Showing 91-100 of 689 results
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Reading the clouds
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/11/2012
» As Cloud Atlas the movie hits Thai cinemas, Cloud Atlas the book has been brought back under the spotlight. David Mitchell's 2004 novel is a virtuoso work of six loosely intertwining episodes, spanning from the 18th century Pacific voyages to the futuristic megalopolis of Neo-Seoul.
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Transmigrations of text and souls
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/11/2012
» Dizzied by the film yet delighted by the book, I dig for clues. And sure, it's right there in the source text. In David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas, in a chapter about a composer in the frenzied midst of composing a sextet whose name becomes that of the book (and now the movie), the narrator explains his musical device that also reveals the novel's literary structure.
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White-collar rules
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/12/2012
» This much is clear: having a character complain about the sin of making money doesn't constitute a criticism of capitalism. It's doubly laughable when that character is, apparently, rich _ no, her parents are rich, maybe super rich. Evidence abounds in the sometimes funny, mostly shallow Thai film Yod Manut Ngoen Duen (Super Salary Man), released this week with a clear-eyed target of salaried earners who're awaiting the news of year-end bonus with a throbbing heart. In fact the film, disguised as a rebuke of the robotised mindset of white-collar existence, is a love ode to corporate mentality. Capitalism is bad, oh yeah, long live capitalism.
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Learning from Laos
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/12/2012
» I was in Luang Prabang last weekend _ for a film festival, of all things. A giant screen was put up in the main square near the Handicraft Market, and for five nights people _ mostly local, with a fair sprinkling of tourists _ turned up in the hundreds to watch movies under the black night. Luang Prabang, with its functional archaeology of ancient, glorious buildings, has no cinemas. That's even better, we could say, for the effort to boost the appetite for moving images and the idea of movies as a collective experience.
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When wizardry Dwarfs reality
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/12/2012
» So we're back in the Middle-earth, green and gnarly, volcanic, folkloric, heroic, mystically Germanic, mythically Norse, and obviously New Zealand. In short, a familiar neighbourhood from The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, last inhabited and winning 11 Oscars in 2003. Populated by murderous ogres, phosphorescent elves, salivating goblins and digitally ageless Cate Blanchett and Ian McKellen, the narrative is strictly another quest of a little hairy-footed being who'll have to prove his worth, conquer his fear, and slay the dragon (the latter will come in the second episode, or maybe the third, stick around). Gollum also returns _ no, in the Tolkien universe the creature has lived in that grotto long before LOTR _ only that he's now even more life-like, more hideous, more sad. Should I also add: more real?
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Reels to remember
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/12/2012
» The whirlwind season of awards, top-10 picks and year-end pontifications on the present state of cinema is upon us again. Below we've reprinted a few lists recently published by established film organisations/magazines.
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Real monkey business
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/12/2012
» This is a lovely little kiosk run by lovely little women, and sometimes frequented by lovely little people with an after-school sweet-toothed craving. ChimpChimp Crepes & Co, on the ground level of Le Chateau Mansion in Soi Ekamai 12 next to Ekamai International School, is an enchanting elfin cabin (it would've been perfect were it set by the woods, but alas...) serving warm crepes, silky gelato, crunchy waffles, homemade ice-cream and hot and cold drinks, smoothies and coffee, all in a snug open-air corner of sofas and benches.
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Highlight reel
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/12/2012
» Critics are not saboteurs, though sometimes we can be. I do not dream about movies _ there are more pleasant and sexier subjects _ and I enjoy Brave and The Avengers and The Expendables 2 and The Amazing Spider-man as much the average boy in your next seat. There are only movies I (or you) like and that I (or you) don't like, and if one day, I hope not soon, you put me in the ring at Lumpini Boxing Stadium, gloved, gagged, naked, oiled, and beat me up to pay for my ignorance, then let it be. But at least today in this traditional year-end pondering, please allow me to talk about movies that you mightn't have seen.
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Tales to bewitch, Enchant and bemuse
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/12/2012
» Ang Lee gives us a phosphorescent whale, blue-neon jellyfish, carnivorous seaweed and a sublime tiger as manifestations of fear, flesh, Vishnu, spirituality, the will to survive, etc. Visually, especially in the oceanic voyage of the boy Pi and his hungry Bengal tiger, this is a gorgeous film (in 3D) as Lee, adapting the Yann Martel book, pushes the tale beyond the realm of teen adventure into existential parable.
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New year sneak peek: movies
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 31/12/2012
» Seven films we look foward to in 2013.
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