Bangkok Cinema Scene special: European Union Film Festival, June 23-July 3, 2016

Sixteen films from 13 countries will screen for the general public in the long-running annual European Union Film Festival, starting next week at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld.

This year, the festival takes the theme “Look to the Past, See the Future”. Highlights include The Broken Circle Breakdown, a Belgian film that was a 2014 nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Finland’s The Fencer, a Cold War drama that was a Golden Globe nominee, and Victoria, an innovative German crime drama that won three awards at the Berlin film fest and has been noted for its cinematography.

Other films hail from the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

There’s also a hidden 17th film from another country, Italy, which offers a one-off, invitation-only opening-night screening next Wednesday of Tale of Tales, a horror-fantasy from noted director Matteo Garrone and starring Salma Hayek.

Here is the line-up for the general public:

• The Broken Circle Breakdown – Belgium’s Oscar-nominated drama takes its title from the American bluegrass music that brings together two musicians, a young man and woman, who have a daughter they name Maybelle. Tragedy then strikes.
• Family Film – In this 2015 black comedy from the Czech Republic, a mum and dad take off for a vacation, inexplicably leaving their children and the family dog to fend for themselves.
• The Sunfish – A third-generation Danish fisherman struggling to hold on to his livelihood finds unlikely romance when he invites a marine biologist aboard his vessel. This won many prizes, including Denmark’s 2014 Bodil Awards for best actor and supporting actress for Henrik Birch and Susanne Storm.
• Silent Heart – A second entry from Denmark has three generations of a family reuniting amid conflict as their ailing mother wants to die before her illness worsens. Directed by Bille August, it won many prizes including best film at the 2015 Bolid Awards.
• The Fencer – The award-winning Finnish drama is set in 1950, with a young man trapped between his World War II past and the future of Estonia as his country comes under control of the Soviet Union.
• Standing Tall – A French judge (Catherine Deneuve) and a schoolteacher (Benoit Magimel) take up the cause of putting a juvenile delinquent (Rod Paradot) on the straight and narrow. It was a major nominee for this year’s Cesar Awards, with Magimel winning best supporting actor and newcomer Paradot named most promising actor.
• The Sweet Escape – In another French entry, a middle-aged graphic designer seeks to change his urban lifestyle and takes up kayaking.
• The People vs Fritz Bauer – Germany’s embattled Nazi hunter, the attorney general Fritz Bauer, comes under attack after he covertly approaches Israel’s spy service for help in tracking down Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. It was a nominee for several German Film Awards, and won best film.
• Victoria – Winner of the Berlin Silver Bear for cinematography, this German thriller was shot in one eye-popping continuous take, and follows a young Spanish woman, a newcomer to Berlin, as she is befriended one night by four young men who turn out to be criminals.
• Afterlife – A neurotic young man encounters the ghost of his father and the two form a bond that seemed impossible when the man was alive. From Hungary, this 2014 comedy-drama was nominated for prizes in Karlovy Vary and Palm Springs.
• Bikes vs Cars – Sweden offers a documentary look at how bicycles stack up against other forms of transport in such cities as Los Angeles, Toronto, Sao Paulo and Copenhagen.
• Baby (a) lone – Luxembourg’s official submission to the Oscars has troubled teenagers, a boy and girl, who meet in a school-detention programme and form a bond as they take out their frustrations with society.
• Finn – A boy and his father, both mourning the loss the boy’s mum, who died in childbirth on Christmas Eve, find solace in music and religious symbolism. From the Netherlands, this family drama was a nominee for the Crystal Bear at the 2014 Berlin film festival.
• Jack Strong – Poland offers a taut Cold War thriller about top Polish military official Ryszard Kuklinski, who became a spy for the US, spilling Warsaw Pact secrets in a bid to keep his country safe. Marcin Dorocinski stars, along with Patrick Wilson as Kuklinski’s CIA handler.
• The Wolf’s Lair – Portuguese filmmaker Catarina Mourao lifts the covers off her family’s tragic past in this documentary, in which she seeks to unravel the secrets and mysteries of her family during Portugal’s dictatorship.
• Truman – A terminally ill man is visited by an old friend, and the two set out for one last adventure, accompanied by the man’s loyal pet dog.

The European Union Film Festival opens to the general public next Thursday and runs until July 3 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld in Bangkok. The festival will then be held from July 8 to 17 at SFX Maya Chiang Mai and from July 21 to 24 at SF Cinema City, CentralPlaza Khon Kaen.

Films will have English and Thai subtitles. Tickets are Bt120 in Bangkok, Bt80 in Chiang Mai and free in Khon Kaen.

The schedule can be found online. For more details, check www.SFCinemaCity.com.

(Cross-published in The Nation)

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening June 16-22, 2016

Distance

Three award-winning Asian indie directors – Tan Shijie from Singapore, Xin Yukun from China and Sivaroj Kongsakul from Thailand – each take a crack at directing Taiwanese actor Chen Bo-lin in Distance
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The three-segment drama has the actor in different roles in stories that explore the notion of "distance" and what it means in our societies.

The producer behind this ambitious indie project is Anthony Chen, the Singaporean filmmaker who won much acclaim for his 2013 drama Ilo Ilo. He's helped out by Thai producer Aditya Assarat, who also wrote one of the segments.

Distance previously was the opening entry in the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei.

It's in Chinese with English and Thai subtitles at SF World Cinema CentralWorld, SFX Cinema Central Rama 9 and SFX Cinema Maya Chiang Mai. Rated 15+

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Also opening

The Nice Guys – Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe team up for this buddy comedy that is a throwback to a bygone era of Hollywood comedies. Set in 1970s Los Angeles, the neo-noir story has a down-on-his-luck private eye (Gosling) getting help from a self-employed enforcer (Crowe) in investigating the mysterious death of a porn star. Shane Black, the cult-figure screenwriter of Lethal Weapon, co-wrote the script and directs. Critics love it. Rated 15+

Central Intelligence – And Thai movie distributors and cinema chains double down on buddy comedies, with this one starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart. Johnson is a former fat kid who was bullied in school. He grew up musclebound and became a CIA agent. He attends his high-school reunion while claiming to be on secret mission. He and a motor-mouthed classmate (Hart) get up to adventures while they foil a terror plot. The director is Rawson Michael Thurber, who previously helmed the comedy masterpiece Dodgeball as well as We're the Millers. Critical reception is just starting. Rated G

Finding Dory – After more than a decade of enduring the endless pestering of talk-show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres to make a sequel to 2003's Finding Nemo, animators at Disney-Pixar finally gave up and made Ellen a movie featuring her forgetful blue tang fish Dory. She starts to have flashbacks to her family, and enlists her clownfish friends Marlin and Nemo to help her. She's then captured and taken to a marine research facility, where she has to make new friends to help her in her quest. Albert Brooks is back as the voice of Marlin with other voice talent including Ed O'Neill, Idris Elba, Dominic West and many others. Critics have all drunk the Pixar Kool-Aid. It's in 3D in some cinemas, including IMAX. Rated G

Udta Punjab – Four characters – a rock star, a migrant labourer, a doctor and a cop – fight the menace of drugs. Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh star. In Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit, Rama III and Pattaya. Opens Friday.

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Also showing

The Third Silent Film Festival in Thailand – One of the earliest vampire films, 1922's Nosferatu opens the festival at 8 tonight at the Scala. Live musical accompaniment will be by German composer and multi-instrumentalist Gunter A. Buchwald, with percussion by Thai classical musician Anant Nark-kong. Tickets are 200 baht. The fest then shifts over to the Lido for screenings from Friday until Wednesday. Tickets are 120 baht. They are all great films and are worth seeing on the big screen with live musical accompaniment – it is an experience that can only be had in the cinema. The line-up was profiled in a special post last week. For further details, check check www.Fapot.org or www.Facebook.com/silentfilmthailand.

Singapore Film Festival – The third annual Bangkok showcase of Singaporean cinema gets underway today at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Running until Sunday, the fest have five entries, ranging from 1997's 12 Storeys to last year's SG50 celebration 7 Letters. It was all covered in a special post last week. Tickets are free and will be handed out 30 minutes before the shows. For more details, check the SF cinemas' site.

Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – The second edition of the BGLFF continues until Sunday at the Quartier CineArt. Lots of worthwhile stuff. The line-up and schedule were detailed in a recent special post. Tickets are 160 baht and 180 baht. Please note that there are no ads before the shows, so the films are generally starting on time, at least that was the case when I attended last weekend.

The Friese-Greene Club – American politics are still in focus tonight with Recount, an award-winning 2008 HBO drama about the 2000 presidential ballot recount in Florida. Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern, John Hurt and Denis Leary are among the stars. Tomorrow, it's Wong Kar-wai's drama of unrequited romance In the Mood for Love, which had Bangkok locations standing in for 1960s Hong Kong. And Saturday has a "not-so-classic" foreign film made in Thailand, Sacrifice!, a 1972 Italian cannibal horror that's also known as The Man from Deep River. And Sunday's film from 75 years ago is the Josef von Sternberg thriller The Shanghai Gesture. Next Wednesday is a documentary on U.S. politics, 1960's Primary, which recalls the Democratic nomination fight between JFK and Hubert Humphrey. 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.

Alliance Française – Tomorrow night's French film with Thai subtitles is Il était une forêt (Once Upon a Forest), a documentary by Luc Jacquet, who later did March of the Penguins. Next Wednesday's French film with English subtitles is Alda et Maria (All Is Well), in which a pair of teenage girls escape civil war in the Congo and land in Lisbon. Shows are at 7pm. Admission for the general public is 100 baht.

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand – The Contemporary World Film Series has one more movie this month, with Le meraviglie (The Wonders) at 7pm on Monday. An Italian-Swiss drama, it's about a family of beekeepers in the Tuscan countryside who have their quiet lives disrupted by the arrival of a troubled teenage boy and by a reality-TV crew. Directed by Alice Rohrwacher, it won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Admission is 150 baht for non-members plus 100 baht for anyone wanting the wine and cheese laid on by the Swiss Embassy.

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Take note

House cinema is still closed for renovations. The place was to reopen today, but work is taking a bit longer than expected, now lasting until June 22.

The European Union Film Festival kicks off next week at CentralWorld, running June 22 to July 3.

And the oddball Thailand International Film Destination Festival has finally got around to simply stating when it will take place. Drumroll please: July 4 to 13 at Paragon Cineplex.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening June 11-17, 2015

Jurassic World

Chris Pratt, the clownish slob from TV's Parks and Recreation who got a buff bod when he got his big break in film with Guardians of the Galaxy, takes on an evil dinosaur in Jurassic World.

After three movies, the dopes who run the dinosaur island still haven't learned that you shouldn't meddle with prehistoric DNA.

Anyway, a wealthy entrepreneur (Irrfan Khan) has bought the theme park, and to boost attendance has created Indominus rex, a hybrid dino that's many times larger and more terrifying than the Tyrannosaurus rex. It is also smarter, and it sets out on a killing spree that seems very calculated.

Pratt is an animal trainer, who has a trio of the clever velociraptors, who work with him. And Bryce Dallas Howard is the park's corporate manager, and aunt to a couple of imperiled youngsters. Other stars include Vincent D'Onofrio, Omar Sy and B.D. Wong, the lone holdout from the original Jurassic Park trilogy.

Colin Trevorrow, who previously did the indie comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, directs. And Steven Spielberg still has a hand in as executive producer.

Highly anticipated by fans, critical reception is just coming in. It's in converted 3D, including IMAX, as well as regular 2D in some cinemas. Rated G

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Also opening

A Matter of Taste – Michelin-starred chef Paul Liebrandt, known for his eccentric style, is profiled in this 2011 documentary. It follows him as he struggles with his career in post-9/11 New York City, where at one point he was serving up burgers and fries instead of his usual gourmet fare. It's directed by Sally Rowe, a former script supervisor on Chappelle's Show who ate at one of Liebrandt's restaurants, fell in love with the food and befriended the chef. A Matter of Taste is latest film to come to Thai cinemas courtesy of the Documentary Club, a grass-roots social-networking experiment in movie releasing. Screenings are at 3, 5, 7 and 9pm Friday through Sunday at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld and at 8 nightly from Friday to Sunday at SFX Maya Chiang Mai. Further screenings may be added, but to find out about those, you have to check Facebook. In fact, they already had a screening  – on Monday with a special fusion-cooking show. Sorry I missed that. Advanced bookings through the SF Cinema City website are encouraged.

Hamari Adhuri Kahani – This sweeping romantic drama has such exotic backdrops as Dubai, South Africa, and, of course, India, including a religious procession across a landmark bridge in Kolkata. Starring Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan, the story is about a married woman who falls for a man after her husband has disappeared, and was co-written by actor-producer Hashmi himself, based on his own parents. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit, Rama III and Pattaya. Opens Friday.

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Also opening

Second Silent Film Festival in Thailand – One of many, many benefits of having an active and conscientious film archive in Thailand is that they put on wonderful festivals like this, and also raise the profile of the threatened historic Lido and Scala theaters. Every one of the films being screened is worth seeing. My own picks are the two-fisted pair of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. westerns, The Good Bad Man and The Half-Breed, as well as Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Junior, and Piccadilly, starring the gobstopping beauty Anna Mae Wong. Other highlights on the schedule include the pioneering experimental film Man With a Movie Camera, plus a free talk on Saturday afternoon by piano accompanists Mauro Colombis and Stephen Horne with music lecturer Dr. Anothai Nitibhon. There's also another chance to see the opening film, the German Expressionist masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on Monday night. The fest shifts over to the Scala on Wednesday with The Epic of Everest, which was made under punishing and primitive conditions during the ill-fated expedition by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. It's a charity event to benefit earthquake relief in Nepal. Tickets are 120 baht (200 baht for the closing film). There are also special packages of eight tickets for 800 baht, which come with a souvenir tote bag.

Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – Heading into the final weekend for the inaugural BGLFF, there are many highlights on the schedule, including I Love You. Thank You and The Commitment from the Philippines and The Sun, the Moon and the Hurricane from Indonesia, which will have question-and-answer sessions by the directors. There's also question time scheduled for the U.K. gay drama Soft Lad. I've been looking forward to Eisenstein in Guanajuato, a gorgeously strange-looking feature from the great Peter Greenaway, inspired by that weird time when Soviet cinema pioneer Sergei Eisenstein went to Mexico to make a movie. The fest wraps up on Sunday with The Blue Hour, a new Thai independent drama. It's invitation only, but hopefully the film will get at least a limited release in Thailand.

Italian Film Festival – The first film fest at the new Quartier CineArt in that new mall opposite Emporium wraps up at 8 tonight with The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza), this year's winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Directed by Paolo Sorrentino and starring the auteur's frequent leading man Toni Servillo, the drama follows a retired writer on his 65th birthday as he walks the streets of Rome and reflects on his life, past loves and unfulfillment. Tickets are 150, 170 and 300 baht.

The Friese-Greene Club – Costa-Gravas' fast-paced French-Algerian political thriller Z screens tonight. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, it also has the rare distinction of also being nominated for best picture. Tomorrow, Peter Sellers daubs on the brown greasepaint for Blake Edwards' The Party, a politically incorrect comedy in he plays an idiotic Indian actor. It was actually an Indian friend from days long since past who turned me onto The Party, and she says it is a cult classic among her folk. That is the genius of Peter Sellers. Saturday's food-themed pic is another Peter Greenaway, his classic black crime comedy The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. The "her" in this case is Helen Mirren, 1989 Helen Mirren. And Spielberg Sunday is 1941, a sprawling, overstuffed World War II comedy that was his biggest flop but is beloved by some for its excesses. Next Wednesday's "boundary pushing" movie is Stanley Kubrick's erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut. Shows start at 8pm. The FGC is down an alley next to the Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. For more details, check the club's Facebook page.

Alliance Française – There are two free French screenings to list. First up on Saturday is a "kids' screening". It's animation, but I think adults will like it too. It's 2013's Aya de Yopougon, the cool and stylishly animated tale of a teenage girl in 1970s Yop City, Ivory Coast, who somehow turns up pregnant. The show is at 2pm on Saturday. The usual Wednesday screening is 2 automnes 3 hivers, a romantic comedy centering on three hapless thirtysomethings during the course of two autumns and three winters. The show is at 7pm on Wednesday, June 17.

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Sneak preview

It Follows – After a sexual encounter with a stranger, a carefree young woman can't shake the feeling that she's being followed. Critics have high praise for this horror thriller with the consensus being "smart, original, and above all terrifying ... the rare modern horror film that works on multiple levels – and leaves a lingering sting." It's in sneak previews for the next two weeks, with shows from around 8 nightly. Rated 15+

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening June 4-10, 2015

Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Two much-anticipated Thai independent titles from the festival circuit, How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) (พี่ชาย My Hero, P'Chai My Hero) and The Blue Hour, will have their local premieres in a brand new event, the Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, running from tomorrow until June 14 at the Esplanade Ratchada.

In addition to the two Thai titles, the highlights are many, with entries from around the world and an especially potent combination of recent films from across Southeast Asia as well as China and South Korea.

The fest, which seems overdue for Bangkok, is being organized by the gay-lifestyle magazine Attitude, with support from the Thai Film Archive, the U.S. Embassy, the Goethe-Institut and other organizations.

Here's the line-up:

• How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) (พี่ชาย My Hero, P'Chai My Hero) by Josh Kim – Adapted from the short-story collection Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, the tale centers on 11-year-old Oat, an orphan boy who is raised by his aunt and his openly gay older brother Ek. It also deals with Ek's concerns about the annual military draft lottery and whether he'll have to join the army.
• The Blue Hour (อนธการ, Onthakan) by Anucha Boonyawatana –  A loner, bullied gay boy arranges to meet a stranger for a hookup at an abandoned swimming pool. Friendship follows, but it leads to very dark places.
• 54: Director's Cut by Mark Christopher – Hacked to pieces by producer Harvey "Scissorhands" Weinstein, the disco drama 54 was stripped of its gay context and flopped when it was first released in 1998. Director Mark Christopher recently put his original edit back together and it's now begin hailed as a "cult gay classic". The storied 1970s-80s New York nightclub is seen through the eyes of a young bartender (Ryan Phillippe). Mike Myers takes a rare dramatic turn as embattled disco owner Rick Rubell, Breckin Meyer and Salma Hayek are along for the ride.
• Eisenstein in Guanajuato by Peter Greenaway – British auteur Greenaway paints a surreal portrait of that strange time in the 1930s when groundbreaking Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein went to Mexico to make a movie.
• Nude Area by Urszula Antoniak – The Polish-Dutch director offers an interracial coming-of-age romance between teen girls.
• Summer by Colette Bothof – Another Dutch lesbian coming-of-age drama, Zomer is set in a small town dominated by a power plant, where the arrival of a rebel in leather jacket gives a local girl the courage she needs to break away.
• Quick Change by Eduardo Roy Jr. – This award-winning documentary drama from the Philippines profiles several transgenders who take big risks to stay beautiful.
• The Sun, the Moon and the Hurricane by Andri Cung – Three phases of life for a Jakarta man are charted in this drama, which also has Bangkok as a backdrop.
• The Commitment by Joselito Altarejos – A gay couple faces challenges as they attend a wedding together.
• Soft Lad by Leon Lopez – In this drama from the U.K., a man young man embarks on an affair that will change his life forever while his lover is forced to confront his own sexuality.
• I Love You. Thank You by Charliebebs Gohetia – From the Philippines, this romantic drama is about the intertwining lives of jaded twentysomethings, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam serve as a backdrop.
• The Night by Zhou Hao – Before he did his noteworthy recent documentary The Chinese Mayor, young director Zhou Hao directed and starred in The Night as a male sex worker who is romanced by one of his johns and makes friends with a female streetwalker.
• Finding Phong by Swann Dubus and Phuong Thao Tran – A documentary and drama about the struggles of a young Vietnamese transgender person, it's directed by the same duo who did With or Without Me, a documentary about drug-addicted HIV-positive men in Vietnam.
• My Fair Wedding by Jang Hee Sun – South Korea's first same-sex marriage is chronicled in this documentary.
• Futuro Beach by Karim Ainouz – After failing to rescue a drowning German tourist, a Brazilian lifeguard meets the friend of the victim and decides begin a new life in Berlin, but he still can't escape his past.

Make it bigger

Please note that the schedule has been updated. Things have been slow in coming together because the festival organizers have been dealing with the censors over the film ratings. Some films are rated 20-, so be sure to bring your ID if you look like you're younger than 20.

Tickets are 180 baht and 200 baht and can be purchased at the Esplanade box office. Also, the movies have been fed into Major Cineplex's website and apps.

There was further coverage in The Nation as well as that other blog. For more details, check the BGLFF's Facebook events page.

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Chalui Tae Khob Fah

Veteran producer, director, actor and general jack-of-all-trades when it comes making movies in Thailand, Adirek "Uncle" Watleela was among the pioneers of the New Thai Cinema movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s that introduced Thai films to the world. At his company Film Bangkok, Uncle was behind the release of such era-defining classics as Tears of the Black Tiger, the original Bangkok Dangerous and Bang Rajan. Now, he is one of the figures behind the recently launched Transformation Films, a joint venture with Major Cineplex.

For Transformation's third release, Chalui Tae Khob Fah (ฉลุย แตะขอบฟ้า, a.k.a. Cha-Lui Reboot: Lost in Seoul or literally Touch the Sky), Uncle re-appropriates a movie he originally made in 1988, about the struggles of upcountry lads who come to the big city to pursue their dreams of becoming popular musicians.

In this new version, the protagonists aim even higher, hoping to tap into the popularity of K-pop and seeking stardom in Seoul, South Korea. Nachat "Nicky" Juntapun and Mek "Jessie" Mekwattana star, along with an actual K-pop boyband singer, Nichkhun Horvejkul, who is famous as the Thai guy in 2PM.

Major Cineplex is hoping for big success with this one, and separate from Cha-Lui, according to Variety and Film Business Asia, the multiplex operator and movie producer has inked a 10-film, three-year deal with South Korean mega-firm CJ Entertainment for more Thai-South Korean co-productions.

Cha-Lui Tae Kob Fah is rated 13+

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Also opening

Spy – Melissa McCarthy reteams with Bridesmaids and The Heat writer-director Paul Feig for this send-up of spy movies. McCarthy is a lowly deskbound CIA agent who sees a chance to finally become a field operative when her partner (Jude Law) is declared dead and other top agents are compromised. But instead of the glamorous jetsetting cover identity she hoped for, she's ordered to pose as a dowdy tourist. A surprisingly game Jason Statham basically spoofs himself in his comic turn in support of McCarthy. The cast also features Emily Blunt, Miranda Hart, Morena Baccarin, Peter Serafinowicz and 50 Cent. Critical reception is generally positive. Rated 15+

Extraterrestrial – Hide the Reese's Pieces. The usual slasher-thriller setting of a cabin in the woods becomes the site of an alien invasion in this thriller, in which vacationing youngsters are terrorized by very unfriendly E.T.'s. It's directed by the Vicious Brothers, a Canadian duo who previously did the found-footage horror Grave Encounters. Critical reception is mixed leaning to negative. Rated 18+

La Famille Bélier – A 16-year-old girl, the only hearing member of a deaf farm family, discovers she has a talent for singing and gets a chance to go to Paris to pursue her dreams. But leaving home means her parents and brother will lose their interpreter. Directed by Eric Lartigau, this comedy-drama was a major nominee at this year's César Awards in France, and it won the Most Promising Actress prize for young star Louane Emera. It's in French with English and Thai subtitles. Rated 15+

Dil Dhadakne Do – A dysfunctional Punjabi family takes an ocean cruise in this Bollywood comedy-drama, which features the azure waters of the Meditterean as a backdrop to plenty of song-and-dance numbers. Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma and Farhan Akhtar star. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit, Rama III and Pattaya. Opens Friday.

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Also showing

The Friese-Greene Club – June's schedule has boundary-pushers on Wednesdays, Costa-Gravas on Thursdays, Peter Sellers on Fridays, food movies on Saturdays and Spielberg on Sundays. However, this Sunday, winter is coming, with a marathon screening of Game of Thrones season five, and plans are to show this season's remaining episodes on Monday nights. I'm not sure this TV thing is a good idea, but whatever. Tuesday nights are request night, as always, so check the schedule if you are interested in joining. Tonight's show is Costa-Gravas' Missing, a 1982 political drama featuring an Oscar-nominated turn by Jack Lemmon. Tomorrow's Peter Sellers movie is Hal Ashby's Being There, in which a simpleton gardener is thrust into the upper-crust of society. Saturday's food-themed feature is Big Night, a 1996 directorial effort by ubiquitous character Stanley Tucci, who stars with Tony Shaloub in a comedy about brothers who run an Italian eatery in the 1950s New Jersey. And next Wednesday's boundary-pushing entry is animator Ralph Bakshi's X-rated cartoon Fritz the Cat. 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.

Italian Film Festival – Continuing through next Thursday at the Quartier CineArt at the EmQuartier mall, among the highlights is Reality, a reality-TV satire by Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone. There's more coverage and the full schedule in a previous post. Tickets can be booked in advance for 150, 170 and 300 baht. For more details, check the Dante Alighieri Society website or Facebook.

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand – The club's Contemporary World Film Series continues at 7pm on Monday, June 8 with Runway, a 2010 drama by the late Bangladeshi director Tareque Masud, whose 2002 drama The Clay Bird was Bangladesh's first submission to the Academy Awards. Runway is about a poor hard-working family who live in a hut near an international airport. Among them is son Ruhul who becomes increasingly radicalized after he takes computer classes and begins hanging with the wrong crowd. The screening is courtesy of the director's widow Catherine Masud, who was the co-writer, producer and editor of all his films. Admission is 150 baht for non-members plus 100 baht for anyone wanting the snacks laid on by the Embassy of Bangladesh.

Alliance Française – Five high-school students sing their way through their senior year in their rundown port city in Chante Ton Bac D'Abord (We Did It on a Song), screening at 7pm on Wednesday, June 10, at the Alliance.

Second Silent Film Festival in Thailand – With the Italian Film Festival and the Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival already competing for our eyeballs, here comes the second edition of the Thai Film Archive's Silent Film Festival in Thailand, which runs from June 10 to 17 at the Lido and Scala cinemas. Next Wednesday's opening film is the classic German horror The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920. All selections will be accompanied by pianists who are experts at playing for silent films, and will have intertitles in English and Thai. This was a very popular festival last year. Tickets are 120 baht and are already on sale, so hustle on over to the Lido and get them before they are gone. There's a special post detailing it all. Check the schedule at Facebook

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening May 28-June 3, 2015

The Voices

Impossible to pin down, artist, writer, graphic novelist and children's book author Marjane Satrapi keeps everyone guessing with her latest project The Voices, an offbeat black comedy starring Ryan Reynolds as a mentally ill guy who commits murder after he starts hearing the voices of his pet cat and dog.

It's quite a change of pace for the multi-talented French-Iranian, who made her film debut in 2007 with the stark animated adaptation of her autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis, about growing up in revolutionary-era Iran. She turned to live action with an adaptation of another of her graphic novels, Chicken With Plums, a French arthouse drama, which was followed by the French crime comedy The Gang of the Jotas.

With The Voices, she makes her Hollywood debut. Along with Reynolds, who also performs the voices in The Voices, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick and Jacki Weaver also star.

Critical reception is mostly praiseworthy. Rated 15+

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Also opening

San Andreas – Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson takes the lead in this latest dish-up of disaster from Hollywood. He's a famously heroic search-and-rescue helicopter pilot who is put to the test when California's San Andreas Fault slips entirely and causes a massive earthquake that liquifies Los Angeles. He rescues his estranged wife (Carla Gugino) and they work together to look for their daughter, who is trapped in San Francisco. Brad Peyton, who previously did the special-effects focused Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and the Journey to the Center of the Earth movies, directs. A half dozen or so writers were involved with this, but the chief credit goes to Carlton Cuse, a producer of many TV series, including Martial Law, Nash Bridges and Lost. Critical reception has yet to register. This was actually filmed in 3D and is screening in both 2D and 3D including IMAX. Rated G

Khrua Toh Amadya Taya Rattanakosin (ขรัวโต อมตะเถระกรุงรัตนโกสินทร์, Khrua Toh: Immortal Monk in Rattanakosin) – A devotional project of veteran industry figure Somkiat Ruenpraphat, this biographical drama is about one of Thailand's most famous Buddhist clergymen, Somdej Toh or, more formally, Phra Buddhacharn Toh Phomarangsi. He lived from 1788 to 1872 and was thought to have possessed magical powers. Consequently, amulets said to have been minted by the iconic monk have sold for as much as 100 million baht, and collectors believe a Somdej Toh amulet offers guaranteed protection, good luck and wealth. The biographical drama covers four periods, with four different actors portraying him, Chaitawat "Petch" Nuangjamnong, Jesadaporn "Pleng" Chomsri and Prachaya "Namkhang" Prathumdej during his earlier years, and veteran musician-actor Settha Sirichaya taking over for the monk's final years. You can read more about it in an article in The Nation. Rated 13+

Yes or No 2.5: Klab Ma Phua Rak Ther (Yes or No 2.5: กลับมา...เพื่อรักเธอ) – Originated in 2010 and billed as "Thailand's first lesbian film", the Yes or No franchise has proven popular across Asia. The first film was a syrupy and light coming-of-age romance between a naive college girl who eventually falls for her tomboy roommate, and a sequel followed up on their relationship. Now, in this not-a-sequel sequel, the fan-favorite tomboy from both films, actress-musician Suppanad "Tina" Jittaleela, portrays a different character. She's a photographer named Wine who is still in love with her former girlfriend Pim even though Pim is now hooked up with with a dude. A tomboy friend tries to find Wine a new match, but that backfires. Rated 15+

The Nutcracker – Last year, for the 40th anniversary of its most popular character Hello Kitty, the Japanese company Sanrio issued a remastered version of its 1979 stop-motion animated Nutcracker Fantasy with a new cast of Japanese voice actors. Nostalgic American viewers might be reminded of the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials that used the same animation style, such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. The story is loosely based on the Tchaikovsky ballet and E.T.A. Hoffman’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, about a little girl named Clara who becomes involved in a battle between the doll kingdom and the two-headed rat queen. Rated G

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Also showing

The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol – Screening at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand tonight, here's another selection that debuted in Bangkok as part of the Salaya International Documentary Film Festival earlier this year. The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol takes the South Korean government to task over a slow response to last year's ferry disaster that claimed the lives of 300 people. Also known as Diving Bell, the doc focuses on efforts to bring in a diving bell that would have sped the rescue efforts, but it went unused. Highly critical of the government, the documentary premiered at last year's Busan International Film Festival over objections by the city's mayor, and led to political pressure for festival director Lee Yong-kwan to resign. The embattled Lee still has his job, but the controversy continues, with recent budget cuts that film-fest organizers say are politically motivated. The screening is at 7 tonight at the FCCT. Admission to non-members is 150 baht.

The Friese-Greene Club – May winds down with a pair of top-prize winners at the Cannes Film Festival. Americana is first up tonight with director Wim Wenders' desert saga of an amnesiac (Harry Dean Stanton) attempting to reconnect with his brother (Dean Stockwell), seven-year-old son and ex-wife (Natassa Kinski). Tomorrow, it's a British Palme d'Or winner, 1971's The Go-Between, a period romantic drama starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates. Saturday's final "sexy" movie for the month is 1976's In the Realm of the Senses, a controversial and sexually explicit arthouse romance by Nagisa Oshima. And the month closes out on Sunday with one more "modern musical", the Bee Gees-infused 1977 classic Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. 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.

FilmVirus Wild Type – In a special program this Saturday night, Filmvirus and the Reading Room present a selection from Chiang Mai's recent Fly Beyond the Barbwire Fence festival, which screened short films about ethnic minorities made by ethnic minority directors, telling stories of their own. Put together by Friends Without Borders, FFFest regularly serves up rare cinematic gems that often get picked up for screening in other festivals, so Saturday's show will likely offer a preview of good things to come. The show starts at 7pm at the Reading Room, a fourth-floor walk-up venue on Silom Soi 19, opposite Silom Complex.

Court – Following last weekend's screening as part of BACC's Cinema Diverse, the indie Indian courtroom drama Court comes to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand's Contemporary World Film Series. Screening at 7pm on Tuesday, June 2, the drama is about the absurd trial of a elderly activist folksinger whose inflammatory songs are said to have caused a sewage worker to commit suicide. The debut feature of young director Chaitanya Tamhane, the film has won prizes from many festivals, including Venice. Along with the movie, there will be snacks from the Spicy by Nature Indian restaurant. Admission is 150 baht for non-members plus 100 baht for anyone wanting the food.

Italian Film Festival – The first big movie event at the luxurious new EmQuartier mall opens at 8pm on Tuesday with Leopardi (Il giovane favoloso), a biographical drama about romantic-era poet Giacomo Leopardi. The following night, it's The Ideal City (La citta ideale), the directorial debut of actor Luigi Lo Cascio. He also stars in the drama, about an environmentally obsessed architect whose life unravels. The festival runs until June 11 at Major Cineplex's fancy new Quartier CineArt theater, where tickets can be booked in advance for 150, 170 and 300 baht. For more details, check the Dante Alighieri Society website or Facebook.

Alliance Française – Life under the terrifying Islamic State forces comes into focus in 2014's Timbuktu, a drama by Mauritania-based auteur Abderrahmane Sissako (Bamako). Set in the Malian city, the story centers on an escalating conflict between a cattle farmer and a fisherman that ends up coming under the auspices of the Jihadists' kangaroo court. Timbuktu was in the main competition at Cannes last year and won two sidebar prizes. It was the first film ever submitted to the Oscars by Mauritania. It screens at 7pm on Wednesday, June 3, at the Alliance.

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Sneak preview

La Famille Bélier – A 16-year-old girl, the only hearing member of a deaf farm family, discovers she has a talent for singing and gets a chance to go to Paris pursue her dreams. But leaving home means her parents and brother will lose their interpreter. Directed by Eric Lartigau, this comedy-drama was a major nominee at this year's César Awards in France, and it won the Most Promising Actress prize for young star Louane Emera. It's in French with English and Thai subtitles, and is in sneak previews from around 8 nightly at the Lido in Siam Square, House on RCA and SF World Cinema at CentralWorld and other venues before adding more showtimes next week. Rated 15+

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Take note

Still to come is an update on the first Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which runs from June 5 to 14 at the Esplanade Ratchada. Details about showtimes and ticketing are slow in coming, but you can read more about some of the festival's very interesting entries over at that other blog. Keep an eye on the Facebook events page for other details.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Italian Film Festival, June 2-11, 2015

Seven recent acclaimed movies from Italy will be featured in the Italian Film Festival. Organised by the Dante Alighieri Cultural Association with support from the Italian Embassy, the fest runs from June 2 to 11 at the ritzy new EmQuartier mall as part of "Urban - Italia", a nine-day celebration of Italian products and culture that coincides with the ongoing Universal Exposition Milan.

All selections are in Italian with English subtitles. It's a ticketed festival, with prices set at 150, 170 and 300 baht.

Among the highlights is The Great Beauty, winner of last year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Reality, winner of the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize in 2012 and The Wonders, the jury prize winner at Cannes last year. Here's the line-up:

• The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) – Directed by Paolo Sorrentino and starring the auteur's frequent leading man Toni Servillo, the drama follows a retired writer on his 65th birthday as he walks the streets of Rome and reflects on his life, past loves and unfulfillment.
• Long Live Freedom (Vive la liberta) – Toni Servillo pulls double duty in another festival entry, director Robert Ando's political comedy. When a burned-out Italian senator decides he's had enough and pulls a disappearing act, his minder recruits the politician's psychiatrically unstable twin brother to take his place. Long Live Freedom won several honours in Italy, including best screenplay at last year's David di Donatello Awards.
• Reality – Directed by Matteo Garrone, whose previous film, the gritty organised-crime drama Gomorrah won widespread acclaim, the 2012 Cannes Grand Prize winner Reality takes a comic view of the world of reality TV. It follows a Neopolitan fishmonger as he becomes increasingly obsessed with landing a role on "Grande Fratello", the Italian version of "Big Brother". The star is Aniello Arena, an ex-convict former gangster who was discovered by Garrone.
• The Wonders (Le meraviglie) – Last year's jury prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival is the sophomore directorial effort from Alice Rorhrwacher. It's about a domineering teenager who dreams of breaking away from her German beekeeper father, French-speaking mother (played by the director's sister Alba) and three sisters. Monica Bellucci provides an inspirational vision. An ode to the disappearing traditional farming lifestyle of Italy, it's also a partly autobiographical reflection for the director, whose father was German and raised bees.
• Me and You (Io e te) – Veteran writer-director Bernardo Bertolucci contributes his latest, 2012's tension-filled drama about a troubled 14-year-old boy who decides to hide out in a basement in order to escape family and social pressures. But his solitude is disturbed by the arrival of his estranged 25-year-old drug-addicted sister. Bertolucci's first film since The Dreamers in 2003, Me and You was nominated for several awards in Italy and won several others, including the EuroCinema Hawai'i Award at the Hawaii film fest.
• The Ideal City (La citta ideale) – Actor Luigi Lo Cascio, best known for his role in the generations-spanning Italian epic The Best of Youth, makes his directorial debut with this a neo-noir comedy-drama. In The Ideal City, he portrays an environmentally obsessed architect whose life unravels after he's involved in a minor wreck while borrowing a friend's electric car. It was nominated for many prizes, and won the Young Cinema Award at the Venice International Film Festival.
• Leopardi (Il giovane favoloso) – Romantic-era poet Giacomo Leopardi takes centrestage in this 2014 biopic, which follows the 19th century thinker in his restless search for knowledge. Elio Germano stars and Mario Martone directs. The absorbing biographical drama was in the main competition at last year's Venice Film Festival, where it won several prizes, including the Pasinetti Award and Young Jury Members Award for best actor.

For more details, check the Dante Alighieri website or Facebook.

June 2

• 8pm, Leopardi

June 3

• 8pm, The Ideal City

June 4

• 8pm, Long Live Freedom

June 5

• 8pm, Me and You

June 6

• 3.30pm, Long Live Freedom
• 6pm, The Great Beauty
• 9pm, Reality

June 7

• 3.30pm, The Wonders
• 6pm, Leopardi
• 9pm, Me and You

June 8

• 8pm, The Ideal City

June 9

• 8pm, The Wonders

June 10

• 8pm, Reality

June 11

• 8pm, The Great Beauty

(Cross-published in The Nation)

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening May 21-27, 2015

Song of the Sea

A sweet traditionally animated feature from Ireland hits big screens this week with the Academy Award-nominated Song of the Sea, which is inspired by the ancient Celtic folklore about the selkie, mythical creatures that lived as seals in the ocean but could also exist for a time as humans on land.

The story is about a young brother and sister, who live with their lonely lighthouse-keeper father. They discover that their mother was a selkie.

Top Irish screen and stage talents Brendan Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan are among voice cast.

It is directed by Tomm Moore, whose previous animated feature, The Secret of Kells, was also nominated for the Oscar.

Critical reception is overwhelmingly positive. Rated G

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Tomorrowland

Director Brad Bird, who previously helmed the Pixar animations The Incredibles and Ratatouille as well as Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, makes his return to the Disney fold with Tomorrowland, a promising adaptation of a theme-park attraction.

The sci-fi adventure story is about a curious teenager (Britt Robertson) who comes into possession of a mysterious pin that reveals a hidden futuristic world. It leads her to track down a jaded former boy genius (George Clooney). Chased by mysterious goons, the pair climb into a rocket-powered bathtub and blast off on a mission to uncover the secrets of Tomorrowland.

It's co-scripted by Damon Lindelhoff, writer of Cowboys and Aliens and Star Trek Into Darkness, and is inspired by a 1950s Disney theme park attraction, as well as Walt Disney's own optimistic dreams of utopian societies.

Critical reception is generally positive. In addition to screenings at conventional multiplexes, it's also at IMAX. However, it's not in 3D. So enjoy. Rated G

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Also opening

Paa Happy She Taa Yuh (ป้าแฮปปี้ Sheท่าเยอะ a.k.a. Miss Happy or literally "happy auntie") – Popular TV actress and product presenter Khemanit "Pancake" Jamikorn "goes ugly" for her big-screen debut, wearing a frizzed-out wavy mop of hair and funky mismatched baggy blouses and long skirts. She's Meesuk, a young lady who somehow manages to remain cheerful despite a run of bad luck that includes a heart problem and a doctor's diagnosis of one month to live. To survive, she decides she needs to just dance, with moves supplied by her gay best friend (singer Chalatit "Ben" Tantiwut). Rated 15+

A Little Chaos – Alan Rickman directs and stars as a droll King Louis XIV in this historical drama about the romantic entanglements of gifted landscapers competing to design a garden for the Palace of Versailles. Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Stanley Tucci and Helen McCrory also star. Critical reception is evenly mixed. Rated 15+

Unfriended – It's a bit of a twist on the "found footage" horror genre, with a screengrab drama that unfolds during a chat session on a teenager's computer. She and her friends are stalked by an unseen figure who seeks vengeance for an online bullying attack that led to a girl's suicide. This was also called Cybernatural, and critical reception is mixed, leaning slightly to positive. Rated 18+

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' – The villain Frieza returns with an aim to take vengeance against Goku and the other Saiyans. Another in a long-running series of popular Japanese manga and anime franchises, it's at SF and Apex, with the Japanese soundtrack and English and Thai subtitles at some cinemas. Rated G

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Also showing

Singapore Film Festival – Six recent films from Singapore are screening from tonight until Sunday at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Among the highlights is the dark satire Unlucky Plaza, in which a Filipino restaurateur spirals out of control and takes hostages. There's also Singapore's submission to the Academy Awards, Sayang Disayang, which was the first Malay film to be produced in Singapore since the city-state became independent 50 years ago. It is a drama about a disabled elderly widower and his slowly changing relationship with his Indonesian housekeeper. Other entries are Banting, about a Muslim girl who secretly becomes a professional wrestler, the quirky romance Singapore Girl, the thriller Ms. J Contemplates Her Choice and supernatural horror in Bring Back the Dead. Showtimes and more details are covered in a special post. Tickets are free, and handed out 30 minutes before the shows on a first-come, first-served basis. So queue up.

The Friese-Greene Club – Oh sure, you hear a lot about The Godfather or Apocalypse Now, but tonight's selection is probably Francis Ford Coppola's finest film – The Conversation. The top-prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974, it stars Gene Hackman as an obsessive surveillance expert. John Cazale also stars, in one of the five feature-film roles he played in a short but unrivaled career. Tomorrow, it's a British triumph at Cannes, Roland Joffe's 1986 adventure epic The Mission, with Jeremy Irons as a missionary priest to South American tribal people, and Robert De Niro as a slave-hunting mercenary who seeks redemption. Featuring a gorgeous soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, The Mission was actually a commercial flop, according to the FGC's desscription. The club is closed for a private function on Saturday, but the show resumes on Sunday with director Frank Oz's fun adaptation of the musical Little Shop of Horrors, starring a giant talking plant and Rick Moranis, with support from Steve Martin and Bill Murray. Next Wednesday is one more music documentary for the month, Who the F**k Is Arthur Fogel, a 2013 look at the little-known Canadian CEO behind Live Nation Entertainment, the company that has monopolized the rock-concert industry. 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 – On Saturday, the second entry in this year's Cinema Diverse series at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center brings together two young filmmakers, Thailand's Aditya Assarat (Wonderful Town, Hi-So) and India's Chaitanya Tamhane for a discussion and screening of Tamhane's Court. The courtroom drama follows the trial of an elderly folksinger who is accused of abetting a man's suicide. “Court is very funny even though it’s not a comedy. The acting is very real. It could have been acted as a comedy but then it wouldn't have been funny. I laugh because the actors never let me forget this is a serious situation. That is the power of the movie,” Aditya says. A stunning debut film, Court won prizes last year at film fests in Vienna, Venice, Singapore, Goteborg and elsewhere. The accolades include the New Talent Award at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. Along with the two directors, actor-producer Vivek Gomber will be on hand for the post-screening talk. There's no way to reserve seats – registration opens at 4.30pm, with the screening at 5.30pm on Saturday in the BACC's fifth-floor auditorium.

Alliance Française – Director Sylvain Chomet is best known for his animated features like The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, but he turned to live-action for 2013's Attila Marcel, an oddball comedy about a dysfunctional young man who was raised by his overly-attentive aunts. He seeks to break away from his sheltered existence, with the help of an eccentric neighbor lady. It screens at 7pm on Wednesday, May 27, at the Alliance.

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Take note

More details are emerging about the Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which is set for June 5 to 14 at the Esplanade Ratchada. While a schedule and other details are being hammered out, there is a Facebook events page. It is being put on by Attitude magazine, which is also sponsoring a short-film contest in conjunction with the fest.

And yet another film fest has cropped up – the Italian Film Festival from June 2 to 11 at the Quartier CineArt. I'll have more details ready in a few days. It is being organised in part by the Dante Alighieri Cultural Association Bangkok, which has also been putting on monthly film screenings.

Next Thursday has another documentary screening at the FCCT, The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol, which accuses the South Korean authorities of moving too slowly to rescue victims of the 2014 ferry disaster. Hit the link and scroll down for more upcoming movies in the FCCT's Contemporary World Film series.