Showing 1 - 10 of 16
For the days that remain
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/11/2017
» Challenging taboos, one of Thailand's most popular directors returns with a film that looks death in the eye
Oscar contenders from around the world
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/11/2017
» A record 92 films have been submitted to the Oscar Foreign Language Film category. We take a look at some
On the road, with the elephant
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 29/06/2017
» Like all roads, this one promises redemption. Like most journeys, the destination is often where one starts off. Pop Aye, a road movie about a man and his elephant on a long trip to the Northeast, is a story of middle-class disillusionment (that's what the middle-class exists for) and the siren call of the rural -- the ambiguous call ringing in the ear of those who feel betrayed by the city.
A new vision on Siam's enduring symbol
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/04/2017
» The elephant and the man, walking down the road to redemption and encountering the wounded and the marginalised, the madmen and the prostitutes. In the film Pop Aye, which will kick off Bangkok Asean Film Festival 2017 this evening (see sidebar), the fine-tusked beast accompanies the lost soul as the duo find their way home from Bangkok to the Northeast.
Into the strange forest
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/09/2016
» The dirt road is dry and red, scorched by the Isan sun. The headmaster is wary, sardonic, and enervated by the heat. The students, or at least some of them, are bored and ironic ("What do you want to be when you grow up?" a teacher asks. "A bank robber," he deadpans.) Next to this poor state school is a forest, sun-dappled, mysterious and probably haunted. Girls are warned not to go in there because they may never come back out.
Bangkok as their creative canvas
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/02/2016
» Artists from the 2nd Bukruk Urban Arts Festival have finished turning the drab concrete walls of Bangkok's buildings into brightly-coloured paintings. Over the last week, they got on cranes and put their rollers on many dust-stained buildings around Charoenkrung neighbourhood to create murals, from mid-size to huge, an unprecedented visual intervention in the city where the writing on the wall is often limited to miserable vandalism and obscure references to rival schools.
Thai movies ride the Euro circuit
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 29/01/2016
» The new year starts with a slate of new Thai films -- and some older ones -- which are already making rounds at the European film festival circuit which began this week.
Boundaries blurred
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/09/2015
» The Toronto International Film Festival, which runs until Sunday, is known as a showcase for big hitters -- movies with stars, budget and particularly Oscar ambition. The 40th edition of the festival screens over 350 titles, and those that dominate the headlines -- The Danish Girl, The Martian, Black Mass, Beasts Of No Nation, Spotlight, Every Brand Is Crisis, etc -- are those that you'll likely to read and hear a lot about as the award season kicks into high gear.
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.
Life is short, Lav is long
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» The longest film at the 18th Thai Short Film and Video Festival will run at 250 minutes. That's not particularly short, but it speaks volumes about the cinematic health and enthusiasm offered by the festival that runs until Sept 7.