Showing 1 - 5 of 5
Into the devil's lair
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/11/2021
» Like a session of cinematic séance, Rang Zong (The Medium) channels a cemetery-sized roll call of classic horror elements. The film, recently picked as Thailand's representative for the Oscar's International Feature, is proudly possessed by the ghosts of The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project, the Paranormal Activity franchise, and Ari Aster's Midsommar, but with Southeast Asia's earthy voodooism, plus a serving of Korean-style blood-and-viscera gore as well as an icing of zombie scare-aesthetics. It's a full-course buffet of fright tricks, complete with an apocalyptic, 30-minute-long exorcism orgy that leaves no spell unuttered and no human unpossessed. All of this is couched in a faux-documentary setup, with handheld shots, grainy CCTV footage and characters speaking directly to the camera.
The American dream gone sour
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/02/2016
» More than other countries, the “idea” of America is greater than America itself, as Dr Bennet Omalu finds out. Omalu is a Nigerian pathologist working in Pittsburgh as he waits to be naturalised, and as played by Will Smith, he’s a specimen of a noble, intelligent, optimistic soul who can’t stand dishonesty and injustice. In short, his principles are more American than those of most Americans themselves. That shouldn’t be a problem, until he performs an autopsy on an American football legend and finds that the great American sport has ruined its players beyond repair, driving some of them into suicidal insanity.
All he needs is Kill
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/07/2014
» Executioner. Murderer. Killing. Doing his job. The swirl of inner-conflict and the fog of moral dilemma must’ve accompanied Thailand’s “last executioner”, the man whose professional duty was to pull the trigger and dispatch death row convicts. Between 1984 and 2002, Chavoret Jaruboon executed 55 prisoners by gun, before the Thai law changed the execution method to lethal injection.
Self-mockery, not arms, maketh the man
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/05/2013
» Hollywood's blockbuster season kicks off with a trustworthy bang _ plus a self-referential wink and a whiff of homeland politics to regale the liberals.
Remembering the Manifesto
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/05/2012
» 'The old film is dead. We believe in the new one."