A wealthy western businessman in Thailand uses his power and wealth to feed his darkest desires.
Alec Newman, as Marcus Hammond, CEO and owner of Eullenia, cuts a vicious, if also suave path through Thai society. On the surface, Hammond looks like a diamond in the rough. He appears to represent a thoughtful businessman who pioneered a successful micro-lending business that not only elevates the poor but also – somewhat incongruously – furnishes Hammond with extreme wealth. At the same time, his loyal lieutenant Boo (Vithaya Pansringarm) dutifully carries out the boss’s orders – usually procuring vulnerable young girls on the street – with an uncomfortable moral vacancy.
By tapping into a grossly underserved market, Hammond dispenses loans based not on collateral, but rather what he calls good ideas and hard work. We later learn that much of his motivation derives from insecurities emanating from his own humble beginnings and, more to the point, his effective exclusion from the old boy’s club back in England.
Natchanok Kamonrattananan debuts as Lek, a mysterious urchin living on the brightly lit boulevards of Bangkok, washing windshields at intersections for tips. A precocious insight suggests wisdom beyond her years – useful traits given Hammond’s penchant for mind games that deflect and reassign guilt to other parties as deftly as a reality television star turned politician. At one point, when he asks Lek without a trace of irony if her motives are only about money, it’s hard to suppress a chuckle. Watch for Saichia Wongwiroj as Witoon, almost imperceptible in the second episode, to play a key role in Lek’s grand designs. Written and directed by Paul Spurrier and produced by David Cluck, “Eullenia” wonderfully captures the grit and glamour of a bustling Bangkok, Thailand.
The theme of the three-part series revolves around what money can or can’t buy. Precious few items, it would seem, are off limits. Body parts, justice, social equity, human life itself – should any of these be for sale? Hammond certainly thinks so and acts accordingly. His supposition is that all it takes to be happy is money. Though his actions seem outlandish, in the era of Jeffrey Epstein and his wide coterie of depraved power brokers, perhaps not so much.
Plenty of corruption comes into view over the course of the short series. A decadent foreigner certainly, but similarly decadent police officials – all preying upon helpless young girls for their own pleasure. Money conveys the power of coercion, in turn fomenting tortuous indecision in the face of great want and inequality. Increasingly concentrated wealth in the modern world by a tiny number of individuals has laid the foundation for flagrant abuse – in essence, the commercialization of everything.
Periodically, the message offered in “Eullenia” comes off a bit heavy-handed, particularly when Hammond launches into another soliloquy. Nonetheless, his observations regarding institutional hypocrisy ring true. He correctly notes that corporations dispatch hordes of lobbyists to influence politicians, thwarting voter wishes – along with the greater good. Still, it’s a wry tradeoff – a psychopath rebuking mere sociopaths, both aspiring to hijack the mental roadmaps that individuals hold.
The intricacy of interactions in most economies do not readily lend themselves to scrutiny or transparency. Quite the opposite in fact – the complexity of financial systems work more like smoke and mirrors to the point where a Goldman Sachs CEO who oversaw blatant fraud prior to the Great Recession pronounces boldly that he does God’s work. Large corporations – from banks to pharmaceuticals – continue to rig the game through such actions as cannibalizing public assets and overpricing insulin, as they systematically siphon off more wealth at the expense of the poor.
Bringing that meaning home through art in the form of movies and television remains a formidable challenge. Sadly, most people either just don’t get it or don’t care. Instead, the masses seem to prefer escape into superhero action movies and hoary space opera.
Blissful, haunting music pervades and enhances this ambitious production that sometimes moves a tad slow but ultimately arrives at a suitable destination. Although events appear quaintly casual at first, life and death choices soon turn them deadly. “Eullenia” serves up a psychological thriller that paints a searing and unflattering portrait of wealth, injustice, and exploitation in a developing country – no doubt applicable to virtually all countries in this day and age.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in June
