Showing 1 - 10 of 24
Beyond the Buddha
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 01/05/2024
» As a traveller and photographer, Kamthorn Paowattanasuk enjoys visiting temples. While most people like to take photos at famous spots or with well-known sculptures, Kamthorn is interested in temple structures repaired using substitute materials. For example, what used to be a sermon hall made from wood was replaced with cement because wood is too expensive. In another temple, wooden handrails in an ordination hall and the temple gates were replaced with alloy.
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.
Leave the movie at the bedroom door say Cannes couples
AFP, Published on 14/05/2018
» CANNES: Hepburn and Tracey, Bogart and Bacall, Joel Coen and Frances McDormand: movie magic often has real-life love stories behind it, but star couples at Cannes say you must tread carefully when mixing work and romance.
In the kinky zone
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/12/2016
» No more debacle: Prabda Yoon's Rong Ram Tang Dao (Motel Mist) is finally in cinemas. Last month, just one day before the original release, the film's investor TrueVisions decided that they didn't like what they saw (despite the film having been finished 10 months earlier) and pulled it off the programme to the shock of many, chiefly the director. Rampant criticism of self-censorship followed. Now the filmmakers have decided to untie themselves from the deal and release the film on their own, so you can catch it now at SF CentralWorld, House RCA and Bangkok Screening Room.
Wagner, Thai-style
Life, Michael Proudfoot, Published on 25/08/2016
» It was bold of Somtow Sucharitkul to take Opera Siam to Bayreuth in Germany, the spiritual home of Wagnerians, to perform the first opera of a cycle of operas that challenges Richard Wagner's monumental Ring cycle, performed every year in Bayreuth, as the world's longest opera cycle. Sucharitkul's The Silent Prince is the first of the 10 operas of his Dasjati cycle telling the "Ten Lives Of The Buddha", familiar stories in Buddhist culture. Somtow has already composed five of the operas, and hopes to have all 10 finished by 2020, ready for a complete cycle in a sort of Bangkok Bayreuth Festival.
Something wicked
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/05/2016
» It's New England in 1630, before the Salem Witch Trials, but the presence of Satan, real or deluded, is ripe in the woods of the new colony. Robert Eggers' The Witch vibrates with that sense of dread, of something subterranean (though visible to us), something that exerts its evil influence on the mind of the isolated, feverishly pious settlers.
Marathi warrior vs Ayutthaya oarsman
Life, Parisa Pichitmarn, Published on 07/01/2016
» History need not be boring. Tales of two historical heroes have hit cinemas: Bajirao from India and Pantai Norasingh from Siam, and as rosy (or muddied) as they get upon shape-shifting into films, they are hype-worthy cinematic goodies that rival the dominance of the Force.
Chinese hegemony
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/01/2016
» A gloomy assassin prowls the breathtaking fields of the Tang-era kingdom, while China's awkward march to become a 21st century world power stirs the emotional core of its people. The two Chinese-language films — Mountains May Depart from the mainland, The Assassin from Taiwan — let us savour two distinct sensibilities in the main competition as the world's largest movie showcase rounds its last bend. The awards will be announced on Sunday night, and the two films seem to have a decent chance of winning prizes, either big or small, in a year when the majority of the top-tier line-up leaves much to be desired.
Lose the poetry
Life, Published on 15/06/2015
» The statistical argument invariably put forward by the gun lobby is that far more people die from mistaken medical treatment than from accidental shootings. To be sure, the proficiency of doctors often leaves much to be desired.
A glittering showcase of film
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» Cannes Film Festival opens today with Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, and for the next 12 days the Mediterranean resort town on the French Riviera plays host to the 66th edition of the world's most respected, most influential and most circus-like cine-jamboree. Stars, filmmakers, industry bigwigs and journalists congregate for the annual pilgrimage that celebrates, sanctifies and commercialises cinema to an extent that's both astounding and puzzling.