Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 10-16, 2015

Gerontophilia

Attendees of the now-defunct Bangkok International Film Festival in 2008 might remember a weird movie called Otto: Or Up with Dead People, an offbeat musical comedy about a gay zombie that featured explicit sex scenes.

And as far as I recall, that's the last time a Bruce LaBruce movie played publicly in Bangkok, until now. This week brings a light-hearted 2013 effort from Canada's taboo-challenging cult director, the romantic comedy Gerontophilia, which covers the sexual awakening of a young man (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) as he discovers he has a fetish for elderly men. To nurture his new obsession, he takes a job in a nursing home and develops a special bond with one of the patients.

The film has been brought in by the new indie distribution shingle Doo Nang Took Wan, run by Ken Thapanan Wichitrattakarn, a public-relations professional who got into the movie business a few months ago when he single-handedly brought the Brazilian coming-of-age gay drama The Way He Looks to Bangkok.

Critical reception has been mixed. It's at the Lido. Rated 18+

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Also opening

No Escape – Owen Wilson, not content to wait by the phone for his buddy Wes Anderson to call, stars as a water engineer who has moved with his family to an anonymous, strife-torn Southeast Asian country. There, wherever that is, a rebellion breaks out and the family become targets as anti-foreigner sentiments boil over. Lake Bell and Pierce Brosnan also star. There have been at least a couple controversies over this production, which had the working title of The Coup when it was being made in northern Thailand a year or so ago. One was when Wilson posed for a photo with whistle-blowing anti-government protesters. There was also a fuss over the signage in the film, which in a desperate move by the country's film minders to strip any Thai identity out of the picture, so as to not harm tourism, was written in Khmer and turned upside down. That has led to No Escape being banned in the newly emerging cinema market of Cambodia, amid rumors that it would be banned in Thailand as well. No such luck. Critical reception has been mixed. It's by the writer-director pair of John Erick and Drew Dowdle, who previously did the found-footage thrillers Quarantine and As Above, So Below. Rated 15+

SPL 2: A Time for Consequences – Thai martial-arts star Tony Jaa makes his much-anticipated debut in a Hong Kong action film. He's a tough Thai cop who has taken a job as a prison guard while he tries to raise money to pay for his sick daughter's treatment. On the job, he's assigned to watch over a prisoner (Wu Jing) who is actually a Hong Kong police officer who has gone way undercover in a relentless bid to bring down the head of a human-trafficking ring. Louis Koo and Simon Yam also star. Cheang Pou-soi (Dog Bite Dog, Motorway) directs. This is a sequel-in-name-only to the terrific 2005 Hong Kong crime thriller SPL: Sha Po Leng, which had Donnie Yen throwing down with the formidable Sammo Hung. Wu Jing was in that one too, but played a different character. A box-office success in China, critical reception for SPL 2 has been fairly positive – much better than for Jaa's English-language debut Skin Trade, which I actually kinda liked. SPL 2 is Thai-dubbed only with English subtitles. Rated 18+

The Assassin – Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien returns with his first movie in eight years, and his very first wuxia martial-arts drama. It's set during the olden days of the Tang Dynasty. Shu Qi stars as a young woman who returns to the village where she was born, and sent away from as child. Training since then as an assassin, she is out to redeem herself after botching a previous job. But this one isn't going to be easy, as her new target is the man she had been arranged to marry. Chang Chen also stars. After making a buzzworthy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the best director prize, critical reception has been generally positive. It's in Mandarin with English and Thai subtitles at Apex, House, Major Ratchayothin, Major Rama III, Paragon, Quartier CineArt and SFW CentralWorld. Rated 15+

Assassination – Not to be confused with China's The Assassin, this South Korean period drama deals with a ragtag team of resistance fighters under Japanese occupation in the 1930s. Lifting a page from The Dirty Dozen, they are condemned criminals who have been let out of prison with top-secret orders to kill the Japanese army’s commander. Critical reception has been favorable. It's in Korean with English and Thai subtitles at Esplanade Ratchada, Major Ratchayothin, Paragon and Quartier CineArt. Rated 18+

Self/less – A terminally ill elderly billionaire buys a chance for eternal life through an underground experimental medical procedure that transfers his consciousness into the cadaver of a younger man. He's played by Ryan Reynolds. Tarsem Singh, slumming it since the hyperstylishness of The Cell, directs. Critical reception has been mostly negative. Rated 15+

The Shamer’s Daughter – There's swords and sorcery in this adaptation of a best-selling Danish young-adult fantasy novel by Lene Kaaberbol. It's about a supernaturally gifted young woman who has to uncover the truth when her realm's heir to the throne is wrongfully accused of killing his family. Seems it is Thai-dubbed only. Rated 15+

Cub – Kids are in peril in this Belgian import about Cub Scouts camping in the woods becoming prey for a local poacher and his feral son. It's at SF cinemas only, and according to the soundtrack information I've been given, it's in Flemish and French with English and Thai subtitles.

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Also showing

The Friese-Greene Club – Tonight, a mathematician becomes increasingly paranoid and obsessed as he tries to find meaning in a mysterious numerical sequence in Pi, the debut feature of Darren Aronofsky. And tomorrow it's the directorial debut of Robert Redford, 1980's Academy Award-winning Ordinary People. And another classic shows on Saturday, Terrence Malick's debut Badlands. It's still his best film. Sunday has a special screening of the 1997 comedy As Good As It Gets, with a member of the assistant director team, Robert Neft, sharing behind-the-scenes stories of working with director James L. Brooks, star Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear. And next Wednesday is Android, a low-budget 1982 robot drama that B-movie producer Roger Corman passed on. It went on to be a critically acclaimed sleeper hit. Shows are at 8pm. The FGC is down an alley next to the under-renovation Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. For more details, check the club's Facebook page.

Behind the Painting – Time to get out of the cinema and into the art gallery, as the interesting and talented video artist and filmmaker Chulayarnnon Siriphol offers his interpretation of the classic Thai story Behind the Painting. Set in Japan, the tragic romance involves a young Thai student who has been employed by an elderly Japanese man to look after his young blue-blooded Thai wife. Written in 1937 by popular author Sri Burapha, the novel has been adapted for film, television and stage many times, including a 2001 film version that was the last feature by the revered Thai auteur Cherd Songsri. In an homage to Cherd, his film is woven into the fabric of Chulayarnnon's entertaining experimental work, which has him hilariously portraying both the young man and, in the grand tradition of theatrical cross-dressing, the young woman. I've actually seen this, in a Film Virus retrospective last year, and I told Chulayarnnon afterward that I don't feel I need to see any other version. Definitely worth a look. It was created last year during Chulayarnnon's participation in the artist-in-residence program at the Aomori Contemporary Art Center in Japan. Organized by the Japan Foundation and curated by the Aomori center's Hiroyuki Hattori, Behind the Painting is at the Silpakorn University Art Center, opening tomorrow night (invitation only) and running until October 10. Directions to the gallery are available online.

Alliance Française – There are two French film to list this week. First up is a family friendly animated feature at 2pm on Saturday, 2012's Moon Man, in which the Man in the Moon grows bored and goes sightseeing across the universe. Meanwhile, none of the children on Earth can fall asleep because the Moon Man is missing. And next Wednesday's usual screening is 2013's Un château en Italie (A Castle in Italy), written, directed by and starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. The semi-autobiographical yarn has a woman re-energized by love in her life. Meanwhile, her wealthy industrialist family is crumbling around her. It screens at 7pm on Wednesday, September 16, at the Alliance.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 3-9, 2015

Freelance

Having honed his craft making award-winning short films and independent features and writing commercial screenplays, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit makes his much-hyped mainstream studio debut with Freelance Ham Puay Ham Phak Ham Rak More (ฟรีแลนซ์.. ห้ามป่วย ห้ามพัก ห้ามรักหมอ, a.k.a. Heart Attack).

A romantic comedy, it's about a stressed-out graphic designer who comes down with a skin rash and falls in love with the attractive female doctor who's treating him. The story, written by Nawapol, is loosely based on his own experiences as a struggling, stressed-out "freelance" filmmaker.

Freelance follows his much-acclaimed indie features, the low-budget experimental romance 36, the more-ambitious and more-overtly quirky Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy and the pirate-video documentary The Master.

Released by GTH, Thailand's most-successful movie studio, everything about Freelance is calculated to fill the multiplexes.

By his lonesome, Nawapol proved to be a one-man publicity juggernaut, putting buns in seats for his indie efforts solely through posts on Twitter and Facebook. Now he has the might of GTH's marketing machine behind him – the same machine that cranked out the box-office record breaker Pee Mak in 2013 and last year's No. 1 movie I Fine Thank You Love You.

Further interest in Freelance is guaranteed by the film's bankable stars, leading man Sunny Suwanmethanon from I Fine and Davika Hoorne from Pee Mak
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Of course it also helps that Nawapol has actually been part of the GTH family for several years, having had a hand in the screenplay to the 2009 box-office smash Bangkok Traffic Love Story and writing 2011's entertaining young entrepreneur biopic Top Secret.

You can read more about Freelance in an article in The Nation. Owing to Nawapol's indie roots, Freelance is being screened at the indie theaters, Scala/Lido and House, which is unusual because those theaters rarely host first-run mainstream Thai commercial films. Rated 13+

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Also opening

The Transporter Refueled – French producer Luc Besson reboots his automotive action franchise, with newcomer actor-musician Ed Skrein (Game of Thrones) suiting up for the role made famous by Jason Statham. It's the same set-up as always – he's an excellent driver with a mysterious past who takes delivery jobs for criminals while adhering to a strict set of rules. This time around, he tangles with a trio of female assassins (Loan Chabanol, Gabriella Wright, Tatiana Pajkovic) who kidnap his father (Ray Stevenson). It's directed by Camille Delamarre, who previously was film editor on Transporter 3 and Taken 2 and made his feature directorial debut with Brick Mansions, the Paul Walker vehicle that was a remake of the Besson-produced action flick Banlieue 13. Critical reception is just getting revved up. Rated 15+

So Very Very (จริงๆ มากๆ, Jing Jing Mak Mak) – In this indie South Korean romantic comedy, aspiring filmmaker Sung-hoon (Oh Chang-kyung) falls for a Thai lady named Pan (Cho Ha-young), and the two get married and set out to have a happy life in South Korea. Instead, their relationship is like a Korean soap opera, as Pan soon wearies of struggling with a husband who can only land minor jobs in TV and films, so she decides to return to Thailand. Directed by Park Jae-wook, it's in Korean with Thai (and English!) subtitles at House on RCA. Rated 15+

Welcome Back – This sequel to the 2007 Bollywood action-comedy Welcome has the characters played by Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor and Paresh Rawal putting their criminal pasts behind them as they have become big businessmen. Conflict and hijinks ensue as everyone is under pressure to get married and start families. John Abraham and Shruti Haasan join the cast for this new song-and-dance romp. Anees Bazmee (Singh is Kinng) directs. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit and Rama III. Opens Friday.

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Also showing

The Friese-Greene Club – Horror-meister Wes Craven, who died on August 30 at the age of 76, is paid tribute this month, with a slate of some of his best-known films on Tuesdays. Next week is his 1984 classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street, which introduced the very scary steel-clawed dream invader Freddy Krueger to the world, and features an early appearance by Johnny Depp. Other features this month are "not the usual sci-fi" on Wednesdays, first features on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and the films of Douglas Sirk on Sundays. Tonight, it's indie American director Noah Baumbach's 1995 debut Kicking and Screaming (not to be confused with the Will Ferrell soccer comedy). Steven Spielberg's white-knuckle 1971 debut Duel, starring Dennis Weaver and a Peterbilt truck, screens tomorrow. And Alejandro González Iñárritu's eye-popping first feature, Amores Perros, is on Saturday. Even after last year's astonishing Birdman, it's still his best film. Jane Wyman and a raw young Rock Hudson star in Sirk's 1954 romantic drama Magnificent Obsession on Sunday. And next Wednesday's offbeat sci-fi offering is Shane Carruth's low-budget Sundance smash Primer. Shows are at 8pm. The FGC is down an alley next to the under-renovation Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. For more details, check the club's Facebook page.

Cinema Diverse: Director's Choice – Thai director Banjong Pisanthanakun (Pee Mak, Hello Stranger, Shutter) will screen one of his favorite films at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center on Saturday. It's The Chaser, a terrific crime thriller from 2008 that was the feature debut by South Korean director Na Hong-jin. He'll be in attendance for a talk about his film with Banjong afterward. Registration opens at 4.30pm, with the screening at 5.30 in the BACC's fifth-floor auditorium.

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand – The FCCT's Contemporary World Film Series spins on, with the Embassy of Belgium bringing the beer and cheese on Monday night for a 7pm screening of Two Days, One Night (Deux Jours, Une Nuit), the latest drama by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Marion Cotillard, an Oscar nominee for her role, portrays a woman in a fight for her job. Admission is 150 baht for non-members, plus 100 baht for anyone wanting the suds and snacks. Also next week at the FCCT is a documentary and panel talk, Thirty Years On: The Killing of Neil Davis and Bill Latch, which recalls the 1985 attempted coup by the "Young Turks", which was bloodily put down by government forces, resulting in 59 injuries and five deaths, including the two journalists. Reservations are required for this event, which is on the failed coup's anniversary, 7pm next Wednesday, September 9. Admission is 350 baht for non-members plus 350 baht for anyone wanting the buffet (hence the need to RSVP). Also this month is a screening of the gripping high-seas adventure, Norway's Kon-Tiki on September 28.

Alliance Française – A novice actor and a veteran director form an unlikely friendship during a film shoot in Maestro, a 2014 comedy-drama directed and co-written by Léa Fazer. Pio Marmaï and Michael Lonsdale star. Inspired by a real-life encounter by the late young actor Jocelyn Quivrin and French New Wave director Eric Rohmer, it screens at 7pm on Wednesday, September 2, at the Alliance.

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Take note

Thai film studios and distributors have largely cleared the decks this week to make way for the big tentpole release of Freelance, because nobody wants to go up against a GTH film. Go see it at House or Lido and support your local independent cinemas.

Next week, there will be more than a half-dozen new films, among them the made-in-Thailand action drama No Escape, which has been torn to bits by critics.

There's also Thai martial-arts star Tony Jaa's well-received Hong Kong action debut SPL 2: A Time for Consequences, and a big title from this year's Cannes Film Festival, Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien's The Assassin. I'm holding out slim hopes that both the Chinese-language films will have at least one place playing the original soundtrack with English subs.

And an interesting release next week will be Gerontophilia, a weird new film by the taboo-challenging cult director Bruce LaBruce. Set for the Lido, it's being brought in by the new indie distribution shingle Doo Nang Took Wan, run by Ken Thapanan Wichitrattakarn, who single-handedly brought the Brazilian coming-of-age gay drama The Way He Looks to Bangkok a few months back.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening July 16-22, 2015

P’chai My Hero

A much-needed fresh perspective in Thai cinema emerges in the indie drama P'Chai My Hero (พี่ชาย My Hero), which is adapted from the short stories of noted Thai-American writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap and directed by Korean-American Josh Kim. Combining two stories from Rattawut's Sightseeing collection, P'Chai My Hero is known internationally as How to Win at Checkers (Every Time).

The story centers on the tender relationship between two brothers, insecure 11-year-old Oat and his masculine but openly gay older brother Ek. Orphaned at a early age, the boys live with their superstitious aunt and her pest of a younger daughter. It's a warm-hearted yet bittersweet coming-of-age tale, as Oat looks for ways to help Ek stay out of the army as the annual military draft lottery approaches. Oat also wants desperately to beat Ek at checkers, so that Ek will finally take him for a night out in Bangkok.

Not only is this Thai film cobbled together from the English literature of a Thai-American writer by a Korean-American director (he previously did a short documentary called Draft Day, on transgender folk taking part in Thailand's unique military conscription drawing), the producers hail from all over – Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and the US. They are Edward Gunawan, Chris Lee, Andrew Thomas Tiernan and Anocha Suwichakornpong. This could well signal a direction to follow in the Asean Economic Community, as Southeast Asia's filmmakers look for ways tell stories that resonate with home audiences as well as those abroad.

How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, and also had a screening at the inaugural Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Critical reception has been highly positive – this is one of the best Thai films of the year so far. Don't miss it. It's at Apex, Esplanade Ratchada, House, Major Ratchayothin, Paragon and Chiang Mai Airport Plaza. Rated 18+

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Ant-Man

The Marvel Cinematic Universe takes a comedic turn with Ant-Man, a super-sized superhero who has the ability to be as small as an ant or as big as a skyscraper. A brilliant scientist, he's actually one of the founding members of The Avengers superhero team.

Paul Rudd stars as a small-time thief who is tasked by scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) with recovering his stolen super-suit, which gives the wearer the ability to shrink in size with a corresponding increase in strength. Corey Stoll and Evangeline Lilly also star.

This project was originated by cult British director Edgar Wright, who was set to direct. But, when the far-out ideas of Wright and his writing partner Joe Cornish clashed with the lockstep world-dominating plans of Marvel Comics executives, he left the project and Adam McKay (Anchorman) was brought in to rewrite the script, along with Rudd. Peyton Reed (Bring It On, The Break-Up) directs.

Critical reception is generally positive. Like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, this will have references to other Marvel movies, so keep your seat during closing credits if you don't want to miss out. It's in 2D in converted 3D (including IMAX). Rated G

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Also opening

Kidnapping Freddy Heinenken – Anthony Hopkins stars as the heir to a Dutch beer empire in this fact-based crime drama about a 1983 kidnapping that resulted in the biggest ransom ever paid. But, the strain of the caper tested the friendships of the perpetrators. Sam Worthington, Jim Sturgess and Ryan Kwanten also star. It's directed by Daniel Alfredson, a Swede who previously did two sequels in the Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movies and is the older brother of Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy). Critical reception is mixed. Rated 15+

Bajrangi Bhaijaan – A five-year-old speech-impaired Pakistani girl gets lost at a railway station in India, and finds shelter in the colorful community of a Hindu man (Salman Khan), who takes it upon himself to reunite the mute girl with her family. Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Om Puri also star. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles Major Cineplex Sukhumvit, Rama III and Pattaya. Opens Friday.

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Also showing

European Union Film Festival – Still plenty to see as the long-running annual EU fest rolls into its final weekend at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Tonight, it's Beloved Sisters, a historical drama from Germany. Tomorrow is the Dutch thriller Borgman, in which a street person worms his way into the lives of an upper-class family. Saturday has the darkly comic Heavenly Shift, about a Budapest ambulance worker, the Belgian surrogate pregnancy drama Melody and the highly acclaimed '71, about a British soldier stranded alone in Troubles-wracked Belfast. And Sunday has the Romanian family drama The Japanese Dog and two from the late Portuguese auteur Manoel de Oliveira, Gebo and the Shadow and The Old Man of Belem. The EU fest next moves to SFX Maya Chiang Mai from July 24 to August 8 and then to SF Cinema City in Khon Kaen from August 7 to 9. For details, check my earlier post, the SF cinemas website or the EU's Facebook.

The Friese-Greene Club – A controversial flop when it was originally released, director Tod Browning's 1932 sideshow drama Freaks found its audience on the midnight-movies circuit in the 1970s. Screening tonight, it is now a cult classic. Tomorrow night's "precocious girl" is once again Natalie Portman, who followed up her role in 1994's Leon with 1996's Beautiful Girls, which has a bunch of adults at a crossroads during a high-school reunion. Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon and Noah Emmerich also star. Saturday's "bad kid" is Jodie Foster, in the rare and underrated 1976 thriller The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. Martin Sheen also stars. The first rule about Sunday's film: You do not talk about Sunday's film. The second rule about Sunday's film: You do not talk about Sunday's film. And next Wednesday, it's the classic Canadian summer camp comedy Meatballs, which featured Bill Murray in his first film role. Shows are at 8pm (even the "midnight" movies). The FGC is down an alley next to the under-renovation Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. For more details, check the club's Facebook page.

According to Marguerite Duras Project – The ongoing Marguerite Duras series continues on Tuesday and Wednesday at Thong Lor Art Space with 1969's Détruire dit-elle (Destroy, She Said), in which a depressed man meets a mysterious woman who might be involved in kidnapping women sold into prostitution. It will be followed on July 28 and 29 by 1959's Hiroshima Mon Amour, directed by Alain Resnais. All will have English and Thai subtitles. In addition to the films, which are free, the project is also staging a play, An Epilogue to the Malady of Death, which is on at 7.30pm on Thursday and Friday and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday until August 1. For details, check the Thong Lor Art Space Facebook page or the Facebook events page.

Alliance Française – In Au Galop (In a Rush), a young single mother is about to get married when she meets another guy, a single dad with an overbearing mother. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing directs and stars in this comedy-drama, which also stars Marthe Keller. It screens at 7pm on Wednesday, July 22, at the Alliance.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: EU Film Festival, July 10-19, 2015

The annual European Union Film Festival is back for another edition, running this year from July 10 to 19 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, screening 18 entries from 14 countries. Tickets are 120 baht and are on sale now at the box office and through the SF Cinema City website.

Under the theme of “Cinema Live. New Light”, the festival will screen stories about people striving to survive and have better lives, as well as present the cultural richness and diversity of the EU through recent award-winning films.

Highlights include Trespassing Bergman, a documentary about Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman and featuring many famous directors, the German World War II drama Phoenix, Girlhood, a French coming-of-age drama about a black teenager, '71, about "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland, the award-winning Spanish romance Beautiful Youth, the Danish crime drama Northwest and Mr. Hublot, an Oscar-winning animated short from Luxembourg. There will also be a selection paying tribute to Manoel de Oliveira, the Portuguese director who died this past April at age 106.

In addition to Bangkok, the festival will bring selections to SFX Maya Chiang Mai from July 24 to August 8 (where tickets are 80 baht) and at SF Cinema City, CentralPlaza Khon Kaen from August 7 to 9 (queue up for free tickets 30 minutes before the shows). It should go without saying but I'll say it anyway – films will have English and Thai subtitles.

Here's the line-up:

• Melody (Belgium) – Bernard Bellefroid directs this drama about a young woman (Lucie Debay) who wants to open her own hairdressing salon. To achieve this, she agrees to be a surrogate mother for an Englishwoman (Rachael Blake). Debay and Blake shared the best actress prize at last year's Montréal World Film Festival, which also awarded Melody the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury-Special Mention.
• Fair Play (Czech Republic) – In 1980s Soviet-era Czechoslovakia, a talented young sprinter (Judit Bárdos) on the country's Olympics team is chosen for a secret program in which she's given performance-enhancing drugs without her knowledge. She wants off the steroids when she discovers the truth, but there's pressure from the coaches, her peers and from her mother to continue using them. Andrea Sedlácková directs. Fair Play was a nominee for the Audience Choice Award at last year's Chicago International Film Festival.
• Northwest (Denmark) – An 18-year-old street hood gets a leg up in the criminal underworld when he goes to work for a rival kingpin. Michael Noer directs this action-drama, which was nominated for three of Denmark's Bodil Awards and won best supporting actor. It was also an Audience Choice nominee in Chicago.
• The Hour of the Lynx (Denmark) – A priest is called in to counsel an inmate at a high-security facility for the criminally insane, who attempted suicide while rambling about God. Søren Kragh-Jacobsen directs. Sofie Gråbøl was a Bodil Awards best-actress nominee for her role as the priest.
• Concrete Night (Finland) – In the cramped slums of Helsinki, one young man prepares to go to prison as his younger brother contemplates following his sibling into a life of crime. Directed by Pirjo Honkasalo, Concrete Night won Best Film and six other prizes at Finland's Jussi Awards and the Spotlight Award of American Society of Cinematographers.
• Girlhood (France) – A 16-year-old girl with few other prospects in life joins an all-female street gang, where she at first experiences the rush of newfound confidence. Céline Sciamma (Tomboy, Water Lilies) directs. Girlhood won prizes at festivals in Philadelphia and Stockholm and was nominated for the Queer Palm at last year's Cannes Film Festival, in addition to several prizes at France's César Awards.
• Beloved Sisters (Germany) – The aristocratic Von Lengefeld sisters compete for the affections of hotheaded writer-philosopher Friedrich Schiller against the backdrop of social and political upheavals in France. Dominik Graf directs. Beloved Sisters won for best cinematography at last year's Bavarian Film Awards.
• Phoenix (Germany) – A woman who was disfigured in a concentration camp and is unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches through ravaged postwar Berlin for her estranged husband, who she thinks might have betrayed her to the Nazis. Nina Hoss, Nina Kunzendorf and Ronald Zehrfeld star. Christian Petzold (Jerichow, Barbara) directs. A nominee at the German Film Awards, Phoenix has won at festivals in Hong Kong, Lisbon, San Sebastián and Seattle.
• Heavenly Shift (Hungary) – In Budapest, a young refugee from the Balkan War joins an ambulance crew and inadvertently becomes involved in the funeral business. Márk Bodzsár directs this comedy-drama, which was nominated for the Orbit Prize at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film and won the Director's Week Award at Fantasporto. 2014
• Dead Man Talking (Luxembourg) – William Lamers, a 40-year-old death row convict, has a few last words on the day of his execution. No one else is around to hear them, except for the lone journalist from the local newspaper. Patrick Ridremont stars as Lamers and directs. This comedy-drama was a best foreign film nominee at France's César Awards and was a major nominee at the Magritte Awards in Belgium, where it won for production design.
• Mr. Hublot (Luxembourg) – In a world where characters form parts for gigantic vehicles, Mr. Hublot becomes fearful and decides to not set foot outside his apartment. His solitude is shattered by the arrival of a robot dog. Directed by Alexandre Espigares and Laurent Witz, Mr. Hublot won last year's Academy Award for Best Animated Short.
• Borgman (Netherlands) – A homeless vagrant gradually infiltrates his way into the sealed-off surburban home of a well-off family. Alex Van Warmerdam directs this off-beat thriller, which was a nominee for the Palme d' Or at Cannes in 2013 and won prizes at many other festivals.
• Gebo and the Shadow (Portugal) – Part of a special tribute to Manoel de Oliveira, this 2012 entry was the centenarian filmmaker's final feature. It's based on a stage play and follows an elderly accountant who seems to be hiding something from his wife and daughter-in-law regarding the absence of his son. Michael Lonsdale, Claudia Cardinale, Jeanne Moreau and Leonor Silveira star. Screened at the Venice film fest, it was a major nominee for Portugal's Golden Globes.
• The Old Man of Belem (Portugal) – Manoel de Oliveira continued making films well past his 100th birthday. From last year, this short film has Don Quixote, Luís de Camões, Camilo Castelo Branco and Teixeira de Pascoaes having a chat in a garden in the middle of a modern city
• The Japanese Dog (Romania) – A flash flood hits a village, leaving an elderly man widowed and destitute. He's determined to rebuild, but has to deal with his estranged son, who has turned up after years away in Japan with a wife and son. They want to take dad back to Tokyo with them, but there are unresolved issues. Tudor Cristian Jurgiu directs, making his feature debut. The Japanese Dog was Romania's submission to the Oscars last year.
• Beautiful Youth (Spain) – A struggling young twentysomething couple, who still live with their parents, turn to making pornography after the woman discovers she is pregnant. Directed by Jaime Rosales, Beautiful Youth was selected for the Un Certain Regard competition at last year's Cannes Film Festival and won the Special Mention Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes Film Festival 2014.
• Trespassing Bergman (Sweden) – Famous film figures, including Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Michael Haneke, Robert De Niro, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Takeshi Kitano, Francis Ford Coppola and Claire Denis, visit the remote Faro Island home of director Ingmar Bergman, and reflect on the legacy of the Swedish auteur and his films.
• '71 (United Kingdom) – Here's the hot ticket. This much acclaimed military drama is set during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and follows a young British soldier as he is accidentally abandoned by his unit during a riot in Belfast. Somehow, he must survive the night and find his way to safety. Jack O'Connell stars and Yann Demange directs, making his feature debut. This was a major nominee at the 2014 British Independent Film Awards, where it won Best Director. It also won the Bafta Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.

For more details, check Facebook or the SF Cinema City website.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening May 22-28, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past

The comic-book onslaught continues as Fox's X-Men franchises converge in X-Men: Days of Future Past, with the stars of the original 2000-2006 film trilogy sharing the screen with the mutant superheroes of the 2011 reboot X-Men: First Class.

Rivalling Disney's Marvel Studios' own juggernaut The Avengers for sheer star power, it's a cast stuffed with Shakespearian-trained talent – Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan as friends-turned-enemies Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto, played in their younger days by a pair of other figures from the stage and arthouse screen – James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.

Also returning is Hugh Jackman as Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine – he had a hilarious cameo in First Class. Here, with just raw bones for claws now, he's front and center, tasked by Professor X (Stewart) with going back in time to the 1970s to stop a chain of events that led to the creation of the Sentinels – unstoppable killer robots.

For help, Logan has to work with the younger Xavier, a powerful telepath who is a broken man following the events of First Class, in which his lifelong friend, the blue-skinned shape-shifting Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) left him and his other good friend Magneto betrayed him. But they need metal-bending Magneto, who is held in a super-max prison inside the Pentagon.

Others taking part include Halle Berry as Storm, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Nicholas Hoult as the Beast and Fan Bingbing as the teleporting mutant Blink. Original trilogy stars Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden and Famke Jansen also turn up. New to the franchise is Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage, portraying Dr. Bolivar Trask, the scientist who created the Sentinels.

Back in the director's chair is Bryan Singer, who helmed 2000's X-Men and the 2003 sequel X2 and has guided the franchise as producer all along. The movie's release comes as he's fighting a scandal in Hollywood.

Writers include Matthew Vaughn, the British producer-director of Kick-Ass and First Class, and Simon Kinberg, whose credits also include the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot and Star Wars: Episode VII.

Critical reception is wildly positive, making Days of Future Past one of the strongest in the X-Men franchise.

As has become the norm with Marvel Comic movies, there's a post-credits scene, so stick around as all the special-effects names roll by.

It's in real 3D in some cinemas, including IMAX and IMAX Digital. Rated G

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Also opening

Rob the Mob – Young husband-and-wife hoodlums plan a caper to take revenge on the New York mob in this fact-based crime-comedy starring Michael Pitt (Boardwalk Empire) and Nina Ariana. Andy Garcia, Ray Romano, Aida Turturro, Frank Whaley and Griffin Dunne also star. Critical reception is mostly positive – a pleasant surprise. Rated 15+

Draft Day – Kevin Costner, enjoying a career resurgence at the moment, is back doing what he does best – sports movies. The star of Field of Dreams, Bull Durham (baseball), Tin Cup (golf) and Waterworld (sailing), turns to the gridiron in this comedy-drama that takes place on one of the biggest days for American professional football – the NFL draft – in which a flurry of deals are made for college players. Costner is the manager of the Cleveland Browns, and has to make difficult personal and professional choices as he ponders what to do with the No. 1 draft pick. Jennifer Garner also stars. Ivan Reitman, better known for his comedies like Ghostbusters, directs. Critical reception is mixed, leaning to positive. Rated 15+

The Quiet Ones – Hammer Films, the British studio that made classic B-movie horrors from the 1950s through the '70s, was revived a few years back, and has brought us such new B-movie thrillers as The Woman in Black and the Let the Right One In remake Let Me In. The Quiet Ones has a former Oxford professor (Jared Harris from Mad Men) conducting experiments on a young woman who is possessed by dark forces. Sam Claflin and Olivia Cooke also star. Critical reception is mixed. Rated 15+

Kochadaiiyaan – India's first motion-capture animated feature tells the historical tale of good and evil, featuring South Indian megastar Rajinikanth performing and voicing three roles. The story involves a warrior who returns to his homeland to avenge the death of his father, who was unjustly put to death by the king. Deepika Padukone also stars, performing her own stunts. With music by Oscar-winning film-score composer A.R. Rahman, it's directed by Rajinikanth's daughter, Soundarya R. Ashwin. It was made using the performance-capture technique that was used for such films as Avatar, Tintin and for certain characters in the Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, and yes, Godzilla! It's a first for India. It's also getting a huge debut, delayed a week, so that it could be released across the subcontinent and worldwide in nine languages. For Thailand, it's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Paragon and Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai), Rama III and Pattaya. And, it'll be in 2D only, so you can leave your 3D glasses at home. Opens Friday.

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Also showing

Movies on Design – Part of the Bangkok Design Festival, Movies on Design actually started on Tuesday at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center, but it seems nobody bothered to say anything about it until Monday. The fest, continuing until next Thursday, features documentaries about architecture, art and design. Here's the lineup:

• Life Architecturally – A profile of Australian architect Robert McBride and his wife, interior designer Debbie Ryan. 2.30 today and 7.45pm on May 28.
• Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line – Meet the minds behind the expansion of the New York's premiere performing-arts center and the innovative renovation of a derelict Manhattan elevated railway into a landmark new public park. 4.45pm today and 7pm on May 27 with a talk.
• Cartoon College – A look at American comic culture, with visits to comic-book stores, museums and conventions and talks with such cartoonists as Lynda Barry, Charles Burns, Art Spiegelman and Chris Ware. 5pm on May 28 with a talk.
• Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present – A profile of the artist who staged an "interactive performance" in 2010 at New York's Museum of Modern Art. 6 tonight with a talk and 4.15pm on May 29.
• From Nothing, Something: A Documentary on the Creative Process – A series of profiles on creators from different backgrounds, including a novelist, a musician, a designer of movie creatures, chefs, an architect and cancer researchers. 5.15pm on May 27 and 6.30pm on May 29 with a talk.

Tickets are not free! Prices start at 180 baht and they may be purchased at various venues. Check The Nation for details.

European Union Film Festival – Oh joy! It's another of Bangkok's wonderful free film festivals! Get ready to queue up for an hour or more to get those precious little tickets, which they start doling out 30 minutes before showtime. Running from tomorrow until June 5 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, here's this week's lineup:

• Come As You Are – Three disabled Belgian men want to go to a high-end Spanish bordello. 7pm tomorrow.
• The Angels' Share – Taking its title from the industry phrase for the booze that evaporates during distilling, Ken Loach's 2012 Cannes Jury Prize winner is about four young Scottish lawbreakers doing community service who turn their lives around when they discover a high-end brand of whiskey. 2.45pm on Saturday.
• Heavy Girls – Two German men – a young man who lives with his dementia-suffering mother and her caretaker – develop an unexpected queer bond. 4.30pm on Saturday.
• The Exam – In 1950s Budapest, a young intelligence officer is put through his paces by a mentor. 7pm on Saturday.
• Lilet Never Happened – In Manila, a Dutch social worker tries in vain to improve the life of a maladjusted Filipina child prostitute. 2.30pm on Sunday.
• Revival – Smoke, a 1960s band that was known as the "Czech Beatles", reunites for a comeback tour. 4.30pm on Sunday.
• Walesa: Man of Hope – Veteran Polish helmer Andrzej Wajda directs this biopic about a shipyard electrician who founded a dissident labour movement that brought a peaceful end to communism in Poland. 7pm on Sunday.
• The Pelayos (Winning Streak) – An oddball collection of Spaniards think they've figured out how to beat the roulette wheel at a casino run by a figure known as the Beast. 7pm on Monday.
• Palme – The life and times of slain Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is recalled in this documentary. 7pm on Tuesday.
• The Spanish Apartment (L’auberge Espagnole) – A young Frenchmen (Romain Duris) moves into a Barcelona flat with group of colorful roomies from all over. Kelly Reilly, Audrey Tautou and Cecile de France also star. Directed by Cedric Klapisch, this is the first of a rom-com trilogy that was followed by Russian Dolls and Chinese Puzzle, each screening on consecutive nights next week, starting at 7 on Wednesday.

All films will be screened in their original languages with English subtitles. Some films will also have Thai subtitles. Hit the following link to download the schedule or check it at SFCinemaCity.com. For more information, see www.Facebook.com/EuinThailand.

The Friese-Greene Club – Last Saturday's "troubled youth" show ended up being SubUrbia, a 1996 dark comedy by Slackers director Richard Linklater, and not the 1983 gutterpunk drama Suburbia by Penelope Spheeris, as advertised. Linkater's is also a "troubled youth" movie, more in the spirit of Dazed and Confused, and is flat-out hilarious. I'd never seen it before. So no harm, no foul. Keep an eye out for Spheeris' film to be rescheduled. Tonight's show is Flirting, a 1991 Australian boarding-school drama starring Noah Taylor as a boy who enters into a star-crossed romance with Thandie Newton. Nicole Kidman also stars as a sexually repressed student. Tomorrow's big-screen spectacle is Spielberg's sci-fi freak-out Close Encounters of the Third Kind. On Saturday, stay gold with the "troubled youth" selection – Francis Ford Coppola's teen drama The Outsiders, starring the bratpack of Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell and Ralph Macchio. Sunday is Billy Wilder's original Sabrina, a romantic comedy starring Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Audrey Hepburn. Next Wednesday, all you need is this paddle game ... the ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all you need ... and these matches ... and this chair ... it's Steve Martin in the great American comedy The Jerk. Shows start at 8. The FGC is down an alley next to the Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. With just nine seats, the screening room fills up fast, so reservations are a good idea. There are sometimes additions and changes in the schedule, so please check the website and Facebook page for updates.

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand – For his 2011 drama Trishna, stylish director Michael Winterbottom adapts the classic novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and ports the setting of the star-crossed romance to Rajasthan, India, where the scion of a wealthy British-Indian family falls for a shy local lass who works in the family's hotel. Riz Ahmed and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) star. Supported by the British Council, the screening will feature Fullers London Pride beer, fish, chips and British Ambassador Mark Kent. The show is at 7pm – not 8pm as they have been in the past – on Monday, May 26 at the FCCT. Admission is 150 baht for non-members plus 100 baht more for the brew and snacks.

Alliance Française – The relationship between pioneering 19th-century neurologist Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot and his star teenage patient is examined Augustine, a 2012 historical drama by Alice Winocour. Vincent Lindon and Soko star. It's in French with English subtitles at 7pm on Wednesday, May 28.

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Take note

Now comes the news from Moveedoo: The House website is back!

And those were the cheers of everyone who dislikes Facebook, which was where House's showtimes were listed for the past while, and sometimes hard to access. But somehow the new website design looks familiar. Navigate it by immediately hauling your mouse/finger down, and there is everything in all its heavenly glory.

Bangkok residents awoke to news early Tuesday morning that martial law had been declared by the Thai military. Revealing a little-known codicil in the constitution that gives the army power to preserve order in time of emergency, they aren't calling it a coup, and the "caretaker" government, left toothless by Constitutional Court rulings, is supposedly still in place.

On the surface, the move by the Army is aimed at containing protests by both the Thaksin-leaning red-shirts and the anti-Thaksin folk led by Suthep Thaugsuban.

There is no curfew for now. The military have a presence in certain areas, which includes media outlets. Folks are complaining about traffic. In other words, just another week in Bangkok.

There's an upcoming event to mention, the Kafka-Festival at the Goethe-Institut, screening three Kafka-related films there from June 3 to 5, 1997's The Castle by Michael Haneke, a 1960 Czech film Joseph Kilian by Pavel Jurácěk and Jan Schmidt and 2006's Who was Kafka? by Richard Dindo.

Also, Thai Aurora at the Horizon, in which a collection of new politically themed and somehow-still-relevant short films by young Thai directors will be screened on Sunday, June 15, at TK Park at CentralWorld. The show starts at 2pm.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: European Union Film Festival, May 23-June 5, 2014

An Oscar-winning drama and more award-winners are lined up for this year's edition of the European Union Film Festival. With 20 films from 14 countries, highlights include Italy’s The Great Beauty, which swept the foreign-language categories at this year’s Academy Awards, the Golden Globes and the Baftas.

In Bangkok, the fest runs from May 23 to June 5 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. The festival then moves to Chiang Mai and later Khon Kaen.

The opener is Come As You Are (Hasta La Vista!), a 2011 Belgian comedy about three disabled young men who want to lose their virginity. They set out to visit a luxury bordello in Spain that caters to special-needs clients. Directed by Geoffrey Enthoven, it won the grand prize at the Montreal World Film Festival.

Ken Loach directs the Scottish comedy The Angels’ Share, starring Paul Brannigan as a young Glaswegian hoodlum who narrowly avoids jail. Sentenced to community service, he undertakes a new direction in life after visiting a whiskey distillery. It won a jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.

A young man who lives with his dementia-addled mother develops an unexpected bond with her caretaker in the 2012 German romantic comedy Heavy Girls (Dicke Madchen). It won awards at Slamdance and the Hamburg Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

From Hungary, the Cold War-era spy thriller The Exam follows a young defence officer in 1950s Budapest as his mentor tests his loyalty. The second feature by Peter Bergendy, it won the Gold Hugo in the New Directors Competition at the 2012 Chicago film fest.

The Cold War era is also revisited in the 2009 Czech drama Walking Too Fast (Pouta). Set in 1982, the slow-burn political thriller is about a lieutenant of the secret police who begins having second thoughts about his line of work. It won five Czech Lions, including best film, best actor for Ondrej Maly and best director for Radim Spacek.

The “Czech Beatles” reunite in the 2013 comedy Revival. Written and directed by Alice Nellis, it follows the ageing musicians from the 1960s rock band Smoke as they attempt a comeback tour. It was nominated for seven Czech Lions and won the audience award at last year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Manila is the setting for a Netherlands entry, Lilet Never Happened, about a maladjusted Filipina child prostitute. A Dutch social worker tries to turn the girl’s life around. Garnering positive reviews, Lilet has won awards at various children’s film festivals.

Also from the Netherlands is The Gang of Oss. Set in the 1930s, the crime drama has authorities seeking to end criminal gangs’ stranglehold on the southern Netherlands’ industrial town of Oss.

Veteran Polish helmer Andrzej Wajda directs Walesa: Man of Hope, a biographical drama charting Nobel Prize laureate Lech Walesa’s rise from shipyard electrician to the founding of Solidarity, the dissident political movement that brought about a peaceful revolution against communism. The film won awards at festivals in Chicago, Palm Springs and Venice, including best actor for Robert Wieckiewicz and best actress for Maria Rosaria Omaggio, who portrays Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci.

A Swedish national figure is the subject of the documentary Palme, on the life and times of prime minister Olof Palme, whose assassination on the streets of Stockholm in 1986 changed the country forever.

Denmark offers the lavish historical drama A Royal Affair, set in the 18th-century court of the mentally ill King Christian VII, whose wife Princess Caroline Matilda had an affair with royal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee. Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen star. It was a foreign-language nominee for both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes this year.

Portugal has a look at Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago in the 2010 documentary Jose and Pilar, following his last years and his relationship with his resolute wife, Pilar del Rio.

From France comes a trilogy of hit comedies by director Cedric Klapisch – 2002’s The Spanish Apartment (L’auberge Espagnole), the 2004 sequel Russian Dolls and this year’s third chapter, Chinese Puzzle. In Spanish Apartment, a strait-laced French student (Romain Duris) moves into a Barcelona apartment with six other roomies from all over Europe. Russian Dolls fast-forwards to five years later, and Chinese Puzzle, which will have a limited theatrical release in Bangkok on June 29, has them in New York City, still trying to figure out their lives. Kelly Reilly, Audrey Tautou and Cecile de France also star.

Spaniards try to beat a casino run by a figure called “the Beast” in The Pelayos (Winning Streak
This year’s winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), the latest opus from celebrated director Paolo Sorrentino. Starring Sorrentino’s usual leading man Toni Servillo, it follows an ageing socialite as he walks through the ruins and city streets of Rome following a party for his 65th birthday, reflecting on his life and his first love. Also the winner of the Golden Globe and British Film Academy Award for foreign features, The Great Beauty was on many critics’ top 10 lists of 2013’s best films.

Before last year’s high-seas drama Captain Phillips, there was the 2012 Danish thriller A Hijacking, in which Somali pirates raid a cargo ship and hold the crew for ransom. Meanwhile back in Copenhagen, the shipping company’s CEO enters into tense negotiations.

Luxembourg chips in with D’Symmetrie vum Paiperlek (The Butterfly’s Symmetry), a multi-layered comedy in which a writer living in a retirement home uses the people around him as inspirations for his stories. Among them is the tale of a misogynistic chess master who wants revenge after a young woman beats him in a match.

The Bangkok edition of the fest closes with Finsterworld, the fiction debut by German documentary director Frauke Finsterwalder. Exploring the German psyche, it has a dozen characters in gradually interconnected storylines. They include a pedicurist, three generations of a family, a documentary maker and her policeman boyfriend who is secretly likes to dress up in animal costumes.

The European Union Film Festival runs from May 23 to June 5 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, Bangkok, June 13 to 22 at SFX Maya, Chiang Mai and June 27 to 29 at SF Cinema City, CentralPlaza Khon Kaen.

Tickets are free and will be available 30 minutes before the show – first come first serve, maximum two tickets per person per screening. This is a very popular festival, especially among thrifty retirees and bargain-hunting young film enthusiasts, so if you want to ensure you have a decent seat, be prepared to queue up – the lines often start forming an hour or two beforehand.

All films will be screened in their original languages with English subtitles. Some films will also have Thai subtitles.

Hit the following link to download the schedule or check it at SFCinemaCity.com. For more information, see www.Facebook.com/EuinThailand.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening August 16-22, 2012

The Expendables 2

Old action heroes never die, they just all make movies together.

Sylvester Stallone is back in action for The Expendables 2, leading a cast of other ageing action stars in a testosterone-fuelled yarn.

Stallone and his fellow mercenaries, including Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Randy Couture and Terry Crews, are hired by the shadowy Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) for a seemingly simple mission. But then one of their own is killed by a rival mercenary (Jean-Claude Van Damme), so they plot revenge.

Also joining the fun this time around are Arnold Schwarzenegger (who along with Willis cameoed in the first film) and Chuck Norris. There's also Liam Hemsworth, the younger brother of Chris "Thor" Hemsworth, as eye candy for the girlfriends who get dragged to this, and Chinese actress Yu Nan as the only female member of the mercenary team.

Simon West (Con Air) directs.

Sadly, the release of Expendables 2 comes not long after the death of Stallone's 36-year-old son Sage, a producer and distributor of cult B-movies, leading to the mourning Sly curtailing his promotional appearances.

Critical reception is surprisingly favorable so far, so if like me you're a fan of old-time '80s-style action flicks and gratuitous violence, then you'll probably like this. Rated 15+.

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Also opening

Yes or No 2 Rak Mai Rak ... Ya Kuk Loei (Yes or No 2 รักไม่รัก อย่ากั๊กเลย) – Tomboy Kim and her "dee" girlfriend Pie are still together after the college roomates became lovers in the 2010 cult hit Yes or No? So, I Love You. Now their relationship is tested when the two young women go their separate ways for internships, with Pie (Sucharat Manaying) going to Chanthaburi and Kim (Supanart Jittaleela) heading off to picturesque Nan Province where she catches the eye of the attractive Jam (Apitha Klaiudom). Sarassawadee Wongsompetch again directs, with a screenplay by the popular writer Nepalee. The first openly lesbian Thai film, 2010's Yes or No didn't do all that well in Thai cinemas, but it became big in other parts of Asia, attracting huge followings in Taiwan, where it was released on DVD, as well as China and the Philippines. A Bangkok Post article from last month examines the phenomenon and executive producer Chatchada Musikaratuay talks more about the film's success in another Bangkok Post article. Rated 13+.

North Sea Texas – With Yes or No 2 in wide release, here's a tale of gay love, a coming-of-age drama about a Belgian teenage boy in a small town who becomes fixated on the guy next door. It's won awards at festivals and is generally well-received by critics. It's at House on RCA.

Ek Tha Tiger – Bollywood Thai returns to the scene with this thriller starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif about a university professor suspected of selling nuclear secrets to Pakistan. It's in Hindi with English subtitles at SF Cinema City Terminal 21 tonight and tomorrow at 7.30, Saturday at 7 and 8, Sunday at 3, 4 and 7 and Monday and Tuesday at 7.30. Call (089) 488 2620 or (02)225 7500 or visit www.BollywoodThai.com.

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Also showing

Ashes by Apichatpong Weerasethakul is the opening film.

16th Thai Short Film and Video Festival – The annual festival of short subjects gets underway today with registration at 4 and then the opening film Ashes by Apichatpong Weerasethakul at 5.30. That'll be followed by Pitch Black Heist, starring Michael Fassbender and part of the festivals Bafta package, and Il Capo, one of this year's Best of Clermont-Ferrand programme. There are too many other highlights to mention. There's a lot to offer – not just Thai films, but shorts from all over the world, including animation, documentaries and special-interest programmes. Just show up and take a seat. If you don't like what you see, just stay seated quietly for five or 10 minutes and something else will come up that you might end up enjoying. The festival runs daily except Monday until August 26 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in the fifth-floor auditorium and in the fourth-floor conference room. Admission is free. For more details, search for "16th Thai Short Film and Video Festival" on Facebook or visit www.ThaiFilm.com.

Benda Bilili! screens today as part of the Chula film fest.

Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival – The twice-annual DVD screening series started on Monday and has already shown two movies, but as has been the case for the past few editions, I didn't find out it was going on until it was too late. Anyway, there's still lots of movies to see. On Friday it's a musical from Congo, Benda Bilili!, about a teenager working with disabled folks to form the best street band in all of Kinshasa. On Monday, it's 3 Idiots, a highly enjoyable Bollywood screwball comedy about college chums reuniting for a road trip to find their long lost friend. Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani and Sharman Joshi star. And next Wednesday it's cult director Takashi Miike's remake of the samurai epic Hara-Kiri. The series runs until August 31 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5pm on the ninth floor of the Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Building at Chula. Admission is free. All have English subtitles.

Le bal des actrices (The Actresses' Ball) – Maïwenn directs and stars in this 2009 comedy that also features Mélanie Doutey, Charlotte Rampling and Julie Depardieu. It's about a director making a documentary about actresses who falls in love with one of her subjects. It's in French with English subtitles at the Alliance Française on Wednesday, August 22, at 7.30pm.

Jism 2 – For the past month or more, Major Cineplex has been releasing recent Bollywood movies in limited screenings at various branches. They come out on Fridays, and I find out about them too late for this weekly update, which comes out on Thursday, the day most other films are released in Thailand. Last week's release was the controversial Jism 2, which has had tongues wagging in India because it stars Sunny Leone, a Canadian-Indian adult-film actress who is making a crossover into the legit movie business. Sunny stars as a porn star who is hired by a spy (Arunoday Singh) to be a "honey trap" for an assassin (Randeep Hooda). From now on, I'll aim to post more details about Major's Bollywood films whenever I hear about them. Jism 2 is rated 18+.