Showing 31 - 40 of 75
Three stories from Asia
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/10/2016
» An illegal Filipino migrant in Hokkaido, a Japanese grandfather in Penang, a UN official reflecting on the romantic past in Phnom Penh. The three short films in the omnibus Asian Three-Fold Mirror: Reflections narrate the criss-crossing of destiny between Asian people -- or particularly in this case between Japanese and Southeast Asians. The Reflections project has been commissioned by the Japan Foundation and Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) as a means to show the mutual relationships, present or forgotten, among the Asian countries.
In the eye of the storm
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/09/2016
» The photograph is brutal because the reality is brutal.
Army 'image' trumps the people's truth
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/07/2016
» Her uncle was beaten to death in an army camp and now she has been sued for revealing what happened. On Monday, Naritsarawan Kaewnopparat was arrested and charged for defamation and disseminating "false information" -- meaning the details of her uncle's harrowing death at the combat boots of his drill sergeants, who caned and kicked him from evening until past midnight back in 2011 at a Narathiwat barracks. Ms Naritsarawan, who has been fighting for a semblance of justice for six years, denied the charges and was released on bail.
A Bigger Splash allows actors room to shine
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/07/2016
» Four characters, white and privileged, play out their favourite game of seduction. They frolic in the sun, nurse their ego, indulge in excesses, splash in the pool of a luxurious villa on an island in the Mediterranean -- also the island where dark-skinned migrants arrive like phantoms after their perilous journey across the sea.
Blonde, bruised and stalked by shark
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/07/2016
» They're hyping this one as "the best shark film since Jaws". Seriously? The muddy psychological waters of the 1970s -- the collective fear and anxiety lurking in the Vietnam War years channelled into a shark -- has given way to the lone, existentialist despair of the iPhone generation of the 2010s. In the Steven Spielberg film, we're swept into the hunters' dark obsession, the exorcism of the demon within and without; in The Shallows we have something much less complicated: survival. And it helps that the person struggling to survive despite being stranded just 200 hundred yards from shore is played by Blake Lively -- blond, bruised, brave, sun-tanned and bikini-clad.
Buppha, no banshee feminist
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/05/2016
» You always need to lower your guard and embrace a dose of silliness to enjoy a Thai horror-comedy, sometimes neither a horror nor a comedy. Buppha Arigato, the new film in the Buppha series of movies that were hits in the early 2000s, requires you to not just lower your guard, but to discard it altogether and embrace the mess, the wackiness and mostly the misfired jokes. Some will enjoy the film's rare moments of hilarity, and I sincerely congratulate you. Otherwise, the old Buppha cine-legend has melted out spectacularly in the Japanese snow.
Stephen Chow's latest is fantastically foolish
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/04/2016
» The Chinese comedy The Mermaid became the biggest-grossing film ever in China when it came out during Chinese New Year, raking in US$417 million (14.6 billion baht), surpassing last year's hit Monster Hunt and Fast And Furious 7. Even without the hype, fans of Stephen Chow -- and there's plenty of them in Thailand -- have been looking forward to his latest madcap escapade, this time with the story of a pretty mermaid who falls in love with an ocean-destroying, banknote-burning real estate tycoon who's also her target.
Regional favourites, new and old
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/04/2016
» The 2nd Bangkok Asean Film Festival begins on Thursday at SF World Cinema, and will travel to Khon Kaen, Surat Thani and Chiang Mai later.
Monking around on the big screen
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/04/2016
» Men in saffron robes are a force to be reckoned with; in life, in headline news, and in Thai cinema. At a time when monks scuffle with monks, and sometimes with the authorities, a new Thai film about a funny monk is raking it in at the cinemas.
An enigmatic, carnal pilgrimage
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/04/2016
» Terrence Malick's Knight Of Cups opens with a solemn passage from the 17th century text The Pilgrim's Progress, and right from the start this enigmatic film lays its cards on the table and yet withholds what they really mean. The pilgrim's progress was "delivered under the similitude of a dream". He set out on "a dangerous journey" before "a safe arrival at a desired country".