Showing 1 - 10 of 22
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.
Saint and sensibility
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/05/2019
» A Christian fable or a Marxist allegory? A magical-realist myth or a political cry against neoliberalism (or feudalism, which produces the same catastrophe anyway)?
Cinema Politico
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/12/2018
» The premiere of the social-commentary film Ten Years Thailand on Tuesday night saw a number of political celebrities in the vaulted foyer of the Scala, brushing elbows with journalists, film professionals and gawking onlookers. Sulak Sivaraksa was there, as well as historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, Thongthong Chandrangsu and several political-science scholars. Big names from political parties showed up: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from Future Forward, Parit Ratanakulserirengrit from the Democrats, Chatchat Sitthiphun and Wattana Muangsuk from Pheu Thai, Sombat Boon-ngamanong from Krian Party. Invitations had been sent out to all parties, according to the film producers, but no one from Palang Pracharat and Bhumjaithai attended the screening.
A conversation with Prabda
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/08/2018
» A woman returns to her condo room after a morning walk. A young man lies injured outside her door. She helps him inside, but something unexpected happens: He claims that the room is, in fact, his, and the woman is trespassing. She refuses to accept such nonsense. The man refuses to budge and demands her to leave.
Horror film does double duty as social satire
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/04/2017
» Hot on the trail of the Oscar-winning Moonlight and half-a-century after Katherine Hepburn gasped at her daughter's black fiancée in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, here comes Get Out, a "social thriller" about a black man trapped in a white horror. These weird white folk voted for President Obama -- they keep repeating that to assure themselves and others -- but their exaggerated civility is more creepy and menacing than ever in Trump-ruled America.
Relive cinema history at Maya City
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/12/2016
» Dec 28 is the day cinema was born. On this day in 1895, the Lumiere Brothers for the first time showed their invention, the cinematograph, for paying customers at Salon Indien du Grand Cafe in Paris. The programme consisted of 10 short films; the first being Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory, a short clip showing female workers filing out of a building in Lyon.
Careful what you click, but keep thinking
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/12/2016
» Be careful what you wish for. Be even more careful what you like. Be most careful what you share.
Memories of my mother
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/10/2016
» Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Psycho, a subject of cinephilic and scholastic scrutiny for 40 years, is showing this Sunday at Scala. When the film was first released in the US, Hitchcock strictly instructed that latecomers would not be admitted into the screening, because it is "required that you see Psycho from the very beginning!". The Bangkok showing will follow that rule (strictly or not we can't be certain), and it's always nice and wise to be on time.
Cinematic glory days
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/08/2016
» The five cameras are displayed in a glass box in the glitziest multiplex in town. Spot the irony?
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.