Could have sworn there was a thread for this but it's not in the index so I might be mistaken.

Citizen Dog (2004) (Thailand)

Review: 

The peculiar oddities in Wisit Sasanatiengs Citizen Dog roll out like a fable from a factory of quirks and macabre whimsy, and of hopes and dreams. Its ingratiatingly twee love story is accentuated by delightfully exaggerated visuals, ones that involve marvelously ironic staging of helmets raining down on unprotected heads, a sliced and canned digit, a undead taxi driver continuing his gig, a chain-smoking 8 year-old and other quotidian miracles. Bearing strong echoes of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amlie, Citizen Dog is wonderful in the truest sense of the word. It arouses a childlike awe as we meet a fabulous collection of madcap, memorable characters. But its real magic comes from latching on and never losing sight of its local parlance and cultural appeal even when its treacly charms turn bittersweet and just a little too precious. 

Along with a briskly paced and wildly off-hinged introduction that sets the stage for a modern, adult fairy tale, which finds nave country boy Pod (Mahasamut Boonyaruk), getting a job at a sardine-packing factory in the big colourfully wacky city of Bangkok. He loses his finger, searches for it, gets a hold of a different finger in a can etc. The films initial episodic structure offers a pithy enthusiasm that goes unmatched in its second half, as Pods impetus becomes more single-minded as he jostles for the attention of the enchantingly daffy Jin (Saengthong Gate-Uthong), an obsessive compulsive maid who spends most of her time trying to decipher a book in a foreign language that fell out of a plane. 

Citizen Dog has a charm, originality and freshness while attempting to exhibit a romantic sweetness. But it is not without its failings, as do all endeavours that (thankfully) deviate from the norm. A romance that never fully feels fleshed out, a petered out pacing and an aggressive palette of absurd inventions that turn hollow and much too cursory when compared to the visually triumphant first halfs parade of candy-striped adventures. But that really shouldnt matter when a film offers a unique experience seemingly plucked out of oneiric ether, one so fanciful and fun, so exuberantly sweet in spirit even when it delightfully embraces the offbeat while being blissfully dreamy.