Showing 1 - 10 of 12
A poll date and elephant in the room
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/08/2018
» We've heard distant drumbeats and dates are being thrown around. The election will -- may -- happen on Feb 24, 2019, which is the Year of the Pig, if that portends anything. The latest possible date, if things get pushed around by design or by fate, is May. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe never. Who knows? For a regime that prides itself as rule-keepers, rules and promises have been treated like toilet paper since day one.
A comedy likely to end only in horror
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/02/2018
» The junta can read the stars and history and they must know this isn't going to end well. As frustration grows, as protests form, as their support ebbs even their idol Gen Prem Tinsulanonda flat-out said so they amp up censorship and tighten the squeeze, not with gusto but with desperation. With Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon looking increasingly like a plump Chinese deity on the verge of losing his worshippers, the regime reacts with force, gagging tactics and plain old bullying.
Sewing the ties that bind
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 31/01/2018
» The Thai embassy in Maputo, Mozambique, shares walls with the shantytown of Polana Canico. When artist Jakkai Siributr arrived at the embassy three weeks ago, the dusty enclave became a source of inspiration and expertise for his new project.
Deep South 'Patani arts' opens in the North
Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/07/2017
» A major contemporary art exhibition about the Deep South is on display at a museum in Chiang Mai, one of the biggest gatherings of artists from the region, with the addition of others whose works touch on the stories of conflicts and violence in the southernmost provinces.
At Cannes, humour makes a surprise visit
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/02/2017
» Humour is hardly ever associated with Cannes competition films -- to win the Palme d'Or, for example, it's assumed a film should possess art house gravitas, serious humanity, or weighty, topical, discourse-stimulating subject matter (last year's winner, Dheepan, is about immigrants in Paris, and before that, the three-hour-long Turkish drama Winter Sleep).
Room roams from director's tight rein
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/02/2016
» In Room, Brie Larson plays a mother who raises her five-year-old child in the confinement of a room after she has been kidnapped and locked up by a sex abuser. The scenario here is cinematic and psychological: the "room" represents the entire existence that the boy has known since birth, and the mother-son dynamic is regulated by the physical parameters of the place, which in turn define their perceptions of life. To everyone else, the room is prison. To the boy, it is the world.
Chinese hegemony
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/01/2016
» A gloomy assassin prowls the breathtaking fields of the Tang-era kingdom, while China's awkward march to become a 21st century world power stirs the emotional core of its people. The two Chinese-language films — Mountains May Depart from the mainland, The Assassin from Taiwan — let us savour two distinct sensibilities in the main competition as the world's largest movie showcase rounds its last bend. The awards will be announced on Sunday night, and the two films seem to have a decent chance of winning prizes, either big or small, in a year when the majority of the top-tier line-up leaves much to be desired.
Violence in South is no less tragic
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/08/2015
» Boston had “Boston Strong”. Paris had “Je Suis Charlie”. Now, as much as we wish we never had to have one, post-Aug 17 Bangkok has come up with “Stronger Together” and “Our Home, Our Country” as rallying cries against the ghastly terror at Ratchaprasong intersection on Monday.
Short on action
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/11/2014
» Poor Katniss Everdeen, your heart is pure but your fate isn't yours to decide, and while the working-class revolution explodes and the "we burn, you burn" rally echoes, you look on and wonder if you're a piece or a player, a pawn or a plotter.
Flag turns the national into factional
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/02/2014
» Red, white and blue. The tricolour Thai national flag has never been this omnipresent.