Thursday, September 30, 2010

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 30-October 6, 2010

Phuket/Boy Genius/The Sigh


Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project has a change of program and a change of venue this week.

A collection of three shorts by Wonderful Town director Aditya Assarat, Phuket, Boy Genius and The Sigh, closes the current leg of the screening series, which moves to the just-reopened SF World Cinema at CentralWorld.

Initiated at SFW CentralWorld in 2008, the Director's Screen Project was relaunched this past August, with Anocha Suwichakornpong's Mundane History and Uruphong Raksasad's Agrarian Utopia each having one-month theatrical runs at SFX the Emporium.

Now the Director's Screen moves back to CentralWorld. The shopping center has been closed since the April and May "red-shirt" anti-government protests at the Rajprasong intersection. The protests ended on May 19 with a flurry of arson attacks in retaliation for the government's use of military force to stop the protests. Part of CentralWorld was destroyed by fire, and it's taken months to get the mall ready for its reopening.

Commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and tourism concerns, Phuket stars South Korean actress Lim Su-jeong as a famous Korean actress named Jin who is trying to take a vacation in Phuket, but is harried by phone calls and fans. She finds solace in a friendship with her hotel limo driver, played National Artist actor Sorapong Chatree, who shows her the traditional side of the resort island's culture.

Phuket premiered at last year's Pusan International Film Festival and was in competition at the Clermont-Ferrand festival earlier this year. It was the opening film of last month's 14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival, and is also playing in this week's Vancouver International Film Festival.

It's playing with two other shorts by Aditya, Boy Genius and The Sigh. From 2004, Boy Genius is about a young filmmaker trying to make a movie but his girlfriend keeps getting in the way. It's the first part of a trilogy that's followed by 2005's The Sigh, in which a soundman making a recording in an abandoned building discovers a mysterious woman’s sigh on the tape. He then tries to find the woman.

Meanwhile, more Aditya is on the way, with his new feature Hi-So premiering at the Pusan International Film Festival alongside Eternity (ที่รัก, Tee Rak), a New Currents-competition drama from young director Sivaroj Kongsakul and produced by Aditya's Pop Pictures.



Saturday Killer (Meu Peun Sao Pra Sao


Back in June, director Yuthlert Sippapak premiered a rough cut of his Friday Killer (Meu Puen Dao Pra Sook, มือปืน ดาวพระศุกร์) as the closing film of the Phuket Film Festival.

The hitman thriller featuring a solidly dramatic performance by comedian Thep Po-ngam with actresses Ploy Jindachote and Apinya Sakuljaroensuk was intended as the first in a trilogy of hitman tales, the Meu Puen 3 Pak (มือปืนตรัยภาค). The series marks a return to the hitman genre by Yuthlert, who made his debut with 1999's Killer Tattoo.

Friday Killer even won the Phuket festival's top prize, the International Break-Out Award, with the prediction that the prolific genre-hopping director will have "great success with his trilogy of hitman films but will go on to break-out of directing domestic Thai films and pick-up a wider regional and international audience."

But Yuthlert's producers at Phranakorn Film balked at the serious tone of Friday Killer and went for the second entry, Saturday Killer as the first release, and it's Saturday Killer (Meu Puen Dao Pra Sao มือปืน /ดาว /พระ /เสาร์, literally "Saturn killer") that's in Thai cinemas on Thursday.

All the Killer films team up well-known comedians with hot actresses.

Starring Choosak "Nong Cha Cha Cha" Iamsuk and Bangkok Traffic Love Story leading lady Cris Horwang, Saturday Killer is a rifle-toting romantic comedy. Nong portrays a gunman named Tee Rifle, who takes hitman jobs in order to earn cash to cure his impotence. He falls the high-flying gunwoman Chris Styler. She's going to break his heart and perhaps do more damage.

Both have worked with Yuthlert before, with Nong playing the dramatic lead in what's probably my favorite Yuthlert film, Pattaya Maniac (Sai Lor Fah), and Cris had a supporting role in the "Nose" Udom Taepanich comedy E-Tim Tay Nai.

Like Friday Killer, Saturday Killer also looks to comment on Thai politics, which is a sensitive topic. But there's also plenty of cheeky humor, mainly at Nong's character's expense.

Characters from the forthcoming second entry in the Killer trilogy, Sunday Killer, also appear, with Kohtee Aramboy and "May" Pichanart Sakakorn getting in on the shoot-'em-up action.

There's a trailer at YouTube as well as a music video.

There's still hope that Friday Killer will be released sometime next year. Rated 18+.



Also opening


Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame – Tsui Hark directs this lavish fantasy supernatural thriller that mixes historical Chinese martial arts with Sherlock Holmes-type sleuthing. Andy Lau is the titular detective – a real-life Tang Dynasty official. He's been imprisoned for eight years for opposing the soon-to-be-empress Wu (Carina Lau). But she lets him out so he can investigate the deaths of two high-ranking officials who mysteriously burst into flame. Based on an actual official who lived during the Tang Dynasty, Detective Dee or Judge Dee and is a popular character in Chinese literature. Detective Dee premiered at the Venice film festival, where Hark presented fellow Hong Kong industry titan John Woo with a lifetime achievement award. It's since opened in China, where it's expected to be a box-office smash. The movie is being hailed as a return to form by Tsui Hark, with positive reviews from Todd Brown of Twitch and from long-time fan Grady Hendrix. Oh, by the way, look closely at the Thai poster, which is garble of fake text that has Tsui Hark's name stated as Bzxchgk Svdof. It's in Mandarin with English and Thai subtitles at the Scala, elsewhere it's Thai dubbed. Rated G.


Devil – M Night Shyamalan produces this claustrophobic thriller about five people trapped in an elevator. One of them is not who they appear to be. Directed by John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine), it's the first in a series of horror thrillers produced by Shyamalan called The Night Chronicles. Rated 13+.


The Switch – Jennifer Aniston is an unmarried 40-year-old woman who turns to a turkey baster to become pregnant. Her goofball best friend, played by Jason Bateman, skews the results by secretly replacing her preferred sperm sample with a donation of his own. Seven years later, the results of his meddling become clear. At Paragon Cineplex and Major Cineplex Ratchayothin. Rated 13+.



Also showing


FCCT-NETPAC Asian Film Festival – Corporate bumbling, reality television and Malaysia’s multi-cultural society collide in $ELL OU7!, a musical satire that closes the FCCT-Netpac Asian Film Festival tonight (Thursday, September 30). “My film speaks English, Malay and Cantonese, because that’s what is crazy and fascinating about Malaysia,” says director Yeo Joon Han, a former lawyer who turned from court cases to the camera and has won awards for his movies. He’ll be present for tonight's screening at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, along with Indian film critic Aruna Vasudev, the founder and president of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema. The song-filled comedy has struggling television presenter Rafflesia Pong (Jerrica Lai) stumbling on an idea for a reality-TV show that records people’s dying words. Meanwhile, Eric Tan (Peter Davis), an idealistic young English-Malaysian inventor at the Fony Corporation, has developed an amazing eight-in-one bean-curd machine that is turned down by the bosses because it has too many useful functions and is too durable. The movie won the Netpac Award at the 2008 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival “for the consummate artistry with which the director satirises business and media glitz, and his successful attempt at the presentation of the Malaysian context to an international audience, thus generating much optimism for a wider acceptance of Malaysian indie films”. It also won the Alternative Vision Award at the Venice International Film Festival and has screened at more than 20 festivals worldwide, including the 2008 World Film Festival of Bangkok. The show time is at 8pm. The screening is courtesy of Amok Films and NETPAC. Archa Cafe & Wine Bar (formerly Kopitiam) will serve Malaysian food. Admission is Bt150 for non-members and dinner is Bt100. Call (02) 652 0580-1 or visit www.FCCThai.com.


Remembering Mitr Chaibancha: 40 Years Later – This is the year of The Red Eagle. Wisit Sasanatieng's new version of the Thai action franchise of the 1950s and '60s will be released in Thai cinemas next Thursday, October 7. That's one day before the 40th anniversary of the death of the original Insee Daeng, superstar actor Mitr Chaibancha, who died on October 8, 1970, in an accident while filming Golden Eagle (Insee Tong, อินทรีทอง). Each year around this time, the Thai Film Archive remembers Mitr with film screenings and other activities at the Sri Salaya Theater and Thai Film Museum in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, and this year is a bit more special because of the 40th anniversary and because of the new Red Eagle. The activities start on Friday, October 1, with a screening of Golden Eagle, which closes with Mitr's fatal helicopter stunt, filmed near Jomtien Beach, Pattaya. Other Mitr movies screening are 1967's Jet Phra Karn (7 พระกาฬ), directed by Charlie Intaravichet and also starring Adul Dulyarat and Ruj Ronapop; Atsawin Daap Gaaiyasit (อัศวินดาบกายสิทธิ์), a 1970 martial-arts fantasy that was a Hong Kong co-production; 1966's Diamond Cuts Diamond (Pet Dtat Pet, เพชรตัดเพชร); 1970's Jom Joh Rom Hay (จ้าวอินทรี); and 1968's Jao Insee (จ้าวอินทรี ). On October 8, the archive will screen last year's award-winning romance October Sonata (Ruk Tee Ror Koi, รักที่รอคอย) a period drama that has lovers fatefully meeting in Pattaya on October 8, 1970 – at the funeral of Mitr Chaibancha. And on Saturday, October 9, there will be a talk and exhibition about Mitr at the Sri Salaya Theatre. The rest of October, the Film Archive's screenings and activities consist of other recent Thai films that are set during the politically turbulent Octobers of the 1970s. These include October Sonata, Blue Sky of Love (Fah Sai Huajai Chuenbaab, ฟ้าใสใจชื่นบาน), Haunted Universities (Maha'lai Sayong Kwan, มหา’ลัย สยองขวัญ), Meat Grinder (Cheuat Gon Chim, เชือด ก่อน ชิม) and Bhandit Rittikol's The Moonhunter (14 tula, songkram prachachon, 14 ตุลา สงครามประชาชน, literally "14 October: war of the people"), as well as other social-message movies, such as MC Chatrichalerm Yukol's Hotel Angel, Sunset at Chao Phraya 2 and the banned 1977 docu-drama Tongpan (ทองปาน). Showtimes are at 5.30 on weekdays (except Wednesdays) and 1pm on Saturday and Sunday. Please see the Film Archive website for the schedule. English subtitles aren't typically available, but if it matters to you, call ahead before visiting to verify.


Dabangg – Salman Khan stars in this over-the-top, action-packed story of a police officer in Uttar Pradesh who clashes with his crooked half brother. Fresh-faced Sonakshi Sinha makes her debut as the leading lady. The plot attempts to address corruption, but kind of gets lost amid the numerous song-and-dance numbers and jokes. One scene has the cop distracted from beating up bad guys when he hears a crook's ringtone and starts dancing. And during a song-and-dance number, a key falls out of the police chief's pocket, enabling his thief brother to break into the office safe and steal stacks of cash. Check the Nutshell Review. It's showing at Major Cinplex Sukhumvit (Ekkamai) on Saturday at 8 and and at Major Cineplex Rama III on Sunday at 4. Call 089 488 2620 or visit www.BollywoodThai.com.


Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans – The film series continues on Sunday with two old Greek films. First up is 1957;s A Matter of Dignity, directed by Mihalis Kakogiannis. It's about the love triangle that develops around a bankrupt Greek socialite who is courted by a wealthy Greek-American and a masculine local man. Her parents favor the wealthy man, but don't want their troubled finances to be disclosed to him as "a matter of dignity". From 1978, The Idlers of the Fertile Valley is directed by Nikos Panayotopoulos. It examines the decadence that befalls a family of middle-aged widower and his three grown sons who inherit a country house and settle into a routine of huge wine-filled lunches, afternoon naps, teatime in the garden, more naps, dinners and sex with the housekeeper Sofia. Note that last Sunday there was a change in the program, with Don't Mess With Us, short films from Film Virus and Friends being shown instead of the two Bulgarian films, The Peach Thief and The Goat Horn. The Bulgarian films will instead be shown on October 10. The movies, with English subtitles, are at Thammasat University Tha Prachan, in the Pridi Banomyong Library's Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor. The shows start at 12.30. The movies are on DVD. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff you're watching the movies and let them copy your ID. Call (02) 613 3529 or (02) 613 3530.


Lola – Hailed as one of the defining films of the French New Wave, Jacques Demy's 1961 debut is set in the port city of Nantes (Demy's hometown). It's the story is of a golden-hearted cabaret dancer (Anouk Aimée) and the people who cross her path. Among the men are Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), a slacker who's letting life pass him by until he see Lola, realizes he knew her when he was a teenager and falls in love. Lola, meanwhile, is preoccupied with a former lover who abandoned her and left her with a son seven years before. Also vying for Lola's heart is an American sailor (Alan Scott). There's also a teenage girl whose life mirrors that of Lola's. It's showing on Wednesday, October 6, at 7:30pm at the Alliance Française, with English subtitles. Admission is free.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 23-29, 2010

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps


Oliver Stone mines the rich veins of the 2008 financial crisis with this sequel to his 1987 cult hit that introduced the character Gordon Gekko and his motto "greed is good" to pop culture.

Michael Douglas, now fighting cancer, reprises his Oscar-winning role as Gekko in this story that takes place 23 years after the original film. Gekko, out of prison after serving time for fraud, is looking to get his life back together. He's hoping to connect with his estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan), who is engaged to a young Wall Street trader, played by Shia La Beouf. Gekko takes the young man under his wing in a revenge-filled plot.

Frank Langella and Josh Brolin also star.

Critical reception is generally positive. Rated 15+.



The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec


French movie mogul Luc Besson returns to the director's chair after a long spell away from live-action filmmaking with Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec, a fantasy-adventure tale based on the Franco-Belgian comics by Jacques Tardi.

Louise Bourgoin stars as Adèle Blanc-Sec, an intrepid globe-trotting writer in the years just before World War I.

The story involves a 136-million-year-old pterodactyl egg in a museum that hatches and the resulting baby flying dinosaur wreaks havoc on Paris. It's up to Adèle to investigate and stop it.

This film is just now making it's way into the world, so critical reception is difficult to gauge, but from the looks of things, it appears Besson is making a return to form along the fantastic lines of The Fifth Element. Rated 13+.



Also opening


The Snow White – Gross-out horror, comedy and even a bit of nudity combine for Golden A Entertainment's The Snow White (ตายทั้งกลม , Tai Tang Klom), in which two students undertake the secret dissection of a pregnant woman's corpse to get the dead infant for black-magic spells. But instead of gaining any powers, the students hunted by the vengeful ghost of the dead woman. Their only hope is a kind-hearted nurse who tries to stop the ghost. She is played by "Nannie" Pattaranan Deeratsamee (ภัทรนันท์ ดีรัศมี) from the pop group Girly Berry, making her movie debut. Sarawut Intaraprom (สราวุธ อินทรพรหม), who previously did the indie romantic comedy Boring Love, directs. Rated 18+.


Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen – Donnie Yen reprises his role from the 1990s Hong Kong TV series Fist of Fury for this story set in Japanese-occupied 1930s Shanghai. It's a role originally played by Bruce Lee in 1972's Fist of Fury. Here, Donnie dons a mask much like Bruce Lee's Kato in The Green Hornet to fight a local triad that is joining up with the Japanese. Andrew Lau directs with Shu Qi
and Anthony Wong also starring. Rated 13+.


Dabangg – Salman Khan stars in this over-the-top, action-packed story of a corrupt police officer in Uttar Pradesh. Sonakshi Sinha is the leading lady, marking her debut role. Check the Nutshell Review. It's showing at Major Cineplex Rama III on Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4 and at Major Cinplex Sukhumvit (Ekkamai) on Sunday and Monday at 7.30. Call 089 488 2620 or visit www.BollywoodThai.com.



Also showing


Unreal Forest – Video artist and filmmaker Jakrawal Nilthamrong's experimental documentary was made as part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Forget Africa project, which took Asian filmmakers to Africa. Shot in Zambia, Jakrawal auditioned three directors to make a movie. The first part shows this process, and then the Zambian directors talking over how they want to make their movie and then finally the story of a tribal shaman treating a terminally ill boy, against the stunning backdrop of Victoria Falls and lively Zambian street music. Unreal Forest previously played in at the Singapore International Film Festival and Milan. It's now screening as a video installation at the Numthong Gallery on the fourth floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Showtimes for the 67-minute movie are every 90 minutes from shortly after 9am daily excepts Mondays until September 29 at the BACC.


Agrarian Utopia (สวรรค์บ้านนา, Sawan Baan Na) – Uruphong Raksasad directs this beautiful, highly acclaimed experimental documentary on the hardships of rice farming. The director hired two families to tend a plot of land in his native rural Chiang Rai Province, setting the stage for real-life hardships with no script. The film pulls no punches as it depicts the challenges the families face as they try to plant their crop with a stubborn buffalo, and work in all kinds of weather, from blistering heat, shivering chills and intense downpours, all captured on high-definition video camera, to brilliant, jaw-dropping effect. Part of Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project, Agrarian Utopia is playing at SFX the Emporium until September 29 at around 7 nightly with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2. Rated 15+


FCCT-NETPAC Asian Film Festival – The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand's series of films awarded by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema continues tonight with Bakal Boys (Children Metal Divers) from the Philippines. Winner of the NETPAC Award at last year's Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, director Ralston Jover's docudrama is the heart-tugging story of children who scavenge for scraps in the murky waters of Manila Bay, often risking their lives in the process. The screening is courtesy of Queen Bessie LLC, Apogee Films and Netpac and supported by
the Embassy of the Philippines, which will serve Filipino food. The show is at 8pm on Thursday, September 23. Admission is 150 baht for non-members. The FCCT-Netpac film series closes next Thursday with $ell Ou7!, which will have director Yeo Joon Han and Netpac president Aruna Vasudev in attendance.


Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans – The film series heads to Bulgaria on Sunday with classics from the 1960s and early '70s. First up is The Peach Thief from 1964. Directed by Vulo Radev, the drama has the wife of a Bulgarian Army officer falling in love with a Serbian prisoner at the end of World war II. Next is The Goat Horn from 1972. Directed by Metodi Andonov, it's violent revenge tale about a goat herder whose wife is raped and killed. He then takes his daughter into the hills and raises her to avenge her mother's death. The movies, with English subtitles, are at Thammasat University Tha Prachan, in the Pridi Banomyong Library's Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor. The shows start at 12.30. The movies are on DVD. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff you're watching the movies and let them copy your ID. Call (02) 613 3529 or (02) 613 3530 or visit the DK Filmhouse blog for the complete lineup.


L'esquive (Games of Love and Chance) – The rough-and-tumble banlieue high-rise ghettos of Paris serve as the backdrop for this story of romance between an awkward African immigrant teenage boy and an outgoing Parisian girl. Abdellatif Kechiche directs this movie from 2003. It's showing on Wednesday, September 23 at 7:30pm at the Alliance Française, with English subtitles. Admission is free.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 16-22, 2010

Eternity (Chuafah Din Salai)


Ananda Everingham is back. Out of action for several months last year after a motorcycle accident, the Thai film industry's top leading man has been busy putting three projects in the pipeline that will all premiere in the coming weeks.

The first is this week: Chuafah Din Salai (ชั่วฟ้าดินสลาย), a lavish historical romantic drama. He plays the young nephew of a Burmese timber baron. On a visit to his uncle's camp, he meets and falls in love with his uncle's pretty young wife, played by Ploy Cherman.

It's a classic story, adapted from a 1943 novella by Malai Choopini and first made into a movie in in 1955 by "Khru Marut" Tawee na Bangchang, which had cinematography by Ratana Pestonji. The earlier film is generally referred to as Forever Yours, but this new one has the international English title of Eternity.

It is best remembered for the iconic image of the adulterous lovers chained together for eternity as punishment by the cuckholded uncle. He's played by Teerapong Liewrakwong.

The director is ML Bhandevanob Devakul, an industry veteran who's affectionately called "Mom Noi". He's known for his lavish, literary-based romantic dramas, mostly in the 1980s and '90s. His movies launched the careers of such prominent stars as Sinjai Plengpanich and Mae Charoenpura, and even Ananda, who made his breakthough in Mom Noi's 1997 drama Anda Kab Fahsai. Eternity is Mom Noi's first film in 13 years.

Much of the buzz about Eternity has to do with scenes of Ananda and Ploy cavorting naked, like a Northern Thailand jungle version of Adam and Eve.

Ploy put an end to speculation over whether she had a stand-in for her nude scenes, which is common for Thai actresses. A recent example was "Tak" Bongkote Kongmalai, who swears she was never nude in Superstar.

But Ploy is denying she used a body double in Eternity. That's all her we'll be seeing. Dirtii Laundry has more details about that.

You can catch a glimpse of her and Ananda in the English-subtitled trailer.

Meanwhile, Ananda will be putting on a red mask and getting into action in Red Eagle (Insee Daeng), the relaunch of an action franchise from the 1950s and '60s that starred the legendary leading man Mitr Chaibancha. Wisit Sasanatieng (Fah Talai Jone, Mah Nakhon) directs this highly anticipated, wildly hyped movie, which opens on October 7.

Ananada's also in Wonderful Town director Aditya Assarat's sophomore feature, Hi-So, which will premiere at the Pusan film fest. Rated 15+.



Also opening


Oceans – French directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud explore the undersea world, filming over four years in more 50 locations and 70 expeditions, from the turquoise waters of the Tropics to the ice fields of the Arctic and Antarctic, plunging under the waves in search of little-known or unknown marine creatures. Critical reception is generally positive, with plenty of praise for the stunning images. This the original French version of the film, not the shorter Disney release. At the Scala.


Future-X Cops – Wong Jing directs this remake of a 1993 Hong Kong actioner Future Cops. It's part Robocop, part Terminator, with Andy Lau as a cop from 2080 who goes back in time to protect a solar-energy scientist whom the oil companies want dead. Fan Bingbing and Barbie Hsu also star. Reviews are mostly negative. Read the ones at Love HK Film or A Nutshell Review. It's at Major Cineplex and EGV, Thai-dubbed only. Rated 15+.



Also showing



Unreal Forest – Video artist and filmmaker Jakrawal Nilthamrong's experimental documentary was made as part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Forget Africa project, which took Asian filmmakers to Africa. Shot in Zambia, Jakrawal auditioned three directors to make a movie. The first part shows this process, and then the Zambian directors talking over how they want to make their movie and then finally the story of a tribal shaman treating a terminally ill boy, against the stunning backdrop of Victoria Falls and lively Zambian street music. Unreal Forest previously played in at the Singapore International Film Festival and Milan. It's now screening as a video installation at the Numthong Gallery on the fourth floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Showtimes for the 67-minute movie are every 90 minutes from shortly after 9am daily excepts Mondays until September 29 at the BACC.


Agrarian Utopia (สวรรค์บ้านนา, Sawan Baan Na) – Uruphong Raksasad directs this beautiful, highly acclaimed experimental documentary on the hardships of rice farming. The director hired two families to tend a plot of land in his native rural Chiang Rai Province, setting the stage for real-life hardships with no script. The film pulls no punches as it depicts the challenges the families face as they try to plant their crop with a stubborn buffalo, and work in all kinds of weather, from blistering heat, shivering chills and intense downpours, all captured on high-definition video camera, to brilliant, jaw-dropping effect. Part of Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project, Agrarian Utopia is playing at SFX the Emporium until September 29 at around 7 nightly with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2. Rated 15+



Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country – The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, with assistance from the Embassy of the Czech Republic, will have a special screening of this acclaimed documentary, in memory of Sam Kalayanee, an activist and co-producer of the film who died recently. Directed by Danish filmmaker Anders Ostergaard, Burma VJ is about a gutsy band of Burmese video journalists – VJs – who covered the Saffron Revolution, when thousands of monks took to the streets of Rangoon in September 2007 in a bold push for democratic reforms against the military government. With foreign news crews banned and Internet access shut down, a small number of Burmese VJs filmed the drama on the streets with small video cameras. They were led by "Joshua", a 27-year-old VJ and media activist who had been forced to flee the country but oversaw their work from a safe-house in Chiang Mai before giving the footage to the Democratic Voice of Burma in Oslo. DVB is a non-profit media group that broadcasts news via radio, satellite TV and the Internet. This film includes documentary footage – some of it gathered at great personal risk – as well as dramatic reconstructions of events with the individuals involved. This film was nominated for an Academy Award and has won a series of awards at other film festivals. The showtime is 8pm on Thursday, September 16. Admission is 150 baht for non-members.


We Are Family – Writer-producer Karan Johar offers the Bollywood remake of the 1998 Hollywood family comedy-drama Stepmom, with Kajol in the Susan Sarandon role of the devoted mother of three children. She's divorced from her husband (Ed Harris in the original, Arjun Rampal here), who has a new career-oriented girlfriend (Kareena Kapoor taking the Julia Roberts role). It's showing at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) on Saturday at 8pm and at Major Cineplex Rama III on Sunday at 4pm. For more details, call Bollywood Thai at 089 488 2620.


Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans – The film series continues on Sunday with two more classic Romanian films. First up is The Stone Wedding from 1972. It's a two-segment compilation of stories by Ion Agârbiceanu. The first part directed by Mircea Veroiudrama depicts the miserable life of a widow in turn-of-the 20th century Romania. Dan Pita directs the second part, about about a bride who runs away with the singer of the wedding band. Next is Unde la soare e frig (Where It Is Cold in the Sun) by Bogdan Dumitrescu. The 1991 drama is set along the Black Sea coast, where a woman is stranded in the remote area. She eventually seeks help from a lighthouse keeper. The movies, with English subtitles, are at Thammasat University Tha Prachan, in the Pridi Banomyong Library's Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor. The shows start at 12.30. The movies are on DVD. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff you're watching the movies and let them copy your ID. Call (02) 613 3529 or (02) 613 3530 or visit the DK Filmhouse blog for the complete lineup.



Les Amants réguliers – Philippe Garrel's 2005 black-and-white drama is about a young couple in 1960s Paris. They meet during the 1968 student uprising and smoke opium. Louis Garrel and Clotilde Hesme star. Louis Garrel, the director's son, won a Cesar Award for most promising actor, while Philip won a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for best director and cinematographer William Lubtchansky won Venice's Golden Osella for Outstanding Technical Contribution. Reviews are mixed. It's showing on Wednesday, September 23 at 7:30pm at the Alliance Française, with English subtitles. Admission is free.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 9-15, 2010

Aftershock


China's record-setting blockbuster Aftershock is a disaster drama, chronicling a family torn apart by the 1976 Tangshan earthquake.

Directed by Feng Xiaogang (Assembly, The Banquet), it's an epic tearjerker, following characters over the decades from 1976 to the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

It broke box-office records last month, earning 532 million yuan ($78.6 million).

Aftershock is China's first commercial IMAX movie – a first by a studio outside of North America – however the local release won't be in the IMAX format. It's at Apex and House in Mandarin with English and Thai subtitles. Rated 13+.



Also opening



Resident Evil: Afterlife – Director Paul WS Anderson and his leading-lady wife Milla Jovovich return for a fourth outing of this action-horror franchise inspired by a video game. Milla again plays Alice, the genetically enhanced warrior woman and survivor of a viral zombie apocalypse unleashed on the world by the Umbrella Corporation. Picking up from the ending of 2007's Resident Evil: Extinction, Alice has made her way from Nevada desert up to Alaska, where a ragtag group of survivors have fled, in hopes of finding a land untouched by the T-Virus mutation. She gets in a plane and flies it to Los Angeles, where she finds more survivors and leads them on an attack on Umbrella's underground headquarters. Mother-to-be Ali Larter also returns as Claire, the plucky leader of the band of resistance fighters, along with Sienna Guillory. Wentworth Miller joins the cast as Claire's brother, leading the LA cell. It's in 3D in some cinemas, including IMAX. Rated 15+.


We Are Family – Writer-producer Karan Johar offers the Bollywood remake of the 1998 Hollywood family comedy-drama Stepmom, with Kajol in the Susan Sarandon role of the devoted mother of three children. She's divorced from her husband (Ed Harris in the original, Arjun Rampal here), who has a new career-oriented girlfriend (Kareena Kapoor taking the Julia Roberts role). It's showing at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) on Friday at 8.30pm and Sunday at 7.30pm and at Major Cineplex Rama III on Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 4pm. For more details, call Bollywood Thai at 089 488 2620.


Also showing


Agrarian Utopia (สวรรค์บ้านนา, Sawan Baan Na) – Uruphong Raksasad directs this beautiful, highly acclaimed experimental documentary on the hardships of rice farming. The director hired two families to tend a plot of land in his native rural Chiang Rai Province, setting the stage for real-life hardships with no script. The film pulls no punches as it depicts the challenges the families face as they try to plant their crop with a stubborn buffalo, and work in all kinds of weather, from blistering heat, shivering chills and intense downpours, all captured on high-definition video camera, to brilliant, jaw-dropping effect. Part of Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project, Agrarian Utopia is playing at SFX the Emporium until September 29 at around 7 nightly with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2. Rated 15+


Doc Fest – Thai and international documentaries will be shown this weekend at Chulalongkorn University. The new and classic Thai selection includes The Rocket from Agrarian Utopia director Uruphong Raksasad, Home Video (Made in Thai Town) by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, The Mother Wanna Go to Carrefour by recent Thai Short Film & Video Fest winner Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit and In Between, the 2006 short doc by Baby Arabia directors Kong Rithdee, Panu Aree and Kaweenipon Ketprasit. The international selection includes Afghan Star, Modern Life, Blindsight and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One. The fest is in Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Communication Arts, Dr Thiem Auditorium on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 8pm.


Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans – The film series continues on Sunday with two 1960s Romanian films. First up is Reconstruction, a 1968 drama in which two students are made to re-enact a drunken brawl as part of a disciplinary action by a prosecutor, a policeman and a teacher. Next is A Bomb Was Stolen, the debut live-action film by animator Ion Popescu-Gopo. It's a low-tech sci-fi Cold War comedy. The movies are at Thammasat University Tha Prachan, in the Pridi Banomyong Library's Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor. The shows start at 12.30. The movies are on DVD. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff you're watching the movies and let them copy your ID. Call (02) 613 3529 or (02) 613 3530 or visit the DK Filmhouse blog for the complete lineup.


Ali Zaoua, prince de la rue – Ali, Kouka, Omar and Boubker are street kids in Casablanca. They sniff glue to escape the harsh reality. However, the boys must face that reality when a rival gang intrudes on their turf and kills Ali. Rather than abandoning their friend, the three survivors decide to give their friend a burial fit for a king. It's showing on Wednesday, September 15 at 7:30pm at the Alliance Francaise, with English subtitles. Admission is free.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 2-8, 2010

Agrarian Utopia


Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project has a change of program this week to Agrarian Utopia (สวรรค์บ้านนา, Sawan Baan Na), a beautiful, highly acclaimed experimental documentary on the hardships of rice farming.

Uruphong Raksasad directs. A native of rural Chiang Rai Province, he previously did the short-film compilation Stories from the North, which was an intimate look at the fast-disappearing old ways of Thai rural life.

For Agrarian Utopia, Uruphong hired two families to work a plot of land over the course of the year. He thus set the stage, but what unfolds is real life, with no script.

"I only knew it was going to be about rice farmers over the course of a year," he told The Nation recently. "I myself didn't know how it would turn out until I was in the cutting room.

"Everything they say is their own words. I only gave them hints in terms of the topics."

The film pulls no punches as it depicts the challenges the families face as they try to plant their crop with a stubborn buffalo, and work in all kinds of weather, from blistering heat, shivering chills and intense downpours. They also have to forage for food, scavenging honey from beehives, and even eating ants.

Uruphong captured it all on high-definition video camera, to beautiful, jaw-dropping effect.

"The rice field and the process of growing rice are very beautiful, like paradise, but at the same time it's not a sustainable practice in reality," he says.

Agrarian Utopia has been acclaimed the world over. It won the Unesco Award at last year's Asia Pacific Screen Awards, best narrative feature at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, and recently a jury prize at the Millennium International Documentary Film Festival in Brussels.

Uruphong recently won a $100,000 prize for his short film, Dad's Picture, at the Film Expo Asia, and the short film is online so you can watch it. It makes a great warmup to Agrarian Utopia.

Agrarian Utopia is playing at SFX the Emporium until September 29 at around 7 nightly with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2. Rated 15+



Sabaidee 2: From Pakse With Love



I lost track of the production news on the sequel of the Thai-Lao romance Sabaidee Luang Prabang.

Last I heard, "Pe" Arak Amornsupasiri had been chosen for the leading man role that had starred Ananda Everingham the first time around. Pe was then replaced after the rocker-actor had made a disparaging remark about the physical attractiveness of Lao women.

Seeing how he was to act opposite Laotian beauty queen Khamly Philavong, reprising her role from the first film as a charming tour guide, that would have made things awkward.

Well, it turns out Ray MacDonald took over the role.

Directed by Sakchai Deenan, the Thai director who co-helmed the first movie with Laotian filmmaker Anousone Sirisackda, the movie is called Sabaidee 2: From Pakse With Love (สะบายดี 2 ไม่มีคำตอบจากปากเซ , Sabaidee 2: Mai Me Kamtob Jak Pakse).

Ray plays a struggling filmmaker named Por who agrees to take a job shooting a wedding video in Pakse, a major city along the Mekong River in scenic southern Laos. There, he meets the comely tour guide played by Khamly.

It's actually a prequel, according to The Nation's Parinyaporn Pajee. She attended the movie's August 22-23 premiere in Pakse, which is one of only three cities in Laos that has a multiplex.

Here's more about Ray's character:

"I can understand how my character feels. I was out of work for a while and people treated me differently. "I'm amazed at Por's resilience. He has a tough life but he has never given up on making his beloved movie. And he doesn't blame anyone for his troubles," says Ray, who is tackling comedy for the first time.

"I usually play complex characters, so complex that even my mother and brother often ask me why I can't choose a project that they'll have less trouble understanding. So this film is for my family," he says.

"We always see Ray in a serious role, but I think his real personality is cheerful and relaxed. In this role, he is more than that. He's like a mixture of Stephen Chow and Jim Carrey," says Sakchai.

Read on for Sakchai's plans to work more in Laos and help build up that country's industry.

The trailer is at YouTube. Rated 13+



Also opening



Machete – What began life as a fake trailer that played before Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror segment of the Grindhouse films he did with Quentin Tarantino has been expanded into a full feature that's still in the same ultra-violent B-movie style as Grindhouse. Long-time Rodriguez cast character actor Danny Trejo stars, playing a Mexican "Federale" secret agent who's on a deadly rampage of revenge after he's betrayed. Cheech Marin and Jeff Fahey return from the original trailers to play their characters, a gun-toting priest and a ruthless businessman. Rodriguez has lined up an all-star cast to flesh out the story. Michelle Rodriguez is a machine-gun-equipped taco-truck lady. Steven Seagal is a drug lord. Jailed starlet Lindsay Lohan is a nun with guns. Jessica Alba plays Sartana, "a beautiful Immigrations Officer torn between enforcing the law and doing what is right." Others include Don Johnson, Robert De Niro, Rose McGowan and Tom Savini. Critical reception so far is mixed, though there are relatively few reviews because the movie isn't opening until tomorrow. One of the year's most highly anticipated releases among genre-film fans, it premiered last night at the Venice film festival. Rated 18+


The American – George Clooney stars in this Europe-based action thriller, playing an assassin who's hiding out in a small Italian town after a job went bad in Sweden. With an eye on retiring, he takes what he hopes will be one last assignment to construct a weapon for a mysterious contact, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten). He also starts to make friends and embarks on romance, but by stepping out of the shadows, he might be tempting fate. The director is Anton Corbjin, the maker of music videos for U2, Johnny Cash, Metallica and Depeche Mode, who won acclaim for Control, a drama about Ian Curtis, suicidal singer of the band Joy Division. The American just opened worldwide yesterday, and critical reception so far is pretty positive. At the Scala.


Triple Tap – Here's a sequel to the acclaimed 2000 Hong Kong thriller Double Tap that starred Leslie Cheung as a professional competitive target marksman who gets locked into a bitter and deadly rival with Alex Fong. Here, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu star as rivals in a shooting competition. One's a day-trader and part-time crackshot and the other a cop. Reviews are mixed, but there's a good one at A Nutshell Review. In Cantonese with English and Thai subtitles at the Lido.


Going the Distance – Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star in this romantic comedy as a couple who have a summer fling, part ways and then embark on a long-distance romance. This is just opening in the U.S. this weekend, so there aren't many reviews, but critical reception so far is mostly negative. Rated 18+


Color's Love (สมาน ฉัน คัลเลอร์เลิฟ, Saman Chan) – A bickering young couple from opposite sides of Thailand's "color" factions (Tachapol Chumduang and Pokchut Tiemchai) decide to divorce on Valentine’s Day, but before signing the paper, their little son has an accident and the only way he'll survive is if they stay together. Chawana Mahittichatkul-Pawakanon directs. The posters for this movie aim to make this about national reconciliation following the government's violent May 19 crackdown on the red-shirt anti-government protests, and that people of different affiliations or "colors" should live in harmony. The trailer shows there is a fair amount of comedy as well, despite the melodramatic premise. Rated G.



Also showing



14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival – Today is queer film day at the fest, with the Queer of Siam package at 5 and an international selection in Queer Generation at 6.30. Friday's shows are the first of the International Competition programs at 5 and a rare look inside Myanmar in the Beyond Yangon compilation of short documentaries the Yangon Film School at 6.30. Starting at 11 on Saturday is a full day of Thai indie shorts in competition as well as Shorts for Kids, In the Realm of Conflict and the Best of Clermont-Ferrand. Sunday's shows include the Dedicated to Payut Nagaokrachan Animation Showcase of international animated shorts. On weekends, please be aware that some of the screenings are in the fourth-floor activity room. This space has a flat floor and is not ideally suited for film viewing. So if you're tall, please be considerate to other audience members and sit in the back or off to the side. The awards ceremony is at 5.30 on Sunday and the fest closes with the screening of the winning entries starting at 7.


Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival – The current leg of Chula's DVD screening series closes tomorrow with A Prophet, director Jacques Audiard's winner of the Cannes Grand Prix, Oscar-nominee and much acclaimed drama. The prison tale stars Tahar Rahim as an illiterate young hoodlum who is jailed and given "missions" to carry out by a Corsican cellblock leader. He's a fast learner and rises up the prison ranks, all the while secretly devising his own plans. The show time is 5pm in the Boromrajakumari Building, Room 503 (seating capacity: 320). There's free parking next to Chulalongkorn University Auditorium. The movies are on DVD, all with the original soundtracks and English subtitles. Admission is free. Stay on afterward for a talk with film critics Kittisak Suvannapokhin, Nopamat Veohong and the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee. Call (02) 218 4802 or visit ChulaFilmFest.multiply.com.


Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans – The film series continues this week with two more from the former Yugoslavia. First up is When I Am Dead and Gone, a 1967 drama by Serbian "black wave" director Živojin Pavlović about a small-time pickpocket and aspiring singer who hopes to make it big. This movie was originally banned by the communist authorities because of its realistic portrayal of the "economic boom" times. Next up is The Medusa Raft, a 1980 drama by Slovenian filmmaker Karpo Acimovic-Godina. Set in a small Serbian town in the 1920s, it's about a group of eccentric Dadaist artists. The movies are at Thammasat University Tha Prachan, in the Pridi Banomyong Library's Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor. The shows start at 12.30. The movies are on DVD. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff you're watching the movies and let them copy your ID. Call (02) 613 3529 or (02) 613 3530 or visit the DK Filmhouse blog for the complete lineup.


RIP Satoshi Kon – House cinema on RCA will remember animator Satoshi Kon with a special screening of his Tokyo Godfathers, a drama about a disparate trio of streetpeople – a transvestite, a runaway girl and a gruff alcoholic bum – who find an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve. Kon died on August 24 at the age of 46. He had pancreatic cancer. The pain he felt and despair about dying is chronicled in a rambling blog entry, posted posthumously by his family and generously translated by blogger Makikoh Itoh. Kon made four feature films, Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika, which competed at the 2006 Venice film festival. He was working on a fifth film, The Dreaming Machine, when he died. Tokyo Godfathers screens at 7pm on Sunday at House. Admission is 80 baht.


10 Years of Tears of the Black Tiger –Wisit Sasanatieng's Tears of the Black Tiger (ฟ้าทะลายโจร, Fah Talai Jone) was released 10 years ago this month. Equal parts parody and loving homage to classic Thai action films of the 1960s, Tears of the Black Tiger is a colorful melodramatic, action-filled western. It was the first Thai film to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and it won the Dragons and Tigers Award for best new director at the Vancouver International Film Festival, as well as several awards in Thailand. The Thai Film Archive has a month of activities lined up to celebrate Fah Talai Jone's 10th anniversary. They'll be playing all of Wisit's features – Tears of the Black Tiger, Citizen Dog and The Unseeable – as well as classic Thai films that influenced Wisit's style. These include the films of Ratana Pestonji – 1955's Forever Yours (ชั่วฟ้าดินสลาย, Chuafah Din Salai, 1957's Country Hotel (โรงแรมนรก, Rongraem Narok) and 1961's Black Silk (แพรดำ, Phrae Dum) as well as other influential films: 1977's Citizen Taxi Driver by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, 1979's Mountain People (Khon Pu Khao) by Vichit Kounavudhi and 1962's The Boat House by Prince Phanuphan Yukol. On September 25, there will be a discussion on Tears of the Black Tiger and a screening of clips of Wisit's films. Of course, all this is an excellent warm-up for the big event of the year – the expected October 7 release of one of the year's most highly anticipated films Wisit's reboot of classic Thai cinema's Red Eagle action franchise with Ananda Everingham stepping into a role once filled by legendary superstar Mitr Chaibancha. During September, the Thai Film Archive will also repeat some of the programs of the 14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival – the Best of Clermont Ferrand, In the Realm of Conflict and Beyond Yangon. They are also continuing the 11am Sunday matinee screenings of Payut Ngaokrachang's The Adventure 0f Sudsakorn until October 3. Please see the Fapot.org website for the schedule and other details. The screenings are on DVD and I am uncertain of the availability of subtitles. Call ahead and ask at (02) 482 2013-14, ext 111, if you need to know more.