Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Off the wall
Guru, Worada Elstow, Published on 11/03/2022
» Art is a massive part of culture; it is intertwined with most things in life. Despite the ongoing pandemic, Bangkok's art scene is making a comeback in full force with many thought-provoking shows that tell us that art is not merely aesthetical. Guru presents gallerists who present art with a mission.
Silence interrupted
Life, Tatat Bunnag, Published on 02/03/2022
» Much like his second feature film Blissfully Yours in 2002, serene stillness is the first impression we get from Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria (in local cinemas tomorrow). Everything remains silent for a long period of time, but suddenly there's a loud booming sound resounding in the head of Jessica, played by Tilda Swinton, a British expat living in Colombia. The noise is loud enough to wake her up from the bed of her hotel room, as she begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome. It forces Jessica out to the city and through the jungle in search of the source of the sound. From that moment on, the sound plays a crucial role to the story in Memoria. While this strange sound is the main inspiration for the film, it is also what Apichatpong has been struggling with over the past few years.
Thailand in film
Guru, Pasavat Tanskul, Published on 27/07/2018
» It has been a few weeks since the rescue of the Wild Boar soccer team from Tham Luang cave. With the successful and miraculous feel-good news of the rescue, it was inevitable that plans to dramatise the entire ordeal will be made into a movie. Reportedly, six film production companies are in talks with the Thai government and have expressed interest in obtaining rights to make a dramatic movie version of the events.
Strange brew
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 29/03/2018
» He went down to the crossroads, fell down on his knees, asked the Lord for mercy -- and somehow got it. In this biopic documentary, Eric Clapton -- his place in the pantheon of guitar god-dom guaranteed -- is a tragic genius denounced by his own mother and nurturing a desperate crush on his best friend's wife, which kept his guitar wailing and weeping. Here's a 60s-70s blues-rock maverick who sold his soul to heroin, cocaine, cognac, whatever, and when he emerged from the pit and things began to feel wonderful tonight, he lost his son in a terrible, terrible accident. That a new documentary about his life to date is allowed to end happily is proof that rock'n'roll (and life itself) can cheat the claws of fate and go on for longer than 12 bars.
A cornucopia of cosmetics
Life, Kanokporn Chanasongkram, Published on 16/08/2016
» Overwhelmed by a plethora of beauty products, one can be baffled when finding a high-performance facial cleanser, whether to lather up with an affordable whip foam or invest in a pricey liquid formula.
Will the best films win the Oscars?
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/02/2016
» The Oscar night is also the Oscar-bashing night. It was always the night (or morning, in our time zone) of constant bemoaning and condescension, because the Academy voters, like most voters, always get it wrong, at least to million others around the world who believe, in our collective delirium, that we have a stake in this pageant taking place somewhere in Los Angeles. Things have taken a turn for the worse with the snap judgement made possible by social media; now the outrage and disbelief are so raw since they're aired in real time, on Facebook and Twitter, like I did last year when I was convinced that it was against every law of nature that Birdman, a well-crafted display of pretension and self-obsession, won over the more delicate Boyhood.
Soulful, sorrowful, tragic
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/08/2015
» Amy is a biographical documentary of the singer Amy Winehouse, but it is also a horror film. Watching it is like watching a ghost, a confused, tortured ghost of a woman who has boundless talent in singing and none in living. As we watch Amy Winehouse -- in home video footage, concert recordings, TV interviews, etc -- it hits us that we're watching her being killed slowly at every passing minute; killed by herself, her addiction, and by the cruel ecosystem of the fame industry that feeds first on her gift then more voraciously on her downfall. This is one of the best documentary films this year, and in some parts it's also one of the hardest to watch.