Karaoke Girl

2013 • 76 minutes

About this movie

Karaoke Girl follows a young escort girl in Bangkok through portraits of her daily life, introducing us to the nuances of a vocation borne out of a simple necessity: supporting a family in rural Thailand. The film threads memoirs of her countryside childhood with the complicated reality of her urban life. Cast as herself, 23-year-old Sa is revealed to us in a blend of documentary and fiction, city and country, family and romance. Peering through the lens of one woman’s real experience, Karaoke Girl humanizes the reality of a class of our social fabric usually painted as flat caricature. Rather than presenting traditional narrative, Karaoke Girl offers a personal landscape of this woman who is thoughtful and optimistic despite her difficult past. This film is Sa’s anthem—her way of sharing with me (and you) her fears, hopes, and dreams.