.
Taklee Genesis claims sci-fi as a medium for Thai voices, proving that the genre is not exclusively Western.
By blending regional history with speculative elements, it disrupts the status quo and demonstrates how local voices can challenge and enrich international narratives while staying true to their roots.
The strength of the film lies in its ability to reinterpret Thailand’s historical encounters with foreign influence in a new light, reflecting the present and suggesting that understanding the past—not just as a series of victories or defeats, but as a dynamic source of wisdom—is key to envisioning alternative futures.
The director exceptionally weaves local culture and beliefs into the sci-fi genre, captivating the audience with the spellbinding 15-minute opening sequence depicting a ghost-worship ritual in Ban Don Hai. This scene takes on a profound depth when it is revealed that the “ghost” feared by the villagers is, in fact, a haunting scar left by the impact of American actions. Equally evocative is the poetic finale, which tenderly explores the longing between Stella and her parents. In a poignant dream recounted by her mother, she envisions herself reborn as a great tree, standing eternally alongside Stella’s father, who becomes the boundless sky.
However, condensing such an expansive and layered world into a 2.5-hour runtime brings its challenges. Secondary storylines involving time dimensions and a sprawling cast, while contributing to the narrative complexity, dilute the emotional weight of key relationships. This is particularly evident in the bond between Stella and her daughter, Valen, which is hinted at but never fully developed, leaving their arc frustratingly underexplored.
Certain directorial choices further undercut the film’s grander ambitions. The entrance to the Ramasun camp, for instance, unfolds with unreasonable ease, raising questions about the narrative’s stakes. Similarly, characters, including Stella, grasp and wield the intricate “Five Rings” warp-ball technology with unrealistic swiftness, undermining the plausibility of their mastery. The design of past and future worlds also falters at times, with elements like the Ban Chiang community veering into a caricatured primitive aesthetic and a portrayal of teenagers 200 years into the future that feels oddly reminiscent of 1990s pop culture.
However, propelled by Neramitnung Film, Taklee Genesis is the first Thai film to secure an international distribution deal with Warner Bros. Despite earning a modest box office of $161,000 domestically against the budget of $1.76 million, the film has transcended national boundaries, securing distribution rights across 80 countries spanning North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. It is also reaching international audiences through Amazon Prime.
More than a story of time travel, Taklee Genesis invites us to reconsider how the past shapes our current and future identities, urging us to reflect on the complexities of cultural identity and the necessity of reclaiming our sense of self. Perhaps, to transcend, we must first turn inward—acknowledging and reclaiming what is inherently ours to ponder a sustainable path forward.
This essay is a part of the “Mek◊ng Sci-Fi” series by Vorakorn “Billy” Ruetaivanichkul. It is published in English billyvorr.com and Thai TheMissionTH.co and was completed as part of the 2024 ArtsEquator Fellowship. The views expressed are solely those of the author. Connect with him on Facebook, IG, X, or Discord.
