Showing 41 - 50 of 66
Memories buried in soil
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/07/2019
» Memories and war, illusory borders and invisible scars: These themes are resonant in two documentary films shown late last month at the SAC Film Festival (hosted by the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre). In the Thai documentary Din Rai Dan (Soil Without Land), a Tai Yai man in Shan state talks about his life as a waiter in Bangkok and as a soldier in his ethnic army. In the Vietnamese film The Future Cries Beneath Our Soil, a group of men in a rural village bear the indelible wounds of the Vietnam War, still stinging after 40 years.
In the realm of Manta Ray
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/07/2019
» There's a shot of a manta ray in Manta Ray, and one is invited to read into the symbolism of the gliding creature whose journey transcends man-made boundaries. Kraben Rahu (Manta Ray) is the most anticipated Thai film of the year, and after almost a full year of travelling the film festivals of the world, like the majestic fish itself across the ocean, it has come ashore in select Thai cinemas this week.
Thai film editor joins Oscars academy
Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/07/2019
» Thai film editor Lee Chatametikool has been made a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, meaning he will be eligible to vote for the Oscars.
Underwater folly
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/06/2019
» In the aquatic chamber, the tank looms. Encrusted and barnacled, the mighty war machine has become a home of fish and corals. It seems incapacitated, abandoned, useless. Such is an illusion: if the tank is submerged, we're down there with it, drowned in that inexorable aquarium. Look, its gun still points at us, and its shadow all-consuming.
Jim Jarmusch's zombies open Cannes
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/05/2019
» 'Infernal hipsters and their irony." So says a very unhip character in <I>The Dead Don't Die</I>, and of course, what else could it be? Jim Jarmusch's zombie comedy opened the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night with a sort-of infernal hipness that both literalises and subverts the zombie formula -- with mixed results.
Fierce and pitiful
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/03/2019
» Krasue is a Thai ghost beside whom vampires -- and other blood-lusting Western monsters -- pale in comparison. Basically a detached head of a woman floating around in the dark, lit up by a phosphorescent glow from her still-beating heart, and with her bloody entrails dangling below the head like an infested creeper, krasue feeds on, naturally, filth, blood, corpses and carcasses. Sometimes it's compared, for the sake of convenience, with Gothic-era will-o'-the-wisp or jack-o'-lantern. But seriously, please, that is a gross under-characterisation that discounts the supreme grotesqueness of krasue, born by the pulpy fantasy of our equatorial folklorists.
Life lessons
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/03/2019
» Fate clicks its fingers and an already poignant piece in Navin Rawanchaikul's "Revisited <> Departed" becomes the exhibition's most moving. It's a photograph of the artist as he guides his ageing father's fragile hand around a metre stick -- an indispensable tool of trade for any fabric-wallah -- fronted by a group of clay moulds sculpted from the imprints of his father's hand.
Who is our Oscars Favourite?
B Magazine, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/02/2019
» The most important of all unimportant things, the Oscars arrive on Monday morning, Thailand time. In a year that seems more muted than usual, Hollywood's biggest jamboree has striven to stay relevant with the inclusion of blockbuster titles such as Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody, besides the more edgy and less popular films that have claimed much of the headlines, such as Roma and Green Book. While there are many cinematic awards around the world, the Oscars still seem to matter the most, and the ritual of predicting the winners is at once a frivolous parlour game and an annual survey of the vital signs of mainstream cinema. Don't bet on it, but we offer our takes here.
Strong field of films match up against Roma
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/01/2019
» Five films from five countries have been shortlisted for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Oscars, with the winner to be read out on Feb 24 (morning of Feb 25 Thailand time). In a way, this is a no-brainer: Roma is a clear favourite, though that leads to another complication: with the Netflix-backed Mexican film also being nominated for Best Picture, can the beloved Roma win both categories? Not to mention that Alfonso Cuaron is also a front runner to win the Best Director prize, a likelihood that only widens the smile on Netflix's 2.35:1-ratio face (the film is still showing at House RCA, as well as on your Netflix account).
A note on Thailand Biennale
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/01/2019
» One recent morning at Nopphrat Thara beach, the high tide flooded the lower part of a strange, interwoven structure. Rising from the blue water of the bay, it looked like an island, a new, unmapped island of Krabi visible from this popular spot where tourists visit and board tour boats to outlying islands.