The Adventure of Iron Pussy
The Adventure of Iron Pussy (Thai: หัวใจทรนง, romanized: Hua jai tor ra nong) is a 2003 Thai musical-action comedy film written and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Michael Shaowanasai and starring Shaowanasai. The protagonist is a cross-dressing Thai secret agent whose alter ego is a gay male convenience clerk. A homage and parody of the 1970s Thai action films, musicals and melodramas, particularly those that starred Mitr Chaibancha and Petchara Chaowarat, the movie premiered at the 2003 Tokyo International Film Festival and has also played at the Berlin Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam and other festivals. It is a cult film and has been screened at several gay and lesbian film festivals as well.
Plot
The scene opens on a rural Thai coffee shop run by an elderly man and his attractive teenage daughter. A gang of local thugs comes in, roughing up the customers and abusing the daughter. Suddenly, an elaborately coifed and tastefully dressed woman shows up, rescuing the young woman and her father from further harm. This is Iron Pussy.
She disappears into the bushes and re-emerges as a slight, shaven-headed man, who then gets on the back of a motorcycle taxi and heads into Bangkok. Along the way, the motorcycle driver, Pew, relates his memories of the day he and Iron Pussy met – Pew, crazed from a drug overdose, had taken a young woman hostage. Iron Pussy came on the scene and rescued not the young woman but Pew, and the two have been a couple ever since.
Iron Pussy arrives at her job. She is a clerk in a 7-Eleven in Bangkok. Unfailingly courteous and professional, she greets a man who she believes is just another customer in the shop to pay his phone bill. When Iron Pussy scans the bill, a message comes up on the computer screen: "Hello Iron Pussy". It is a secret message from the prime minister. It seems there's a job for Iron Pussy.
Once again in the guise of the superheroine secret agent, the demure Iron Pussy goes to the meeting place with the prime minister, a Buddhist temple, where she takes time to make merit by releasing some turtles and fish into the nearby river. She meets with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his cabinet (all lookalike actors), who take time to sing a song, extolling the virtues of Iron Pussy.
Iron Pussy is tasked with uncovering the nefarious activities of Mr. Henry, a foreigner who frequently visits Thailand and leaves with full bank accounts. Mr. Henry will be attending a lavish party at the luxurious mansion of Madame Pompadoy, so Iron Pussy must infiltrate the housekeeping staff as a maid.
Her charms win over Madame Pompadoy's suave son, Tang, who is in another relationship and is engaged to marry Rungraree, the globetrotting socialite. Iron Pussy feels herself falling for Tang's charms as well, but she has a nagging feeling that something is not right about that relationship.
Donning an all-black Spandex outfit and mask one night, Iron Pussy uncovers Mr. Henry's plot – he's making a mind-control drug. And Tang is involved in the scheme, which breaks Iron Pussy's heart.
Later, at the big party being thrown by Madame Pompadoy, Iron Pussy steps up when the main entertainment doesn't show up, and sings a song that impresses everyone.
The next day, the family goes into the jungle for its annual deer hunt. This is when everything comes out – that Iron Pussy is a secret agent, but it's also revealed that Madame Pompadoy is Iron Pussy's mother, who gave Iron Pussy up for adoption long ago, which means, of course, that Tang is Iron Pussy's brother.
Wikipedia article: The Adventure of Iron Pussy ↗
External links
- Review The Adventure of Iron Pussy at the Internet Movie Database
- The Adventure of Iron Pussy at All Movie Guide
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