I just watched The Con-Heartist (2020). Well, I might be a bit late to the game, but this Thai movie is surely still worth checking out. At first glance, it’s a quirky comedy-drama about a former banker named Ina (Baifern Pimchanok) who gets scammed by a smooth-talking con artist, Tower (Nadech Kugimiya). But then the twist—he ends up helping Ina swindle her ex-boyfriend rather–relax, this isn’t a spoiler.
Every character in this movie is both a victim and a perpetrator of fraud, creating a fun web of dishonesty. The story, produced by GDH, keeps you hooked, but sorry, I have to admit that the romantic action between Tower and Ina at the end felt a bit too cliché for my taste.
Still, there’s one thing that seized my attention: Tower’s uncanny capability to read lips. Throughout the movie, he’s able to figure out exactly what other characters, like Petch and Ina, are saying just by watching their lips move.
I knew Tower was a master trickster, but since I’ve only lately started learning Thai, I set up this as both fascinating and a bit mind-boggling. So, it got me thinking, is it that easy to read lips in Thai? Let’s dig into a lot of intriguing data about the Thai language that might make you wonder the same thing.
Thai is a Tonal Language
First out, then you need to know Thai is a tonal language. This means that the meaning of a word can fully change depending on the tone used to grasp it. In Thai, there are five distinct tones that can turn a single word into different meanings.
For native speakers, these tones are alternate, and they might be suitable to erect together what someone’s by word by reading their lips if they have a good sense of the discussion’s environment. But still, how did Tower manage to read Ina’s lips from inside a phone booth?
Analogous Pronunciations Make Thai Indeed Trickier
Stay still until you hear this Thai has a bunch of words that sound nearly identical, but mean entirely different effects, If you suppose tonal differences sound tough. Take, for illustration, the popular Thai lingo twister “ ไข่ของใคร ใครก็ไข่ ”( Khai Khong Khrai Khrai Ko Khai), which roughly translates to, “Whose egg is this? Whoever it is, it’s an egg”.
The words sound nearly identical, but the meaning depends entirely on the environment and, of course, tone. A common illustration is the word “glai” which can mean either “near” or “far” depending on the tone. Now, imagine trying to lip-read that without hearing the tone—talk about a challenge! So, how did Tower directly read what Petch was saying from a distance in The Con-Heartist?
Thai’s Complex Vowels and Consonants
Another delightful fact is that Thai has 44 consonants and 32 vowels. Some vowels indeed look the same but are pronounced differently depending on the tone or the length of the sound. For native speakers, it’s easy to know which letter to use in a word, but when it comes to lip-reading, the effects get a lot more complicated.
Can you distinguish between all these sounds just by watching someone’s mouth move? It seems nearly impossible to directly capture everything just by reading lips, especially with such a complex set of vowels and consonants.
Is Tower’s Lip-Reading Skill Too Good to Be True?
Let’s be real—Tower’s lip-reading chops are surely dramatized for the sake of The Con-Heartist movie. It adds a unique and cool element to his character, making him feel nearly like a con artist superhero. After all, Tower is portrayed as a master scammer who’s indeed done time in jail for his tricks. With times of experience under his belt, perhaps he’s had enough practice to read lips—or at least that’s what the movie wants us to believe. However, you’ll see how this skill plays a crucial part in some of the biggest cons in the story If you watch The Con-Heartist on Netflix.
But in real life, could someone read lips this well, especially in a language as intricate as Thai? I have to wonder if anyone out there could pull off what Tower does—what do you suppose? Could you imagine being able to read someone’s lips with that position of delicacy? Or is this just another cinematic fantasy that we should enjoy for what it is?