Showing 1 - 10 of 129
Where to pay final respects to King Bhumibol
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/10/2017
» The royal cremation day has arrived. Hundreds of thousands are expected to turn up at the ceremonial grounds to witness the historic event. Millions more are going to watch the proceedings on television. Those who would like to pay their last respect to King Bhumibol also have the choice of placing the sandalwood flowers at the 85 replicas of the royal crematorium around the country. There is one in each province and nine in Bangkok.
Journey of the guitar king
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/12/2015
» A small documentary film opens in limited cinemas this week. Revisiting a chapter in the Thai music history that many people may have forgotten, The Guitar King tells the story of Lam Morrison, a Thai rock musician and the country's first guitar star in the late 1960s. A long-haired man in his 70s now, Lam honed his guitar skills playing in GI camps in Udon Thani during the Vietnam War, before playing at bars in Bangkok and even toured Germany and Norway.
Marina's soul searching in Bangkok
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/10/2023
» Like Dante guided by Virgil, Marina Abramovic drifts through the purgatory that is Bangkok chaperoned by the little monkey prince. After praying at shrines and temples of assorted spiritual inclinations, she is taken to the Monkey King (Pichet Klunchun), whose rhymed, melodic prophecy finally guides Abramovic to the prayer hall of Wat Pho where her salvation awaits clad in a saffron robe.
Gay cowboys and glorious flesh
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/05/2023
» After the lukewarm opening film -- Maiwenn's Jeanne Du Barry, a fluffy costume drama starring Johnny Depp as King Louis XV -- the 76th Cannes Film Festival had its hottest ticket in a short film. Not just any short though: it's Pedro Almodovar's queer cowboy movie Strange Way Of Life, which saw patient festival-goers queuing up in the Rivera drizzle for nearly an hour to fill up even the worst seat of Salle Debussy on Wednesday.
Four inspiring tales for the price of none
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/10/2017
» The gift of love, kindness and generosity from the late King Bhumibol lives on in the minds of all Thais. It serves as the inspiration behind the anthology film Khong Kwan (The Gift), comprised of four short films by four Thai directors to be screened free of charge beginning Saturday at cinemas nationwide.
Two epic showings
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/12/2016
» Stanley Kubrick and David Lean will illuminate the big screen of Scala this long weekend, a fitting culmination to the programme of classics screened in celebration of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Since July, the Thai Film Archive has been showing vintage films that His Majesty watched in cinemas when they first opened in Bangkok half-a-century ago, and this week the project concludes with two majestic titles, Kubrick's Spartacus (screening Sunday at noon) and Lean's Lawrence Of Arabia (Monday at noon).
The end is now
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/04/2015
» The final instalment of The Legend Of King Naresuan franchise is a surprisingly lean 100-minute tribute to the ancient king. It feels less overblown than the previous three parts (which each ran over two hours), with more compact storytelling and an unexpected sense of mournful panegyric. After eight years, countless delays, hiccups and political undercurrents, and a combined 800-million-baht receipt, the country's longest-running film project — a clumsy shot at militaristic patriotism that began four months after the 2006 coup d'etat and ends this month, in another post-coup period — is now over. But at least this epilogue finishes with a faint glimmer of grace that has been largely missing over the years.
Modern-day creature feature
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/02/2018
» An eccentric love story between a woman and an amphibious creature, Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape Of Water has moved ahead to the front-runner spot in the Oscar's Best Picture, racking up the total of 13 nominations including the four acting categories. Del Toro's trick of turning B-movie grotesquerie -- interspecies sex, for instance -- into a darling of cinema bourgeois can still work wonders. And while this sweet and weird story isn't entirely unpredictable -- think mid-century beauty-and-the-beast flicks such as King Kong or, obviously, Creature From The Black Lagoon -- the director's imagination gives it an authentic vintage texture and enough doses of shocks and blood.
Alternative screenings this weekend
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/09/2016
» As the multiplexes are dominated by the big Thai film Fanday, two screenings this weekend should provide alternatives for Bangkok moviegoers. First, David Lean's Doctor Zhivago will play at the Scala on Sunday at noon, then a set of nine short films addressing the issue of legal reform will be screened at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre at 3pm.
Mongkut, reinterpreted
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 18/03/2015
» When Arin Rungjang learned of the art heist near Paris earlier this month, the Thai artist had good reason to feel concerned. At dawn on March 1, thieves broke into a high-security wing of the Chateau de Fontainebleau and made off with 15 priceless works of Asian art, including Phra Maha Mongkut Longya, a replica of a royal crown studded with rubies, pearls, emerald and diamonds. It was one of several royal tributes presented to Emperor Napoleon III by King Rama IV in 1861.