Showing 1 - 10 of 17
Cinema Politico
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/12/2018
» The premiere of the social-commentary film Ten Years Thailand on Tuesday night saw a number of political celebrities in the vaulted foyer of the Scala, brushing elbows with journalists, film professionals and gawking onlookers. Sulak Sivaraksa was there, as well as historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, Thongthong Chandrangsu and several political-science scholars. Big names from political parties showed up: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from Future Forward, Parit Ratanakulserirengrit from the Democrats, Chatchat Sitthiphun and Wattana Muangsuk from Pheu Thai, Sombat Boon-ngamanong from Krian Party. Invitations had been sent out to all parties, according to the film producers, but no one from Palang Pracharat and Bhumjaithai attended the screening.
All eyes on Asia
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/10/2018
» Asia's premier cine-event took off last night. The 23rd Busan International Film Festival once again draws all attention to the South Korean port city as it hosts the annual showcase of films, especially Asian films. One part to promote the South Korean film industry -- a formidable machine of creativity and commerce -- and one part to reign as a centre of filmmaking activity in this part of the world, Busan has gone through some bumps, political and managerial, but remains steadfast in being in the biggest in Asia.
For your viewing pleasure
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/12/2017
» In a thoroughbred year for film, here are our must-see picks from 2017.
Hunting the Antichrists a sign of fear
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 05/11/2016
» As the mourning period continues, the hunt for Antichrists has also intensified. Are they the two consequences of the same cathartic loss of Oct 13? Yes, definitely. In light there's also darkness, in grief there's also hatred, and in this strange period of limbo the grip is being tightened.
Pokemon goes on run from state capture
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/08/2016
» No, they will not ban Pokemon Go, though it's not hard to tell how tempting that idea must be in the post-referendum landscape where peace, order and national security have been constitutionally enshrined.
Bond's countdown clock still ticks
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/11/2015
» The first shot in Spectre begins above a carnivalesque party during Mexico's Day of the Dead; the camera then comes down to the ground, weaves among the masked revellers dressed as skeletons, glides into a hotel door, up the elevator, out of the elevator, slips into a bedroom where Her Majesty's secret agent kisses a woman, then follows him out of the window -- "I won't be long", he tells her -- then it goes up again to see Bond sneak across the roofs to a spot where he performs his first assassination in this 24th James Bond movie.
Web warriors unite for an F5 rebellion
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/10/2015
» This past week ultra-royalists converged at the US Embassy while ultra-malcontents converged on the F5 button. How the world has changed, and how sad that some people are still stuck in a medieval fortress, trying to fend off invaders with hot oil and poisoned arrows?
Snowden under siege
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/03/2015
» The Oscar-winning Citizenfour has opened in Bangkok. An opportune cinema experience here in our land of 99.9% democracy where the contentious Cyber Security Bills are being revised, the so-called Edward Snowden documentary seethes with unsettling power. Its civic outrage is strong, but the cool-headed storytelling gives it gravity. The immediacy of the issue at its heart is also the debate of the early 21st century. And if the film lets us know from the start that it's taking the side of the whistle-blower, all the better.
‘Citizenfour’ rings eerily close to home
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/02/2015
» Come Oscar night tomorrow, Edward Snowden, still holed up in Moscow, won’t be joining the glitterati in Los Angeles though the film in which he is appears likely to snatch a golden doll. Unless there’s a major upset, Citizenfour should win Best Documentary, and the spectre of massive national surveillance, indiscriminate spying and the thorny scuffle to find balance between national security and the sanctity of human rights will, hopefully, steal some of the vacuous limelight that characterises the Oscars.
Claws of cyber bill have your name on them
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/01/2015
» The men are itching to pry, to take a peek into your Line chats, your Facebook inboxes, your email history, the bread crumbs of your digital life. Naturally, you cover your screen and say no. Naturally, in the age of Snowden-Manning-Assange, we're conscious of the fact that the sphere of online privacy is not fair game, or at worst it shouldn't be.