"Tears of the Black Tiger" is a florid, mind-bending and highly cinematic parody of genres. East meets West and Sam Peckinpah meets Douglas Sirk in Wisit Sasanatieng's brilliant, highly stylized work.<br /><br />In an outrageous palette of costumes, make-up, sets and colors (hot neons and cool pastels, some digitally manufactured), this is the tale of Rumpoey, a girl born into wealth, and her love for Dum, a peasant boy. As young adults, Dum (Thai heartthrob Chartchai Ngansam) joins a gun-slinging outlaw band known as The Tigers, while Rumpoey is betrothed to a slick, handsome police captain, Kumjorn.<br /><br />Much of the film appears to be set in the early 1960s, though its outlaws are strictly of the American Wild West variety (albeit with hand-held rocket launchers). Imbued with a sense of great fun, "Tears of the Black Tiger" is camp, absurd, surreal, melodramatic and strangely poignant, served up in a sumptuous, candy-colored coating.