Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Love, beauty, violence
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/05/2024
» Last year, the world embraced Barbie and Poor Things, two outstanding films that tapped into the state of female consciousness in the 21st century. At the 77th Cannes Film Festival, which ends tomorrow, women-driven stories of all stripes are pushed further up (or down) the emotional spectrum. A noticeable number of titles premiering at the influential festival feature female protagonists in varying states of joy and distress -- and to varying results. Powerful acting by female talent also injects life and spirit into those stories, hailing from all corners of the Earth.
Time for Asean films to shine
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/12/2021
» The pandemic notwithstanding, it has been a stimulating year for Southeast Asian cinema. Reflective, heartfelt and oddball new titles from Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have won major prizes or become critical favourites at international film festivals throughout 2021. Now, many of these films are coming to the big screen in Thailand as the Bangkok Asean Film Festival 2021 (BAFF) is set to open tonight.
Pedro Almodovar celebrates life in all its messy turns
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/11/2021
» Pedro Almodovar's films turn camp into art, or art into camp. Or even better, he isn't bothered all that much whether the candy-coloured hijinks, the sexual anything-goes, the carnal perfidy and maternal heartbreak in his movies are a form of art or a celebration of camp. And we, the audience, shouldn't either. Almodovar, the internationally best-known Spanish filmmaker, thrives on something much simpler, I think. Freedom.
Young at heart
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/04/2018
» On some afternoons, Thep Kengvinit would walk to Central Pinklao, sit down at an electric piano in an electronics store, and play random songs from the 1960s. "I walk because it helps loosen my joints," said the 74-year-old grandfather, "and I play because it's relaxing".
Our best films of the year
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/12/2016
» As usual we have two lists, for titles released in local cinemas and the wider universe of world films shown elsewhere (and hopefully coming to our screens soon).
Indonesia's torchbearers
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/11/2016
» A woman who rises above the trauma of polygamy in Sulawesi; a Muslim girl and her transvestite father, who works the street of Jakarta; three sisters in a courtship game; a war veteran confronting the harsh aftermath of newly independent Indonesia. At the Tokyo International Film Festival this year, Indonesia is the focus of the Crosscut Asia section, a programme that telescopes national cinema for social and aesthetic angles.
Rejuvenated cine-fest makes comeback
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» After a two-year absence, the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has returned with renewed commitment. It has been a lively, substantial week of films, talks, workshops, masterclasses and star presence, as Ken Kwek's black comedy Unlucky Plaza opened the cine-fest on Dec 4, before John Woo and Zhang Ziyi breezed into town with their new film, the World War II epic The Crossing. Then Juliette Binoche, all smiling despite the tropical heat, showed up to present Clouds Of Sils Maria, a touching drama about an ageing actress. Meanwhile, Egyptian director Ahmed Abdulla was around from the beginning as the festival's "Filmmaker in Focus".
Cannes, mon amour
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» Love and other nightmares filled the first half of the 65th Cannes Film Festival. There's post-Revolution love from Egypt, and the love that finds its final destiny, as love should, in death. There are the usual sidekicks of love, such as loneliness and the desire to be recognised, in the heart and in the flesh, in one's own territory and in others. It's both helpful and futile to try to find a common theme in the competition titles at the most frenzied and influential movie festival on Earth, but please allow me to indulge in the activity as a cure to the unusually wet weather that has rendered the mood rather gloomy in this war zone of film criticism.
Thawan Duchanee: Losing a legend
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/09/2014
» National Artist Thawan Duchanee passed away yesterday, but his work and most important philosophy and contribution to popular Thai thought and art will live on