Showing 1 - 10 of 15
Return to paradise
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/01/2022
» At Maya Bay, hawk-eyed park officials patrol the sandy stretch, whistles at the ready. It was a gorgeous morning last Thursday, just days after the fabled beach on Phi Phi Leh Island had reopened after three years of closure, and the 300 or so holidaymakers, masked or otherwise, were ambling or striking catwalk poses on the pillow-soft sand, awestruck by the emerald splendour around them.
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.
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.
A one-man 'loveable rogues' gallery
B Magazine, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/05/2018
» Sunny Suwanmethanont raises his thick eyebrows and chuckles. He forks a piece of mango into his mouth while he considers something -- an existential query of sorts.
View from a veteran
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/03/2017
» The list of hits he has created in the past 20 years is long and staggering: Visute Poolvoralaks, perhaps Thailand's best-known film producer, is the man behind the renaissance of Thai cinema in the mid-1990s with Dang Bireley's And Young Gangsters, Nang Nak and Satree Lex, before becoming part of the hit-making machine GTH to push Fan Chan, Hello Stranger and the highest-grossing Thai film of all time, Phi Mak Phrakanong. Estimated box-office intake commandeered from his desk: nearly 2 billion baht.
For a ghost of a chance, use your talisman
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/10/2016
» On Wednesday Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha talked for 135 minutes at the Bangkok Post Forum, more than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Monday combined. And this isn't even an election campaign. A good soldier, he's unfazed by the presence of enemies and microphone. From the podium, arms outstretched, the PM touched on a lot of topics: Thai education, the economy, Section 44, Thailand as a "developed" country, the 20-year prophecy, etc. But what struck me like a hammer was when the general mentioned ghosts.
Dead cool
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/11/2015
» Javanese vampires, an undead tribe of immortal warlocks, a hard-boiled detective and an assortment of beautiful demons -- all of which stalk the twilight of Jakarta looking for blood, thrills and power in HBO Asia's original series Halfworlds. Premiering on Sunday at 9pm on HBO, the eight-episode show mixes Southeast Asian folklore with anime-cool and noir cinema, and it shows promise of a regional TV production that carries a dose of international appeal.
Expanding the Asean screen
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/10/2015
» Across Indochina the movie houses are bubbling with energy, and as the region's big brother in popular culture, Thai film is quick to tap into these growing markets. Some recent examples: The teen comedy May Who?, which came out here earlier this month, has just opened in Laos and Cambodia (with the same familiar posters, but with the wriggling scripts of the local languages).
Thai history on film
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/10/2015
» Last Sunday, the Thai Film Archive and Ministry of Culture announced 25 films that have been registered as National Heritage, the fifth year that such a list has been compiled in order to enshrine important audio-visual records.
Asean on screen
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/08/2015
» When was the last time you saw a Malaysian film? An Indonesian? A Vietnamese? The odds are even lower for a Myanmar or a Bruneian. As the Asean banner is being splashed across the region, with the emphasis on the economic free-flow, the cultural exchange among Southeast Asians remains a glaring deficit. Cinema, perhaps the most accessible form of cultural expression, is no exception.