# Headshot (ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า) (2011 film)
**Headshot** (Thai: ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า, *Fon Tok Kuen Fah*, literally "rain falling up to the sky") is a 2011 Thailand-France crime noir directed and written by Pen-ek Ratanaruang, adapted from the novel *Rain Falling Up the Sky* by the Thai writer Win Lyovarin. It follows Tul, a straight-laced Bangkok cop who is blackmailed by a powerful politician, framed for a crime he did not commit, and recruited from prison as a hitman for a secret group that eliminates people who live above the law; after being shot in the head during an assignment, he wakes from a coma to find that he sees everything upside down.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/) • [2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Pen-ek Ratanaruang, adapted from Win Lyovarin's novel *Rain Falling Up the Sky* (Fon Tok Kuen Fah)[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/) |
| Production | Thailand-France, 105 minutes, Thai language, 1.85:1, color, Dolby SRD; produced by Local Color Films and the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC)[2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf) • [1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/) |
| Budget | Euros 500,000 ($667,000), with 40% secured during development from Thailand's Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture[3](https://www.screendaily.com/headshot-/5021565.article) |
| Release | World premiere September 11, 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival; Thai theatrical release November 24, 2011; French release October 31, 2012[4](https://asianwiki.com/Headshot_%28Pen-Ek_Ratanaruang_film%29) • [1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/) |
| Lead cast | Nopachai "Peter" Jayanama (Tul), Sirin "Cris" Horwang (Rin), Chanokporn "Dream" Sayoungkul (Joy/Tiwa), Apisit "Joey Boy" Opasaimlikit (Torpong), Krerkkiat Punpiputt (Dr. Suang)[2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Chankit Chamnivikaipong, editing Patamanadda Yukol, music Vichaya Vatanasapt, sound Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/) |
| Recognition | Four Supannahong (Thai Film) Awards including best director and best actor; Thailand's candidate for the 2012 Academy Award for best foreign-language film[5](https://www.screendaily.com/laddaland-headshot-take-top-honours-at-thai-film-awards/5041108.article) • [6](https://www.filmfrasor.no/no/nyheter/intervju-med-pen-ek-ratanaruang) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Tul is an honest cop in present-day Thailand who is blackmailed by a powerful politician and framed for a crime he did not commit. Disillusioned and vengeful, he is recruited to become a hitman for a shadowy group aimed at eliminating those who are above the law.[2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf) In one assignment he shaves his head and dresses as a Buddhist monk to gun down his target, and is himself shot in the head.[7](https://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/2011/12/review-headshot-fon-tok-kuen-fah.html)
He wakes from a coma to find that he sees everything upside down, literally. Unaware of whether the condition is medical or a result of karmic retribution, he begins to have second thoughts about his profession. When he tries to quit, the hunter becomes the hunted, and he meets a mysterious woman, Rin, who turns his world even more upside down.[2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf) • [1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/)
Sources disagree on the length of Tul's coma: the Kino Lorber press kit, Cineuropa, and IMDb's synopsis say three months, while Screen Daily's production report, the producer Color Films' synopsis, and AsianWiki say two months.[2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf) • [1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/headshot-/5021565.article) • [8](https://www.colorfilms.co.th/workgallery/headshot.php) • [4](https://asianwiki.com/Headshot_%28Pen-Ek_Ratanaruang_film%29)
## Production
**Origin of the project.** Pen-ek Ratanaruang, a central figure of the Thai new wave, was adapting another novel by Win Lyovarin when he came across the tale of a repentant hitman. After the atmospheric dramas *Nymph* and *Ploy*, he had been discussing a lighter project with his regular investor Five Star Production, but he ultimately produced *Headshot* independently through Local Color Films rather than with the studio.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/headshot-/5021565.article) • [9](https://www.komchadluek.net/entertainment/115952) In a Thai-language interview at the film's Thai release, Ratanaruang said he had turned down a Hollywood directing project because it was not what he dreamed of, and that he set a modest revenue target of 9 million baht, with the film screening only at SF cinemas.[9](https://www.komchadluek.net/entertainment/115952)
**Financing.** The budget was Euros 500,000 ($667,000), with 40% secured during development from Thailand's Office of Contemporary Art and Culture under the Ministry of Culture, alongside sponsorships and pre-sales. Producer Pawas Sawatchaiyamet, a former production designer who had worked with Ratanaruang since *6ixtynin9*, was joined by Raymond Phathanavirangoon; Emilie Georges served as associate producer.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/headshot-/5021565.article) • [1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/)
**Rain as a production problem.** The film needed real rain for its wide shots, but shooting began as the rainy season was ending, and rain machines could not cover areas that large. The crew formed a small advance team that tracked where rain was falling each day and moved cameras and equipment there, so the film's wide shots of cars driving through rain were captured in actual downpours.[10](https://thestandard.co/ter-nawapol-talk-with-pen-ek-ratanaruang/)
## Style and themes
Ratanaruang has described the film as "Buddhist noir," a term he says began as a joke, on the grounds that the best classic film noirs are already Buddhist in spirit: the hero is happy when he dies and struggles while he is alive.[11](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/interview-pen-ek-ratanaruang/) In his director's statement he frames the upside-down vision as the inevitability of karmic retribution, and redemption as coming not from being a good Buddhist but from accepting the consequences of one's actions.[2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf)
The inverted vision is used sparingly. Ratanaruang said the upside-down shots were used only to establish Tul's point of view and to mark transitions from the past back to the present, deliberately denying audiences the expectation of watching the whole film upside down.[11](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/interview-pen-ek-ratanaruang/) The narrative is non-chronological, cutting between past and present in a film-noir register of crime, betrayal, and despair.[12](https://rsuir-library.rsu.ac.th/bitstream/123456789/1488/1/PATRAWADEE%20SENA.pdf) Critics noted the classic noir styling of shadows and rain, two femme fatale figures, a hardboiled voiceover, and a chronology organized around Tul's skewed point of view.[13](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/headshot/) • [14](https://www.timeout.com/movies/headshot)
## Release and festivals
The film premiered at the 36th [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) in the Vanguard section on September 11, 2011, and screened at festivals including Vancouver, the Tokyo International Film Festival in competition, the Berlin International Film Festival Panorama, Tribeca (its U.S. premiere), Deauville Asian, Hong Kong, Jeonju, Taipei, Dallas, Fantasia, Osian's-Cinefan, Melbourne, and Sitges.[4](https://asianwiki.com/Headshot_%28Pen-Ek_Ratanaruang_film%29) Its Thai release on November 24, 2011 had been delayed by the flooding in Thailand.[9](https://www.komchadluek.net/entertainment/115952) • [15](https://www.nationthailand.com/life/30170668) France received it on October 31, 2012, and the United States on September 28, 2012.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/) • [16](https://www.blu-ray.com/Headshot/259020/) The Australian Classification Board rated the DVD MA 15+ for strong violence and a sex scene.[17](https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/headshot)
## Reception and awards
At the Supannahong Awards, also known as the Thai Film Awards, held in Bangkok on April 29, 2012, *Headshot* took four prizes: best director, best actor for Nopachai Jayanama, best cinematography for Chankit Chamnivikaipong, and best sound and recording for Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr and Richard Hocks.[5](https://www.screendaily.com/laddaland-headshot-take-top-honours-at-thai-film-awards/5041108.article) Earlier, it swept the Bangkok Critics Awards with five prizes including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.[18](https://www.nationthailand.com/life/30178543) IMDb records 5 wins and 13 nominations overall, including National Film Association Awards for best director, best actor, and best cinematography, a Sitges Best Cinematography win, and nominations at Tokyo, the Asian Film Awards (best supporting actress for Sirin Horwang), and Cinefan.[19](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682186/awards/) Thailand selected the film as its candidate for the 2012 Academy Award for best foreign-language film.[6](https://www.filmfrasor.no/no/nyheter/intervju-med-pen-ek-ratanaruang) • [20](https://pro.festivalscope.com/director/pen-ek-ratanaruang)
Critical response was divided on how the genre material served the director. Screen's review found the generic action sequences at odds with Ratanaruang's signature leisurely pacing and called the film a tough international sell, neither art-house nor cops-and-robbers fare.[21](https://www.screendaily.com/headshot/5032004.article) Time Out gave it 4 of 5 stars, praising a Thai variation on noir that grows its elements from the ground up.[14](https://www.timeout.com/movies/headshot) Slant called it surprisingly slow-moving and soulful for a film full of double-crosses and cold-blooded killing.[13](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/headshot/) On Metacritic it holds a Metascore of 60 based on 5 critic reviews.[22](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/headshot/)
## The director
Pen-ek Ratanaruang was born in Bangkok in 1962 and spent eight formative years in New York City, where he studied art history at the [Pratt Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/pratt-institute). After working as an illustrator, graphic designer, and advertising art director, he made his feature debut with *Fun Bar Karaoke* in 1997 and is counted among the directors who reinvented the Thai film industry after its 1990s slump.[2](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf) Four of his films, including *Headshot*, were Thailand's official submissions in the best foreign-language Oscar category.[20](https://pro.festivalscope.com/director/pen-ek-ratanaruang)
## References
1. [Headshot (Fon Tok Kuen Fah), Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/224219/en/aboutdonate/)
2. [HEADSHOT press kit, Kino Lorber](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/HEADSHOT_presskit.pdf)
3. [Headshot production report, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/headshot-/5021565.article)
4. [Headshot (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang film), AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/Headshot_%28Pen-Ek_Ratanaruang_film%29)
5. [Laddaland, Headshot take top honours at Thai Film Awards, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/laddaland-headshot-take-top-honours-at-thai-film-awards/5041108.article)
6. [Intervju med Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Film fra Sør](https://www.filmfrasor.no/no/nyheter/intervju-med-pen-ek-ratanaruang)
7. [Review: Headshot (Fon Tok Kuen Fah), Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal](https://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/2011/12/review-headshot-fon-tok-kuen-fah.html)
8. [Headshot, Color Films Co., Ltd.](https://www.colorfilms.co.th/workgallery/headshot.php)
9. ['เป็นเอก'หวัง'ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า'ทำเงินแค่9ล., Kom Chad Luek](https://www.komchadluek.net/entertainment/115952)
10. [นวพลอ่านเป็นเอก: เรื่องน่ารู้ที่เป็นเอกเผลอบอก, THE STANDARD](https://thestandard.co/ter-nawapol-talk-with-pen-ek-ratanaruang/)
11. [Interview: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang on Headshot, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/interview-pen-ek-ratanaruang/)
12. [ภาพยนตร์ ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า, Rangsit University research library](https://rsuir-library.rsu.ac.th/bitstream/123456789/1488/1/PATRAWADEE%20SENA.pdf)
13. [Review: Headshot, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/headshot/)
14. [Headshot film review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/headshot)
15. [Pen-ek has a shot with 'Headshot', The Nation](https://www.nationthailand.com/life/30170668)
16. [Headshot (2011), Blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/Headshot/259020/)
17. [HEADSHOT, Australian Classification](https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/headshot)
18. [Penek's 'Headshot' sweeps the Bangkok Critics Awards, The Nation](https://www.nationthailand.com/life/30178543)
19. [Headshot (2011) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682186/awards/)
20. [Director Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Festival Scope Pro](https://pro.festivalscope.com/director/pen-ek-ratanaruang)
21. [Headshot review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/headshot/5032004.article)
22. [Headshot Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/headshot/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Film noir and neo-noir films › Released 1977 to 2022*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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