Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening February 25-March 3, 2010

Who Are You?


The psychological condition of hikikomori is the major plot point in the thriller Who Are You? (ใคร ... ในห้อง, Krai … Nai Hong, also ฮู อาร์ ยู, Who R U?). For a Thai film, it has the rare distinction of being advertised for its screenwriter: Eakasit Thairatana, a comic-book author who previously penned the screenplays to 13 Game Sayong and Body #19. The director is Pakphum Wonjinda (VDO Clip, Scared) and it's based on a story that Prachya Pinkaew came up with.

Veteran actress Sinjai Plengpanich stars as a woman who runs a pornographic DVD stall. She's a mother whose son has withdrawn from social life and locked himself away in his room for the past five years. Is he still in the room? Who's in there, really?

Pongpit Preechaborisutkhun, Starbucks from last year's Saranair Haao Peng, also stars, along with Kanya Rattapetch.

Watch trailer at YouTube. I'm digging Sinjai's look, the color palette and the suspenseful feel. Rated 18+.

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The Hurt Locker


This has been the toast of the awards season, winning some 80 honors from film festivals and various awards bodies, recently picking up six prizes at the British Academy Film Awards. It's tied with Avatar for most Oscar nominations.

An action drama about a US Army bomb squad in Iraq, Jeremy Renner stars as an adrenaline-junkie. He's the new leader of a bomb squad, and the risks he takes put all their lives in jeopardy. He's up for best actor.

The Hurt Locker is also nominated for original screenplay, original score, editing, cinematography, sound mixing, sound editing and director for Kathryn Bigelow, who, coincidentally, was once married to Avatar director James Cameron.

Just watch the trailer and see if it doesn't make you want to see it. I know I do. Critical response is nearly universal in approval. At House, Paragon and SFW CentralWorld. Rated 18+.

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Also opening



Up in the Air -- The Oscars' best-actor hopeful George Clooney is an executive who is obsessed with racking up frequent-flier miles. And he's got a great job for that -- he's a corporate hatchet man, flying around telling workers they are fired. He's satisfied with his empty life of living out of a suitcase, but is soon confronted by an existential crisis. It has two supporting actress nominees, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and is up for adapted screenplay and director for Jason Reitman. Critical response is overwhelmingly positive. Rated 13+.


The Book of Eli -- Denzel Washington stars in this post-apocalyptic thriller. He's a lone drifter who carries a Bible in one hand and smacks down his enemies with the other. He arrives in a small settlement looking for water and comes into conflict with the town’s owner (Gary Oldman). Jennifer Beals and Mila Kunis also star. It's directed by the Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents). Critical response is mixed. Rated 18+.


Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel -- The shrill-voiced singing rodents are back for a second big-screen adventure. Alvin, Theodore and Simon are packed off to live with a cousin (Zachary Levi from Chuck). They join a battle of the bands in hopes of saving a high school's music program. Critical response is generally unfavorable. Perhaps let the kids go see this while you check out The Hurt Locker. Rated G.


Kongphan Kruekkruen Tor Tahan Kuekkuk (The Jolly Rangers) -- Four very different young men draw the red slip in the draft and are packed off to army training camp. Note Chern-yim directs this slapstick farce and teen-oriented romance. Rated 15+.

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Also showing


My Name Is Khan -- This is revenge for all the ham-fisted portrayals of foreign cultures by Hollywood. Director Karan Johar invades America with this sweeping, over-generalized tale of a Muslim Indian man suffering from Asperger Syndrome who is wrongfully accused of being a terrorist. Shah Rukh Khan emulates Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump as the socially awkward protagonist. He somehow captivates the heart of a beautiful San Francisco hairdresser (Kajol). They soon move to a small town, where after 9/11, hate crimes lead to tragedy. Khan is compelled to wander the U.S. in hopes of convincing the president that "my name is Khan and I am not a terrorist". At one point, the miracle-working handicapped man finds spiritual salvation in a community of church-going African-American minstrels who live in the squalor of wooden shacks like it's still the 1850s in the southern US. Their tiny village outside Atlanta looks suspiciously like it's set in the Himalayan foothills, complete with scrawy cows. BollywoodThai brings My Name Is Khan back for another screening at EGV Metropolis in the Big C Rajdarmi on Sunday at 4. Visit www.BollywoodThai.com or call (02) 225 7500 or (089) 488 2620.

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Sneak preview


A Serious Man –- The Coen Brothers latest effort is set in the 1960s and based on the their experience in growing in a Jewish suburb of Minneapolis. The comedy is about a physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is in the midst of a mid-life spiritual crisis. The Coens sure do know how the throw a curve ball. This is nothing like their previous Oscar winner No Country for Old Men. It's more akin to the existential screwball comedies like Barton Fink or maybe The Hudsucker Proxy. It's also nominated for original screenplay. Critical response is overwhelmingly positive. It's in sneak previews this week, with showtimes at around 8 nightly and then opens for more showtimes next Thursday at Apex in Siam Square and SF World Cinema. Rated 18+.

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Take note

Invictus was scheduled to open this week. There were posters for it. It was on the various schedules on the various websites and was in the final draft of this week's post here, but today's opening day, and ... where is it? Why does Thailand's major cinema chain frequently do that -- advertise a movie and then never show it?

Be careful out there in the coming days as the Thaksin verdict is read. Security will be tightened. Travel light. And watch your back.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening February 18-24, 2010

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus


Heath Ledger stars in his last role as the barker of a traveling theater troupe. He changes whenever he steps through a magical mirror.

When Ledger died in January 2008, production was stopped, but director Terry Gilliam was able to work cinematic magic to salvage this fantasy by having Ledger's "physically transformed versions" played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. The three actors, all friends of Ledger, donated their fees to Ledger's daughter.

The story involves the leader of the theater troupe, played Christopher Plummer, who has sold his daughter's soul to the devil. Model Lily Cole is daughter. Verne "Mini Me" Troyer is featured as Parnassus' confidant. And singer Tom Waits is Mr. Nick -- the Devil. Critical reception has been slightly favorable, with praise for the performances and visual spectacle expected of a Terry Gilliam film. At SFX The Emporium and SF Cinema City The Mall Bangkapi. Rated 13+.

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Also opening

True Legend -- Su Chan wasn't always the old alcoholic beggar you've seen in Jackie Chan's Drunken Master movies. Martial-arts choreographer Yuen Woo Ping, perhaps best known for his work in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix, seeks to set the record straight with this fact-based drama about the life of Beggar Su, who was once a wealthy man who dreamed of creating his own martial-arts discipline. But his ego caused his downfall and a tragic loss, and he turned to the bottle as he sank into poverty. Vincent Zhao portrays the master. Michelle Yeoh also stars with Jay Chou as "the God of Martial Arts". Notably, this is the last film David Carradine completed before his death last year in a Bangkok hotel room. Thailand-based 7-foot-tall Australian actor and stuntman Conan Stevens is also featured. Portions are in 3D in some cinemas. Thai-dubbed soundtrack only, with no subtitles. Rated 13+.


Little Big Soldier -- Jackie Chan stars in this historical comedy drama, set during China's Warring States period, playing a old farmer footsoldier who kidnaps the young general of a rival army (Wang Lee-Hom) in hopes of collecting a reward and earning his way out of the military so he can go back to farming. It's taken 20 years for Jackie to bring this project to the screen. Originally, he was supposed to play the young general. Thai-dubbed soundtrack only and no subtitles. Rated 15+.

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Also showing


My Name Is Khan -- Overcoming a politicized controversy involving Pakistan, cricket and protesting right-wingers that had nothing to do with the film, this sweeping drama opened last weekend worldwide, setting records in the U.S. and the U.K. and could be on track to top the record set by 3 Idiots. Superstar actor Shah Rukh Khan portrays a man suffering from Asperger Syndrome -- a mild form of autism in that causes those afflicted to appear socially awkward -- who's mistaken for a terrorist in post-9/11 America. He undertakes a long journey across America to prove his innocence to the love of his life (Kajol). It's directed Karan Johar. BollywoodThai brings it back for another weekend, and advises that reservations aren't a bad idea. And it's true -- the Bangkok Bollywood screenings are usually packed with families of eager Indian filmgoers. It's showing at SFW CentralWorld on Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4. Visit www.BollywoodThai.com or call (02) 225 7500 or (089) 488 2620.


Pinoy Classics -- Filipino indie director Lav Diaz is perhaps best known for his films that push the boundaries of cinema, with sprawling, all encompassing, free-length movies that run for seven, nine, even 11 hours. This weekend's Pinoy Classics series offers a chance to see his more-conventional length features. Lav Diaz: The Early Years The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion from 1998 and Hesus the Revolutionary from 2002.

Criminal (Serafin Geronimo, kriminal ng Baryo Concepcion), Diaz's debut, involves an investigative journalist (Angel Aquino) who listens to the story of Serafin (Raymond Bagatsing), who claims he's an infamous kidnapper in a scheme that went horribly wrong.

One of Diaz's commercial efforts for Regal Studios, Hesus Rebolusyonaryo is set in a dystopian, military-ruled Philippines of 2011, though as critic Noel Vera pointed out in a 2005 review, "the film is really a commentary on the Philippines in the year 2002. Manila's streets have not changed; if anything, they look seedier and more garbage-strewn ... Diaz in effect took his budget constraints--no money for sets, or crowd extras--and turned them
into a political point: that Manila in the future will be more of the same, only worse." The loner Hesus (Mark Anthony Fernandez) stirs up trouble.

Organized by Film Virus, the screenings start at 12.30 on Sunday at Thammasat University Phra Chan in the Pridi Banomyong Library’s Rewat Buddinan Room. You'll have to check any bags you have and present your ID to the information desk.

This series is dedicated to Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc, film experts who were killed last year September in a robbery at their home in the Philippines.

Next for Film Virus is Salty Video Day, on February 28, with the Thai indie features Color of the Streets (director's cut) and The Cruelty of Soysauce Man (extended version).

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Sneak previews


Up in the Air -- George Clooney stars in this comedy-drama, a nominee for six Academy Awards, including best actor for Clooney, best director for Jason Reitman and best picture. He plays an executive who makes a living firing people from their jobs. In this economy, it's a great job to have. Up in the Air is in sneak previews this weekend, with showtimes at around 8pm at various cinemas. It opens in a wide release next week, along with six other big films, so maybe get it out of the way this weekend if you have a chance. Rated 13+.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening February 11-17, 2010

Air Doll


In Air Doll (Kûki ningyô), a loner man’s life-size inflatable sex toy comes to life and secretly leaves the apartment to explore the outside world with childlike wonder. As she encounters various Tokyo residents, she discovers they are as empty inside as she is.

She eventually finds a boyfriend and works with him in a video store, and she learns more about life by watching movies.

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, the story is adapted from a manga. Itsuji Itao and South Korean actress Bae Du-na star with a special appearance by Jo Odagiri. It premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and outside of Japan it's mostly been showing on the festival circuit. Critical reception so far has been mixed. In Japanese with English and Thai subtitles at House and Apex.

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Also opening


The Wolfman -- Universal Pictures remakes one of its old classic monster movies, this one originally made in 1941. Still set in the 1880s, Benicio Del Toro steps into Lon Chaney's role as a nobleman who returns to his ancestral homeland in England, where he's bitten and cursed by a werewolf. Hugo Weaving is a Scotland Yard detective on the hunt. Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins also star. After a string of various directors being attached, Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III, Jumanji, The Rocketeer) takes the helm. Critical reception so far appears to be generally negative. Rated 18+.


Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief -- A teenage boy (Logan Lerman) discovers he's the demigod son of the Greek god Poseidon and embarks on a journey across modern-day America with his friends -- also demigods -- to save his mother, return Zeus' stolen lightning bolt, and prevent a war between the gods. It's based on the first book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians fantasy-novel series by Rick Riordan. It stars Catherine Keener as the mother, Kevin McKidd as Poseidon, Sean Bean as Zeus, Rosario Dawson as Persephone, Steve Coogan as Hades and Uma Thurman as Medusa. Ex-James Bond Pierce Brosnan plays a Centaur. Chris Columbus, who did the first two Harry Potter movies, directs. Early buzz is positive on this one, but like The Wolfman it is being released in the States this weekend so more reviews will be forthcoming. Rated G.


Confucius -- Chow Yun-fat portrays the influential Chinese philosopher in this historical epic. Released in China last month, the film has been controversial for a number of reasons. I mean, after all, who expects Confucius to pull out a pair of 9mm pistols and star wasting Triad thugs? But mainly the hassles over this film have to do with news reports that the nationalistic Confucius was forced into theaters that were still doing good business with the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. James Cameron's sci-fi action movie captured Chinese imaginations with its message of a plucky natives standing up to mechanized military to protect their homeland from rampant development and land grabs while the message of Confucius is one of respect for your elders. But after Confucius did lackluster business at the box office, officials allowed Avatar back in theaters. The producer of Confucius denied Avatar had been forced out to to begin with. It's at the Siam, Paragon and CentralWorld in Mandarin with English and Thai subtitles; elsewhere it's Thai dubbed. Rated 18+.


Valentine’s Day -- Garry Marshall directs this romantic comedy about couples in Los Angeles breaking up and making up. The star-studded cast includes Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Alba, Jessie Biel, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Ashton Kutcher. Critical reception is overwhelmingly negative. Rated 15+.


My Name Is Khan -- Superstar actor Shah Rukh Khan and the actress Kajol headline this sweeping drama by director Karan Johar. It's about a Muslim Indian-American couple who separate after tragic events. Khan portrays a man suffering from Asperger Syndrome -- a mild form of autism in that causes those afflicted to appear socially awkward. He's mistaken for a terrorist in post-9/11 America and undertakes a long journey across the US to prove his innocence to the love of his life. The movie has been hit with protests in India, not for anything about the movie, but because Khan voiced support for Pakistan being included in the Indian Premier League cricket championship. So Bangkok may be the safest place to see My Name Is Khan. It's showing at Major Cineplex Rama III on Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4 and 7.15 and at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) on Monday at 8. Visit www.BollywoodThai.com or call (02) 225 7500 or (089) 488 2620.

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Also showing


Pinoy Classics -- A jeepney driver who dreams of becoming an astronaut but ends up in Paris filling gumball machines is the story of Mababangong bangungot ( The Perfumed Nightmare), a 1977 film by Filipino director Kidlat Tahimik. Shot with the lo-fi aesthetics of an old home movie, it is Tahimik’s partially autobiographical story that juxtaposes Pinoy pride and critique of neocolonialism with a fascination for Western culture.

Screening on Sunday at 12.30, The Perfumed Nightmare is part of the Pinoy Classics series that has been going on this month at Thammasat University Phra Chan in the Pridi Banomyong Library’s Rewat Buddinan Room.

Kidlat portrays the driver of the jeepney – the ubiquitous and symbolic Filipino mode of transport that were initially created from surplus American Jeeps after World War II. He’s a space-travel buff, hailing himself as president of the Werner Von Braun club in his village. He’s also an avid listener of the Voice of America radio broadcasts, so when an American businessman offers him a chance to go to Paris, he leaps at the chance. There, he works on gumball vending machines business and quickly becomes disenchanted with the excesses of the Western world. Eventually, he turns down a chance to fly on the Concorde and he finds his own way back to the Philippines.

Perfumed Nightmare is followed by Turumba, Kidlat’s second feature from 1984. It’s about a rural family that starts a manufacturing operation to make toy dachshunds for the Munich Olympics.

Organized by Film Virus, the Pinoy Classics series wraps up on February 21 with two movies by another Filipino indie stalwart, Lav Diaz: The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion from 1998 and Hesus the Revolutionary from 2002.

This series is dedicated to Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc, film experts who were killed last year September in a robbery at their home in the Philippines.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: The 82nd Academy Awards Best Picture nominees

During movie-awards season, the Bangkok multiplexes are usually jockeying right about now to bring in the major nominees.

In past years, many of the best-picture nominees have not yet hit Thai cinemas, so local movie pundits could make no intelligent guesses on the Oscar prospects. But this year, the field for Best Picture is widened to 10 titles, and quite a few of them have played here.

Out of the 10, four are here or have played here already:

• Avatar -- It's here. Now. Go see it already. Check it out at the IMAX at Siam Paragon. It's an immersive experience. James Cameron has created an amazing world. And if anything, it shows Sigourney Weaver at her best. In addition to Best Picture and Best Director, it's nominated for original score, editing, cinematography, art direction, sound mixing, sound editing and visual effects. I would expect it to win Best Picture, since it is a producers' prize, and raising the dough to make this $500 million movie must have been a heck of a job. It'll probably also take the visual effects prize.
• District 9 – This surprising long-shot for the Best Picture was in Thai cinemas in September and is now out on DVD in the local shops. The story of alien refugees herded into a lawless shantytown ghetto in South Africa put a sci-fi twist on the issue of apartheid. Like Avatar, it showed that a movie is better when it has a man in a mecha suit running around blowings things up and being shot at. But for all the flash, big guns and cannibalistic Nigerian gangsters, there's a sweet humanistic element to it. I liked it. In addition to Best Picture, it's up for Best Adapted Screenplay for director Neill Blomkamp as well as editing and visual effects, which were stunning considering this movie cost a fraction of what the likes of Avatar or Transformers cost to make. Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) produced, which was probably a big surprise to him. He likely expected a director nom for The Lovely Bones.
• Inglourious Basterds – Best-director nominee Quentin Tarantino's World War II romp played here in August. I saw it at the Scala and was probably the best cinematic experience of the year for me. It's out on DVD in local shops, but I probably won't bother. The cinema is the only way to experience this movie. When you see the laughing lady on the burning big screen, you'll know what I mean. Okay, I might get the DVD when prices come down, just to watch and savor the performance by Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, who plays a menacing but urbane Nazi. He's a supporting-actor nominee, and should win. It's also nominated for original screenplay, editing, cinematography, sound mixing and sound editing.
• Up -- Pixar's latest animated feature played in Thai cinemas in June. I saw it in Disney's Real D 3D at SF World. It was a good experience. After a somber opening montage, in which an elderly widower's entire marriage is recapped, the grumpy old man (voiced note-perfect by Ed Asner) flies his house away to South America for an adventure with a Boy Scout stowaway in tow. It's out on DVD now, I think. It's also nominated for best animated film, of course, as well as best original screenplay, original script, original score and sound editing. It's the second animated feature to get a best picture nod. Beauty and the Beast was first. Up is also the first animated movie to be nominated in the category since the creation of the Best Animated Feature award.

Three more of the best-picture nominees are coming to Bangkok cinemas soon. They are:

• The Hurt Locker -– Opens February 25. This has been the toast of the awards season, winning some 80 honors from film festivals and various awards bodies. It's tied with Avatar for most Oscar nominations. A drama about an elite Army bomb squad in Iraq, Jeremy Renner stars as an adrenaline-risk junkie who's the squad's new leader. He's up for best actor. The Hurt Locker is also nominated for original screenplay, original score, editing, cinematography, sound mixing, sound editing and director for Kathryn Bigelow, who, coincidentally, was once married to James Cameron. Just watch the trailer and see if it doesn't make you want to see it.
• Up in the Air -- Also opening on February 25. Best-actor hopeful George Clooney is an executive who is obessed with racking up frequent flier miles. And he's got a great job for that -- he's a corporate hatchet man, travels around telling workers they are fired. It has two supporting actresses, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and is up for adapted screenplay and director for Jason Reitman.
• A Serious Man –- The Coen Brothers latest effort will open on March 4 in a limited run at Apex in Siam Square and SF World Cinema. Set in the 1960s and based on the Coens' experience in growing in a Jewish suburb of Minneapolis, the comedy is about a physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is in the midst of a mid-life spiritual crisis. The Coens sure do know how the throw a curve ball. This is nothing like their previous Oscar winner No Country for Old Men. It's more akin to the existential screwball comedies like Barton Fink or maybe The Hudsucker Proxy. It's also nominated for original screenplays.

That leaves three of the best-picture nominees that aren't yet schedule for release in Thai cinemas:

• The Blind Side –- This drama is about a Memphis socialite, played best-actress nominess Sandra Bullock, who adopts a homeless young black man an nurtures him. He eventually becomes a gridiron football star. It's a fact-based tale, about Michael Oher, who's an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens.
• An Education –- This British coming-of-age tale stars best-actress nominee Carey Mulligan who plays a teenager who is courted by an older man (Peter Sarsgaard). It's also nominated for adapted screenplay.
• Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire – Here's another toast of the awards season that, sorry to say, will likely be ignored by Thai movie distributors who don't feel an American urban drama will resonate with audiences here. Though, to be fair, it's only had a limited release Stateside as well. Best actress nominee Gabourey Sidibe stars as an obese, illiterate, mentally troubled black 16-year-old Harlem girl who's been impregnated twice by her father. She suffers further abuse from her mother, played by comedian Mo'Nique, who's nominated for best supporting actress and has already won a Golden Globe for that. It's also up for adapted screenplay, editing and director for Lee Daniels. Mariah Carey also stars.

Other 82nd Academy Awards nominees that have graced Bangkok include Julie and Julia, featuring Meryl Streep playing Julia Child. It might still be hanging around in cinemas. Clint Eastwood's South African rugby drama Invictus, featuring nominated turns by Morgan Freeman (as Nelson Mandela) and Matt Damon, opens on February 25.

Two of the foreign-language nominees, The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke from Austria and Un Prophète by Jacques Audiard from France played at last year's Bangkok International Film Festival, as did Burma VJ, the best documentary feature nominee, which was partially shot in Chiang Mai.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening February 4-9, 2010

My Valentine


Just in time to get people thinking about Valentine's Day, My Valentine (แล้วรัก ...ก็หมุนรอบตัวเรา, Laew Rak Kor Mun Rob Tua Rao) opens this week in Thai cinemas.

Produced by Five Star, it's by the same trio of directors who collaborated on last year's Before Valentine -- Songsak Mongkolthong (The Screen at Kamchanod), Pornchai "Mr. Pink" Hongrattanaporn (Bangkok Loco) and Seree Phongnithi (Ghost-in-Law, Art of the Devil).

It stars Mintita "Mint AF3" Wattanakul who's in a quandary about deciding which of three guys is perfect for her -- a fortysomething rich guy Mic (Wasu Sangsingkaew), a fun-loving bad boy (Krit Sriphoomset) or a childhood friend (Suwikrom Amaranan).

Though the story is not at all related to Before Valentine, My Valentine looks to have much of the same style and production design, with Mr. Pink's inventively funny visual tricks very much in evidence. Rated 15+.

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Also opening


From Paris With Love -- John Travolta shaved his head and added a goatee for the role of a wisecracking, fast-shooting, unhinged CIA agent. Despite being a good guy this time, he appears to be playing much the same role as he did in last year's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. He partners with John Rhys Meyers, who's playing a low-level rookie intelligence operative in the US Embassy in Paris. The two are trying to stop a terrorist attack. Pierre Morel directs. He's the guy who did Taken, the taut action-thriller that starred Liam Neeson. From Paris With Love has more comedy and quips, which is to be expected from a Travolta vehicle. Luc Besson, the French producer of the Transporter series (among many, many other movies), co-scripted this. Watch a preview at YouTube. Or just groan at the tagline: "Two agents. One city. No merci." Critical reception so far is overwhelmingly negative, but the movie doesn't come out in the States until Friday, so the poor opinions might eventually be lessened somewhat. But I doubt it. Rated 18+.


How to Be -- Robert Pattinson tries to stretch a bit and break out of his Twilight heartthrob mode in this indie British comedy. He plays a failing young singer-songwriter in the midst of a "quarterlife crisis". He's been dumped by his girlfriend and has lost his job. Neither his friends nor his parents really care about his problems. So, having inherited a bit of money from an uncle, he writes a check for 5,000 pounds and invites a dowdy old self-help author to accompany him in his day-to-day routine and help him figure out how to get his life back on track. Check the trailer at YouTube. It's at House on RCA and SF World CentralWorld. Rated 15+.

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Also showing


Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival -- The final two films in Chula's DVD screening series will be shown this week. On Friday, it's Revanche from Austria, a gritty crime thriller in which an assistant at a brothel and the prostitute he loves are violently brought into contact with a rural policeman. Mid-August Lunch from Italy finished up the series on Monday. It's a comedy about a man who's caring for his mother and three other elderly ladies. The show time is 5pm in the Boromrajakumari Building, Room 503 (seating capacity: 320). Free parking next to Chulalongkorn University Auditorium, off Henri Dunant Road. All films are with English subtitles, and there's a panel discussion by Thai film critics afterward. Admission is free. For more info, see the festival website.