Showing 61 - 70 of 151
The non-Hollywood contenders
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/12/2016
» Thailand has submitted the monk drama Arpatti to compete with 84 other countries in the Oscar race for best foreign-language film. Here we look at some highlights from around the world before the nominations are announced on Jan 24.
Art, revenge, despair
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/11/2016
» Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals opens with a montage of naked, fat-rippling, extremely obese women, their bodies wrapped in the American flag as they dance to the beat. We then cut to the opening of an art exhibition featuring those naked women on platforms, curled up as live installation pieces, or as morbid glitz, an excess of grotesquerie amid the well-dressed LA crowd.
Streep, Abe open Tokyo Film Fest
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/10/2016
» Meryl Streep walked down on the red carpet as light drizzle cooled the opening of the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival on Tuesday.
Avoiding bogeymen and the religious police
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/10/2016
» Tehran in the 1980s, at the height of the Iran-Iraq War and a few years after the Islamic Revolution convulses the life of Iranians. In a middle-class apartment, young mother Shideh lives with her husband, a medical doctor, and their daughter Dorsa. Their lives are punctuated by the sound of sirens and shelling, their windows taped up to shield vibrations. One day, the father is drafted to fight in the escalating war, and Shideh is left with Dorsa in the house where strange beings lurk. The neighbours begin to talk about djinn, the devilish beings in the Middle Eastern belief, and soon Dorsa's doll goes missing and the girl begins to talk to invisible people.
Northern lights
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/09/2016
» With over 400 movies on the slot, the Toronto International Film Festival was a feast and a maze. The latest edition of this North American showcase concluded last Sunday, with Damein Chazelle's La La Land winning the People's Choice Award, a bellwether for the bright Oscar season (Toronto, unlike other major festivals, has no prominent juried competition, instead letting the audiences decide the big winner). The festival is known as a launch pad for Oscar hopefuls as well as independent titles looking for distribution. It also features a strong experimental section that casts its radical net far and wide.
Thai film 'Apatti' entered for an Oscar
Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/09/2016
» The Buddhist-themed horror film "Apatti" has been submitted as Thailand's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at next year's Oscars, the committee of the Federation of Thai Film Associations has announced.
EU Film Festival offers a rich mix
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/06/2016
» June has been a very busy month for film festival enthusiasts. We've so far had the LBGT Film Festival, the Bangkok Silent Film Festival (ending today at Scala), the Singapore Film Festival, and the Human Rights Film Festival -- all in the past two weeks. Now, the last cine-fest of the month arrives today at SF CentralWorld: the annual European Union Film Festival 2016 (EUFF).
An enigmatic, carnal pilgrimage
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/04/2016
» Terrence Malick's Knight Of Cups opens with a solemn passage from the 17th century text The Pilgrim's Progress, and right from the start this enigmatic film lays its cards on the table and yet withholds what they really mean. The pilgrim's progress was "delivered under the similitude of a dream". He set out on "a dangerous journey" before "a safe arrival at a desired country".
Doc lovers rejoice!
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 18/03/2016
» It is high time for audiences who appreciate the rough-edged reality of documentary films. Of the five nominees of the Oscar for best documentary feature, three had a regular release in Bangkok cinemas (Amy, Cartel Land, The Look of Silence), something unthinkable a few years ago when no distributor wanted to risk showing non-fiction films in cinemas. Now there is almost always at least one documentary film at SF CentralWorld, with the initiation of the independent outfit Documentary Club (in the programme now is The Hunting Ground, about rape crimes in American universities).
Taking down Sorrayuth no graft panacea
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/03/2016
» Bring me the head of Sorrayuth. Bring me the severed head of the anchorman/briber, newscaster/corrupter, interviewer/public villain No.1. The hero became the anti-hero, and Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda had his head served on a silver platter after the collective wrath of graft-haters smoked him out of his chair. Corruption must be combatted, cheaters must be called out and shamed. Yes, we beat him, we beat corruption! And our weapons in this war are something equally disturbing, such as hatred, polemics and swift, satisfying anger.