Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Here's to all the useful ghosts of our history
Oped, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/08/2025
» Ghosts are useful because they remind us of the unresolved, the unsettled, the unfinished -- in life, love, politics, or history. The film of the moment hitches onto that idea and takes it far, as far as the Cannes Film Festival, and now it has been picked as Thailand's representative for the Oscars.
Changing the narrative
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/09/2022
» A man returns home from work in Malaysia after Covid-19 struck, then gets lost in a bureaucratic labyrinth trying to get government handouts. Another woman finds a job at a factory, but the rules require her to compromise her faith. In Yala, a skater boy sets out in search of a friendly park where he can enjoy his ride. A hijab-wearing K-pop fanatic is getting married to a man who has just converted to Islam. And in a Pattani family, a young man watches his mother being possessed by a spirit, possibly a black-magic attack from his business rival.
Of zombies and fairy tales
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/05/2022
» The opening films across the three programmes at the 75th Cannes Film Festival speak of disparate destinies of contemporary cinema, from the poetic to the political and the pointless. Let's start with the latter.
A sick man, on a tour of hospital hell
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/05/2021
» The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu came out in 2005 and cemented the cinematic potency of the Romanian New Wave and their brand of droll, deadpan and relentlessly realistic movies about life in the ex-socialist state. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2005 and now, 16 years later, The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu is buried deep in the algorithm of Netflix. But it's there if you look, and I'm bringing it up today because its story of public healthcare apocalypse and accumulated absurdities experienced by a patient trying to find a hospital bed seems more timely, more wickedly serendipitous, than ever.
Humanity over bureaucracy
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/11/2019
» Do we need a feature film about the Tham Luang Cave rescue? We already know the characters, the set-up, the conflict, the ending: The 12 youngsters and their coach were saved, transported out unconscious from the flooded grottos in Chiang Rai by a team of elite divers, against the odds of natural or man-made calamities. Miracles, as the world acknowledges, have already been performed. Tears have been shed and a tragedy -- the death of a Thai Navy Seal -- has been mourned.
Life lessons
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/03/2019
» Fate clicks its fingers and an already poignant piece in Navin Rawanchaikul's "Revisited Departed" becomes the exhibition's most moving. It's a photograph of the artist as he guides his ageing father's fragile hand around a metre stick -- an indispensable tool of trade for any fabric-wallah -- fronted by a group of clay moulds sculpted from the imprints of his father's hand.
Thai film to retell cave rescue drama
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/09/2018
» A Thai film retelling the story of the Tham Luang cave operation will start filming in November, said its director and producer.
A not-so-mundane history
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/06/2018
» A lampshade, elegant and shiny, bears a distinct image of the Siamese constitution over the map of Thailand. A nielloware cigarette box, in solemn brass and black, also features an engraving of the constitution -- the emblematic figure of a folded scripture on a tray. Next to it are matchbox labels, pins, a glass bottle, a bowl, a water jar, an ashtray, a vinyl record. All of them carry the symbolism of the seismic transformation that took place 86 years ago.
Paint it noir
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/04/2018
» Jean-Pierre Melville, the supreme stylist of French film noir, is getting the retrospective he (and his fans) truly deserve. Starting on April 17, the Alliance Francaise Bangkok will screen five Melville films, plus one documentary about the filmmaker and another that makes strong allusion to his style.