Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Evocative hymn to Thai rice
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/01/2015
» This is the film you simply have to see this weekend. Uruphong Raksasad's Pleng Khong Kao (The Songs Of Rice) is a lyrical poetry of image and sound, as beautiful as 19th-century pastoral paintings and as evocative as murmured hymns. In a compact 75 minutes, we see muddied beasts stomping the paddies and whirring tractors aglow with nocturnal eyes; we hear the chanting for the Rice Goddess and rhythmic windpipe numbers for the harvest dance. We even marvel, unlikely as it seems, at a zonk-out sci-fi rendition of a northeastern rocket festival, ablaze with fire and sparks and songs and joy.
That's entertainment!
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/12/2014
» The year in Thai movies, music and theatre
All we can do is learn from Gaza's grief
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/07/2014
» ‘This twilight war involved two entire communities, two peoples, two tribes, two nations, fighting each other without a frontline, neither one really made any distinction between civilians and soldiers… Relations between Israelis and Palestinians became so thoroughly politicised that after a while, there was no such thing as a crime between them, and there was no such thing as an accident between them — there were only acts of war.”
Reaping what they Sow
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/01/2014
» Rice is what has raised Thailand, but our staple crop hasn't raised many smiles in the Land of Smiles lately. When Uruphong Raksasad set out to make Pleng Khong Khao (The Songs Of Rice) two years ago, he didn't imagine that his documentary would acquire a timely resonance now that the epic mess of the government's rice-pledging scheme has become an escalating imbroglio and national embarrassment. Rice, the filmmaker believes, is the soul of the country, but the song it sings has unfortunately turned into a sad one.
Cream of the cinematic crop
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/11/2013
» Here we go again. The 11th World Film Festival of Bangkok kicks off tonight with The Rocket, and over the next 10 days more than 50 films will be made available for your perusal at SF World Cinema at Central World.
Ready to launch
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/11/2013
» Officially and conceptually, this is an Australian film. Linguistically and thematically, it is a Lao one, while practically and physically, it is very much Thai. Never mind nationality, a good film is a good film. And in a dream that seems wild but certainly not the wildest, The Rocket is perhaps good enough (it has to be lucky enough too) to make it to the shortlist for the best foreign language Oscar, which means the Lao and Thai actors, along with the Australian filmmakers, will get to saunter down the famous red carpet in Los Angeles next February to present this lovely film.
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.