Showing 1 - 10 of 18
Deep in the paradox
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/05/2022
» In Cairo, a religious student at the prestigious Al-Azhar Islamic University is recruited by secret police to infiltrate a Muslim Brotherhood cell. In Mashad, a holy city in Iran, a serial killer prowls a seedy suburb and strangles head-scarfed prostitutes. In the first film, bloodlust officials torture dissidents with abandon. In the second film, religion is evoked and the name of God is cited as a justification for murder. This begs the obvious question: Will Boy From Heaven be banned in Egypt, and Holy Spider Iran?
A long crusade against healthcare woes
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/04/2021
» Colectiv, a Romanian documentary film nominated for two Oscars, watches in terror as the Romanian healthcare system practically collapses before the camera. The film elicits a series of gasps, as one shocking revelation leads to another, and another: procurement frauds, bureaucratic incompetence, corruption, nepotism, murder, mass bribery, healthcare mafia, maggots crawling on the head of a patient -- a living patient -- and finally, an election whose preposterous results ring too many familiar bells.
Asean on screen
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/09/2020
» Ahead of the BAFF featuring Southeast Asian movies plus Chinese and Japanese titles, Life spoke with two filmmakers about their work
A surprise behind the door
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/03/2018
» The house sits deep in the woods, near a cemetery staked with tombstones. The family consists of a father, reeling in debt, and his four children, the eldest 22 and the youngest six. The mother is ill, ashen-faced, bedridden, and she'll jingle the brass bell in her hand to summon help. That jingling bell, and the apparition of a woman in a white gown in the mother's gloomy bedroom, will signal the cue of many jump-scares in the tale that unfolds.
The boy wonder of French politics
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/07/2017
» Now that he rules France -- first by winning the presidency and when his party won a majority in the French parliamentary election last month -- Emmanuel Macron has become a subject of close scrutiny. The Netflix documentary Emmanuel Macron: Behind The Rise won't give you deep insight into the remarkable rise of the youngest French president in history; the film works, instead, as a campaign history and a personality sketch of this boyish, industrious, intelligent politician who, at first, seemed surprised by his own ascendancy.
Moving images
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/05/2017
» Cinema is the runaway child of photography. At the Cannes Film Festival this week however, two films show the deep and inspiring connection between the two forms. In Villages Visages (Faces/Places), the grandmother of the French New Wave Agnes Varda teams up with photographer JR to create the most charming work in the festival. Meanwhile in 24 Frames, the late Abbas Kiarostami, the Iranian director who passed away last July, posthumously gave viewers the most mesmerising series of images on the big screen of Grande Theatre Lumiere.
To Myanmar with love
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/11/2016
» The big problem about shooting a film in Myanmar, says Thai filmmaker Chartchai Ketnust, was not obtaining permission. It was the mob of onlookers trying to get a peek of the stars.
A copy of his mind
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/04/2016
» In the Indonesian film A Copy Of My Mind, a pirate DVD seller falls in love with a salon worker. Two working-class lovers struggling in a vast city, their relationship is just as heated as the smoke-choking street of Jakarta, and around them looms the tense shadow of politics as a presidential election nears.
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.
Dead cool
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/11/2015
» Javanese vampires, an undead tribe of immortal warlocks, a hard-boiled detective and an assortment of beautiful demons -- all of which stalk the twilight of Jakarta looking for blood, thrills and power in HBO Asia's original series Halfworlds. Premiering on Sunday at 9pm on HBO, the eight-episode show mixes Southeast Asian folklore with anime-cool and noir cinema, and it shows promise of a regional TV production that carries a dose of international appeal.