Film

Jailbreak

Jailbreak is a 2017 Cambodian action film directed by Jimmy Henderson that features the Khmer martial art of bokator.[1][2]

Synopsis

Two men in black fight in a prison hall while inmates in blue watch from the sides.
A fight scene from Jailbreak.

Cambodian police arrest a mobster known as Playboy, believed to lead the Butterfly gang. Three local officers and a French-Cambodian exchange officer escort him to prison at Koh Kla.[3][4] Playboy offers to name the gang's true boss, Madame Butterfly, who puts a bounty on him, and the prisoners riot to get him.[5][6] Trapped inside, the officers fight the inmates to survive and protect their key witness, and Madame Butterfly's team of women assassins joins the attack.[4][1][7] The film's tagline is "If You Give Up, You Die."[4]

Production and credits

The Franco-Khmer producer Loy Te made the film for his company, Kongchak Pictures, as part of an effort to widen Cambodian cinema beyond romantic comedies and ghost stories.[3][8] Kongchak had produced the zombie film Run in 2013 and the thriller Hanuman in 2015, which Henderson, an Italian filmmaker living in Cambodia, directed.[7][8][1] The idea grew out of a meeting between Loy Te's team and the French-Cambodian stuntman Jean-Paul Ly during the filming of Hanuman.[8] Henderson then wrote an ensemble action film set in one location, with Michael Hodgson as co-writer.[3][4] The project took nearly two years from first talks to preparation. It was delayed seven months when Jean-Paul Ly joined the Marvel stunt team for Doctor Strange.[8]

The budget is given as $250,000 to $300,000 by Le Petit Journal and $200,000 by Le Monde.[8][7] Puprom Entertainment was one of the main investors, and True Money, Sting and Johnny Walker were sponsors.[8] The film was shot entirely in Cambodia, and the prison was built in a disused school near Phnom Penh.[8][7]

Godefroy Ryckewaert was director of photography. Dara Our and Jean-Paul Ly choreographed the fights. Remy Hou designed the costumes.[9] The Cambodian rap duo Kmeng Khmer and the composer Fabio Guglielmo Anastasi made the music.[7][1] The dialogue is about 60 percent Khmer, 35 percent English and 5 percent French.[7] Many action scenes were filmed in long takes with few cuts.[1]

Bokator, a traditional Cambodian combat style, nearly disappeared under the Khmer Rouge and during the Vietnamese occupation that followed, and resurfaced in the early 2000s.[1] The film sets its bokator fight scenes beside slapstick comedy.[10][9] Its strong female characters were meant to challenge gender stereotypes.[7]

Cast

  • Jean-Paul Ly as Jean-Paul, the French-Cambodian officer
  • Dara Our as Dara
  • Tharoth Sam as Tharoth, a Cambodian MMA champion and bokator fighter
  • Dara Phang as Sucheat
  • Céline Tran as Madame Butterfly
  • Savin Phillip as Playboy
  • Laurent Plancel as Suicide
  • Sisowath Siriwudd as Bolo
  • Rous Mony as Snake
  • Eh Phuthong as the cannibal
  • Sok Visal as Colonel Pros
  • Kong Ka Chan, Dy Sonita, Chiva Pech and Georgina Tan as Madame Butterfly's henchwomen[3][11][7][1][9]

Release and reception

Jailbreak opened in Cambodia on January 31, 2017, in seven cinemas in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, including Legend Cinema, Platinum Cineplex and Major Cineplex.[4][7][8] A mobile phone game, the first in Cambodia based on a film, was launched with the release. Kmeng Khmer's music video for the film's song was viewed about 300,000 times on YouTube in its first two days.[10] Le Monde counted 45,000 viewers, a first for a local production.[7]

At the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal in 2017, the Action! jury gave the film a special prize for its fight and camera choreography. The audience gave it the Gold prize for Best Action Feature Film and the Bronze prize for Most Innovative Feature Film.[12] It was also selected for festivals in Udine, Bucheon, Austin, London and Stockholm.[6] Netflix picked up the film.[13]

Before the release, The Phnom Penh Post wrote that it could be a defining moment in the growth of Khmer cinema.[10] The South China Morning Post called it a mostly successful martial arts film and Cambodian cinema's first significant move into the genre.[2] The Hollywood Reporter compared it with Ong-Bak and The Raid.[9] M, le magazine du Monde called it a leap forward for Cambodian cinema.[7]

Watch

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Variety, Film Review: 'Jailbreak' (July 25, 2017)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 South China Morning Post, James Marsh, Film review: Jailbreak (January 24, 2018)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Wikipedia, Jailbreak (2017 film)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Cambodia Film Commission, Jailbreak
  5. ↑ City on Fire, Matija Makotoichi Tomic, Jailbreak (2017) Review (May 10, 2017)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Film Movement, Educational: Jailbreak
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 Le Monde, Le cinéma khmer passe à l'action (March 1, 2017)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Le Petit Journal Cambodge, CINÉMA: Jailbreak, le premier blockbuster cambodgien en salle le 31 janvier (January 7, 2017)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 The Hollywood Reporter, 'Jailbreak': Film Review, Filmart 2017 (2017)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 The Phnom Penh Post, Action flick Jailbreak shatters local movie norms (January 27, 2017)
  11. ↑ Wikipédia, Jailbreak (film, 2017)
  12. ↑ Rue Morgue, Fantasia Festival 2017 awards celebrate the best in horror and other genre fare! (2017)
  13. ↑ The Hollywood Reporter, Sequel to Cambodian Action Hit 'Jailbreak' in the Works (undated)
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This page was last edited on 9 October 2026, at 03:34.