Showing 41 - 50 of 151
Oscar contenders from around the world
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/11/2017
» A record 92 films have been submitted to the Oscar Foreign Language Film category. We take a look at some
The inciting incident
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/10/2017
» On Sept 24, 1976, two electricians were beaten and hanged to death from the top of a gate somewhere in Nakhon Pathom, victims of an escalating right-wing terror in Thai politics of that heady decade. Two weeks later, as protests against the return to the Kingdom of former dictator Gen Thanom Kittikajorn gathered steam, students at Thammasat University staged a play about the hanging of the two men. Soon the photographs of the play were used by nationalists to whip up anger and fear of communism, which led to the massacre on the morning of Oct 6 as police and militias laid siege to the university, killing, maiming and brutalising scores of people in one of the worst incidents of bloodshed in modern Thai history.
Into the Khmer Rouge abyss
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/09/2017
» It's the kind of project that courts doubt and even disdain from the very logline. Angelina Jolie, the Hollywood A-lister lately known for marital drama, is directing a film in Cambodia about the atrocity of the Khmer Rouge years, based on the memoir of a woman who, as a girl, lived through it all.
Toronto top picks
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/09/2017
» A showcase of Oscar hopefuls and world cinema highlights, the film festival which wrapped up last weekend is one of the most influential in the world. Here are our highlights
Madness returns!
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/08/2017
» Before Dunkirk and Saving Private Ryan, there was The Bridge On The River Kwai.
Cannes at 70 still going strong
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/05/2017
» Stars, film professionals and journalists have descended en masse to the South of France as Cannes Film Festival opens its 70th edition tonight. Still the world's most influential cinema event despite the shifting landscape brought by streaming services and the rise of TV, Cannes is steadfast in its mission to celebrate world cinema with its programme of established auteurs, as well as discoveries. That, and then the celebrity pages online and in print, will have a busy period as stars and film personalities walk the famous Cannes red carpet during the next 10 days.
Ghost in the machine
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/05/2017
» French director Olivier Assayas sees great similarities between the world of digital and the world of the spirit. All of us, he said, communicate with the invisible -- through our phones or through a spiritual medium.
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.
Journey into darkness
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/04/2017
» Aiman (Firdaus Rahman) is a young correctional officer recently transferred to a top Singaporean prison. At work he becomes fascinated by the menacing aura of a veteran hangman Rahim (Wan Hanafi Su). Soon the old man nearing his retirement begins to groom Aiman as his successor, but there's a deeper secret that binds the fate of the two men in a more disturbing way.
Giving women a voice
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/03/2017
» A robust line-up of films is coming to us in HeForShe Arts Week Bangkok Film Festival. Organised by UN Women, next week's festival has selected films with messages on gender equality -- or inequality -- and unfair treatment of women in different cultures (not just in the "Third World" countries, to be sure). It sounds heavy, but the good thing is that the titles picked for the event this year are entertaining and heartfelt on top of being socially relevant.