Laddaland 2011

Thee, Saharat Sangkapreecha, a 40-year-old marketing officer, leaves Bangkok for the quiet yet glossy neighborhood of Laddaland, Chiang Mai, bringing along his wife Parn, Piyathida Mittiraroch, his rebellious teenage daughter Nan, Sutatta Udomsilp, and lively young son Nat, Athipich Chutiwatkajornchai. The move is meant to steadier his company’s finances, which sell dietary supplements, and ease the mounting debts—yet Parn worries about the heavy mortgage that accompanies a fresh start in a new house.

Thee also hopes to mend his relationship with Nan, who resents her parents for much of her life spent with her maternal grandmother, a situation arranged in an agreement between Thee and Parn’s mother, Deuntem Salitul. Nan remains unimpressed by her father’s efforts to make things right and longs to return to the grandmother she’s known.

At first glance, Laddaland seems like a relatively ordinary, quiet neighborhood, but the atmosphere quietly sows discord among households and nudges them toward violence. A Burmese housemaid is found dead in a grisly murder, casting a pall over the area. Thee’s next-door neighbor, Somkiat, [Sahajak Boonthanakit], routinely beats his wife and son and mistreats his elderly mother; the family’s facade shatters when Somkiat commits murder-suicide, with his son’s death being especially horrific as it leaves a lasting scar on his face.

Meanwhile, Nan experiences unsettling, supernatural phenomena when she’s swayed by friends to visit the house where the Burmese maid was killed, a mystery that Thee’s skeptical nature refuses to acknowledge. Nan’s haunting experiences drive her toward boarding school, leaving Thee to grapple with a growing gap between him and his daughter.

Nat remains the only member of the family seemingly unfazed by the neighborhood’s malaise, at least for a time, and he even forms an imaginary friendship with Somkiat’s deceased son, a detail that unsettles those around him.

The tension peaks when Nan returns from boarding school and is haunted by the spirits of Somkiat’s wife and mother next door, resulting in a mental health hospitalization to calm her. Parn, worn down by the strain and Nan’s absence, lashes out and insists that she and the children return to Bangkok to stay with her mother. Thee discovers Nat is missing that night and, together with Parn, searches Somkiat’s house. Nat is found hiding in a wardrobe, playing hide-and-seek with the ghost of Somkiat’s son, as Thee is haunted by those same spirits. A desperate moment ends with Thee shooting at the wardrobe, and, believing he has killed his son, he then takes his own life.

Parn drives her children back to Bangkok after the tragedy, and she recounts to Nan how she grew used to Thee, how motherhood curtailed her dreams, and how, despite everything, Thee always did his best to love his family. The film closes with flashbacks showing Thee and his family in happier times, a bittersweet reminder of what was lost and what might have been.