Showing 91 - 100 of 142
The many interpretations of bliss
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/10/2018
» With the monsoon comes the art. With the wind and bluster come the artists. Here it is, finally, after a year of fanfare and preparation. The first Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 (BAB 2018) will open on Oct 18 and run until next February in a city-wide surfeit of artistic affairs, from exhibitions to talks, workshops to pool parties (which is, of course, art!). The programme will keep Bangkokians and visitors busy for months starting from next week.
All eyes on Asia
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/10/2018
» Asia's premier cine-event took off last night. The 23rd Busan International Film Festival once again draws all attention to the South Korean port city as it hosts the annual showcase of films, especially Asian films. One part to promote the South Korean film industry -- a formidable machine of creativity and commerce -- and one part to reign as a centre of filmmaking activity in this part of the world, Busan has gone through some bumps, political and managerial, but remains steadfast in being in the biggest in Asia.
Two grainy fists for resurrection
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/10/2018
» Shot mostly in Thai prison, with a fair number of ex-cons as extras, A Prayer Before Dawn dives headfirst into the unfiltered squalor of prison life -- not the sociological or political dimension of state incarceration, but the physical, uncooked-meat kind of life in jail, particularly the Thai jail.
A hint of political maturation
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/09/2018
» The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre has been put under bureaucratic pressure, its budget cut and its relations with Bangkok Metropolitan Authority strained. One way to support this hub of contemporary art in downtown Bangkok is simple: visit the place, admire the art and the events, and show that the city needs a modern, open-minded art and culture venue unshackled by the old guard.
Hot from Toronto
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/09/2018
» Some highlights and award hopefuls from the film festival that will likely occupy the spotlight in the coming months
The pastoral romance returns
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/09/2018
» The star-crossed lovers coo. They ride their buffaloes through a verdant field, splash mud, evade spiteful parents, and make a vow at the shrine of the banyan tree. But their romance, like all memorable romances in books and life, is doomed by the circumstances of fate, tragic and scarred, and their destiny is one of the most heartbreaking in the canon of Siamese literature and film.
La La Land, Moonlight directors invoke 2016
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/09/2018
» Two years ago it was Damien Chazelle's La La Land vs Barry Jenkins' Moonlight at the Oscars. This year, the race between the same two directors seems to be shaping up again. This week at Toronto International Film Festival, Chazelle returns with his "Moon movie" First Man, and Jenkins with his adaptation of James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk. The award season -- for those who still care -- is gearing up full steam now.
Toilet porn
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/09/2018
» Last week in a toilet in Bang Rak Bazaar, a man looked down at his own body while also gazing up at the paintings of naked women on the wall. Placed above a row of urinals, the paintings -- modelled after images taken from pornographic websites -- were impossible to miss.
Garden of earthly demise
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/09/2018
» Jagged granite, chipped marble and debris from construction sites become an archive of their own past. At a glance, one won't see the leaves and flowers superimposed on those broken slabs of rock. At closer inspection, the melancholic splendour of the now-no-more greenery is there, delicately printed on the hard surface of the material that has replaced it.
Welcome to Shortywood
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/09/2018
» The longest-running film festival in Thailand is back this weekend. The 22nd Thai Short Film and Video Festival is the largest and most cherished gathering of young filmmakers in the country, especially for its flagship student-film category.