Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Pandemonium
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/09/2022
» The first shot of Athena will be discussed in every writing about the film. A bravura choreography of movement that begins with an intimate close-up of a face and ends, after 10 blood-rushing minutes, with an explosion of revolutionary rage -- a la Les Miserables and Do You Hear The People Sing? transported to a predominantly-Muslim Paris suburb -- that opening shot is so hypnotising and immersive in its non-stop kineticism that we're led to forgive that it's also an earnest show-off, a proud enshrinement of style and attitude over everything else. Romain Gavras, a filmmaker known for making music videos for Jay Z and M.I.A, will cement that approach with many similar shots throughout the film -- long, seemingly uninterrupted shots with parkour camerawork full of angry bodies -- more than enough for aspiring filmmakers of the world to slobber over.
The true nature of the beast?
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/11/2020
» 'Happy families are all alike," said Tolstoy, "every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Corona and the death of cinema (again)
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/03/2020
» "Cinema is an invention without a future," said Louis Lumiere who, along with his brother Auguste, invented the Cinematographe in 1895. From its birth, cinema was convinced of its own death. From the very beginning, cinema predicted its own eventual demise. And that was before the two world wars, the advent of home video, laser disc, DVDs, Blu-rays, terrorism, mass shootings, Netflix, and now the coronavirus, the latest scourge that has sealed shut cinema houses around the world.
Beyond the cinematic glitz
B Magazine, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/05/2018
» In the past 10 days the seaside city of Cannes has been in the news with noisy fanfare and dazzling colour, led by pictures of bare-shouldered stars sauntering down the red carpet on a daily basis. It happens every year in May, as the world's largest cine-event, the Cannes Film Festival, attracts thousands of journalists, photographers and industry professionals to the Mediterranean resort town made out to become a self-contained universe of glamour. Throughout its 71st edition, which ended yesterday, Cannes once again commanded the attention of the world.
A design for life
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/03/2017
» At the International Furniture Fair Singapore taking place now until Sunday, a Thai designer is one of the 10 international talents featured under the Design Stars Showcase. Sarngsan Na Soontorn graduated from Chiang Mai University in 2003, went to École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris, and has since spent his career in Paris and Chiang Mai, working in several designers' studios where he combines the influences of both worlds into products.
Relive cinema history at Maya City
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/12/2016
» Dec 28 is the day cinema was born. On this day in 1895, the Lumiere Brothers for the first time showed their invention, the cinematograph, for paying customers at Salon Indien du Grand Cafe in Paris. The programme consisted of 10 short films; the first being Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory, a short clip showing female workers filing out of a building in Lyon.
The flamboyant Yonfan
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/05/2015
» Yonfan giggles and chirps as he remembers his first encounter with Thai cinema.
Radiohead redux
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/07/2013
» Every day Amnarj Sonimsart wakes up at 3am. "That's normal for an 80-year-old," he chuckles. The first thing he does is flick on the TV to catch BBC and CNN; then he checks the stock and oil prices, noting down important fluctuations for later use. At 4.20am _ he states the time with the casual precision of someone who's been following the same schedule without fail for a long time _ his driver takes him from his house in Pattanakarn to the radio station in Lumpini Park ("my daughter forbids me from driving"). At 5.10, Amnarj begins sipping a cup of Ovaltine while scouring the Thai-language newspapers laid out for him, lighting on items of interest and quickly digesting their contents. On the dot of 5.50am, he prepares for a task he's performed for 46 years straight: leaning slightly forward, he gets ready to switch on his mic and go on air.
Adding polish to Polish fashion
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/05/2013
» It may not be Paris, Milan or New York, but Fashionphilosophy: Fashion Week Poland bubbled with all the energy of a young design industry demanding deserved attention. Over five days, from April 17-21, nearly 50 shows from established as well as upcoming Polish brands _ with some guests from neighbouring Eastern European countries _ took the runway at two venues in the city of Lodz, 90 minutes from Warsaw.
Diary of a futsal spectator
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/11/2012
» Blow-by-blow account of Thailand's first match by a very recent convert to the sport