Showing 11 - 20 of 27
EU film fest brings many shades of modern Europe
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 18/05/2017
» The stories of Europe are told in the 13 films at the European Union Film Festival 2017, which begins tonight at SF CentralWorld.
A trip to Diamond Island
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/04/2017
» It's a story of Cambodia but also of Southeast Asia: the new rich built on the back of rural labour, young men who leave their homes in the countryside to carry bricks and build real-estate edifices in the capital. The promise of the future is built on the uncertainty of the present.
Scarlett does non-human, again
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 31/03/2017
» It's possible that when we all die and are reborn as cyborgs or aliens, we'll look like Scarlett Johansson: white and bewildered, gamine-haired and supremely athletic, fierce on the outside and gentler within. The actor's recent list of post-human roles is impressive. She is an extraterrestrial seducer sucking men's souls in Under The Skin; a human-CPU-God hybrid in Lucy; a cybernetic assassin in Ghost In The Shell, which is our subject today. Mind you, even devoid of her physical self, she still embodies the voice of artificial intelligence, as in Her, in which she purrs her way into the consciousness of that world.
A poem in motion
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/09/2015
» From the first shot to the last, when the assassin leads a group of peasants into the majestic wilderness of Tang Dynasty China, this is likely to be the most ravishing film you'll see in a long while. The swift tumult of fabric, the heart-bleeding colours, the luxuriant verdant of the forest -- The Assassin, shot on 35mm at a time when almost every film in the world is shot on digital, is also a martial arts drama that compels us to rethink the essence of the genre. Historically regarded as a cheap, sweaty form of entertainment, the wuxia film has reached the pinnacle of high-art in this Taiwanese production -- and some audiences will certainly feel baffled, if not exasperated.
Bocelli delivers
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/04/2015
» Andrea Bocelli, the blind Italian tenor who always hits the top notes with effortless grace, put a spell on a glamorous Bangkok crowd in a concert at Paragon Hall on Sunday night.
7 car stud
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/04/2015
» With Furious 7, the superhero season has begun — and these guys (and girls) are so poised in their invincibility that they don't even bother to put on spandex costumes.
Mongkut, reinterpreted
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 18/03/2015
» When Arin Rungjang learned of the art heist near Paris earlier this month, the Thai artist had good reason to feel concerned. At dawn on March 1, thieves broke into a high-security wing of the Chateau de Fontainebleau and made off with 15 priceless works of Asian art, including Phra Maha Mongkut Longya, a replica of a royal crown studded with rubies, pearls, emerald and diamonds. It was one of several royal tributes presented to Emperor Napoleon III by King Rama IV in 1861.
Rejuvenated cine-fest makes comeback
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» After a two-year absence, the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has returned with renewed commitment. It has been a lively, substantial week of films, talks, workshops, masterclasses and star presence, as Ken Kwek's black comedy Unlucky Plaza opened the cine-fest on Dec 4, before John Woo and Zhang Ziyi breezed into town with their new film, the World War II epic The Crossing. Then Juliette Binoche, all smiling despite the tropical heat, showed up to present Clouds Of Sils Maria, a touching drama about an ageing actress. Meanwhile, Egyptian director Ahmed Abdulla was around from the beginning as the festival's "Filmmaker in Focus".
A graceful yet shallow opening
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» Australian actresses seem to like playing European royals, but often make a hash of it. Last year it was Naomi Watts as Princess Diana, in a supposedly tragic biopic that unfortunately inspired jokes and posthumous dread. This week in the sunny Riviera, merely miles away from the picturesque and sometimes boring Monaco, we’ve had Nicole Kidman in the title role in Grace Of Monaco, the curtain-raiser of the 67th Cannes Film Festival. It’s a film that continues the tradition that, as critics and insiders speak of Cannes as the world’s most important movie gathering, the maxim almost always excludes the opening film.
A glittering showcase of film
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» Cannes Film Festival opens today with Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, and for the next 12 days the Mediterranean resort town on the French Riviera plays host to the 66th edition of the world's most respected, most influential and most circus-like cine-jamboree. Stars, filmmakers, industry bigwigs and journalists congregate for the annual pilgrimage that celebrates, sanctifies and commercialises cinema to an extent that's both astounding and puzzling.