Tale riveting and heart-wrenching
The lure of Thailand is too much for Chakra (Sarm Heng) to resist. Tired of long hours that barely make a difference to his family’s finances, the 14-year-old Cambodian hears tales of Thai factory work that promises more money and a new life.
To him, it doesn’t matter that his best mate won’t go, and that he’ll have to borrow from the employment broker to secure his passage.
It’s a decision that devolves into one of the most compelling and harrowing dramas of the past year.
That you can’t see Buoyancy in a cinema in New Zealand is nothing short of a travesty.
Instead, Australian Rodd Rathjen’s feature debut (a 2019 awardwinner at film festivals as diverse as Berlin and Macau) will debut on DVD here on February 19.
While that robs it of some of its visual power (and audience word-ofmouth potential), it doesn’t detract from its haunting and spellbinding storytelling.
When Chakra arrives in Thailand, he and an older man who also hasn’t been able to pay his way, are separated on to a small boat that they are told is bound for a different facility where they will have to work for a month for free before they can earn wages.
However, it quickly becomes clear that the cramped vessel is their new workspace.
Armed with only a broken section of a plastic container, they are forced to sift through the mini-trawler’s catch, learning quickly that stepping out of line will result in physical consequences.
Meals are a mug of rice, and bedding is the floor of the boat. When they finally see land again, days later, the captain informs them that only he and the senior crew will be going ashore.
Writer-director Rathjen does a terrific job of ratcheting up the tension, drawing the viewer into Chakra’s increasingly desperate plight and making you think you’ve witnessed some truly horrendous scenes, without him actually showing anything. There is some clever use of angles and point-of-view shots, while Lawrence English’s score adds much to the atmosphere of growing dread.
However, Buoyancy’s real ace is its young star, Heng. While the rest of the non-professional cast are impressive, the former Cambodian street kid is truly outstanding as a young man forced to lose his innocence just to survive.
Yes, while Buoyancy isa Lion, Empire of the Sun-like story of hope in the face of increasing adversity, it’s also an Apocalypse Now-esque tale of a teen’s descent into darkness.
As you might have guessed, Buoyancy comes with a message, too. This is an eye-opening, heart-wrenching, tearinducing look at the child labour and human trafficking taking place today in South-East Asia. Only the hardest of hearts won’t be moved and outraged by Chakra’s plight.
In Khmer and Thai with English subtitles.