Showing 11 - 20 of 66
The French Connection
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/05/2018
» In the opening episode of Ten Years Thailand, a group of soldiers arrives at an art gallery to inspect a potentially subversive artwork. What constitutes a kernel of subversion, however, is hard to lay a finger on. So the story shifts: one of the soldiers begins to chat up a pretty maid, and as the Sun is setting the two of them look out from the gallery to the horizon full of shadows. Maybe of hope.
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.
The theory of Hawking as a parallel Thai
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/03/2018
» Had Stephen Hawking been born here, the fate of astrophysics would likely have been different: no Theory of Everything, just a Hypothesis of Nothing. Had he been born here, the starburst of his extraordinary life would have been sucked into a black hole, a metaphorical black hole, and the proof that the universe can be so unkind to some people would have been concluded.
Vampires rule roost in this heartless land
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/11/2017
» The mother looked for her son's heart in a foam box. "Where is it?" she asked. She's already had his body, and only when she requested was she was allowed to take back his soul.
It's always sunset in our land of exiles
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/09/2017
» Either to Dubai or London, Yingluck Shinawatra has gone West and will likely live the rest of her life in exile. Either in an Emirati villa overlooking the Persian Gulf or a London penthouse by the Thames, she may be contemplating the difference between exile and banishment, or between exile and a holiday, but in the end it doesn't matter: She has fled, and her flight means the old power of Thailand has seen off the element regarded as threat. The ghost has been exorcised, the devil purged -- not once but twice, since there are two Shinawatras -- and now the military will charge ahead on their black horses as they gather us up and gallop us off into sunset (not sunrise).
Yingluck gets earful as the play goes on
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/08/2017
» The suspense, then the anticlimax. The adrenaline, then the warrant.
You can't beat Facebook; just ask the kids
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/05/2017
» Perched somewhere between stupidity and malice, we threatened to block Facebook. In trying to do so, we announced to the world that we believe in censoring the global stream of information, in stymying a new, collective consciousness. Apparently, we failed. Spectacularly. Not that it was the most surprising thing on this earth.
Surprise Subannahongsa win for Dao Khanong
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/03/2017
» A Thai independent film, Dao Khanong (By The Time It Gets Dark), won Best Picture at the 26th Subannahongsa Awards on Sunday night, a surprise victory for a title that had only limited release and was largely unseen by multiplex-goers.
Little-known film takes Best Picture at Subannahongsa Awards
Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/03/2017
» A Thai independent film Dao Khanong (By the Time It Gets Dark) won Best Picture at the 26th Subannahongsa Awards on Sunday night, a surprise victory for a title that had only limited release and largely unseen by multiplex goers.
Tony Jaa strikes back
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/01/2017
» The last time we saw him, Tony Jaa brawled with the late Paul Walker in Fast And Furious 7, a blood-rushing tumble of masculine masses on a moving mega-truck. This week Jaa -- the Thai martial arts star whose real name is Tachakorn Yeerum -- is back in the cinema in xXx: Return Of Xander Cage, an action thriller starring Vin Diesel in the leading role.