Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening March 10-16, 2016

The Hunting Ground

Rape culture at American colleges is exposed in The Hunting Ground, a documentary on campus rape crimes, institutional cover-ups and the toll that rape and sexual abuse takes on students, families and society.

It's the latest film by Kirby Dick, the noted documentary filmmaker whose previous works include Twist of Faith (on sex abuse of children in the Catholic Church), the informative This Film Is Not Yet Rated (on Hollywood's hypocritical film-ratings agency) and The Invisible War (on sexual assault in the U.S. military).

A winner of several awards, The Hunting Ground features the Academy Award-nominated original song "Til It Happens to You", written by Diane Warren and performed by Lady Gaga. It was featured in a special live performance at the recent Oscars ceremony. Critical reception has been mostly positive.

Brought to Thailand by the Documentary Club, The Hunting Ground is at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld and SFX The Crystal Ekamai-Ram Indra. For more details, check the Documentary Club Facebook page and SF's bookings site. Rated 13+

---

Also opening

Kung Fu Panda 3 – The DreamWorks Animation talking-animals franchise keeps rolling, with the portly panda martial-artist Po (Jack Black) reuniting with his long-lost father (Brian Cranston) and paying a visit to a secret panda paradise. Meanwhile, a new villain arises in the form of a snorting bull named Kai (J.K. Simmons), who is defeating kung-fu masters across the land and stealing their supernatural powers. Along with Black, returning voices include Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Kate Hudson and Jolie's children add their voices to this latest adventure. Critical reception is generally positive. This was in daytime sneak previews last week and now moves to general release. It's in 3D in some cinemas. Rated G

The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Taking a page from adaptations of Harry Potter, The Hobbit and The Hunger Games, it's apparently mandatory now for the third book in young-adult-science-fiction novel trilogies to be broken in two for the Hollywood movie adaptations. This is part one of the final chapter in Divergent, with Part 2 (now called Ascendant) not due out until next year. So it's not over yet. Anyway, the story has the teen heroine Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her rebel-scum friends faced with having to flee for their lives from a comfortable existence in post-apocalyptic utopian Chicago. Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Octavia Spencer, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz,  Miles Teller and Ansel Elgort also star. Critical reception is starting to trickle in, but won't really get going until next week when this opens in the U.S. The release in overseas territories is a move to gin up box-office takings before the majority of critics weigh in and trash the film. In addition to 2D screenings in ordinary cinemas, there's also a 2D IMAX version. Rated 13+

---

Also showing

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand – Film screenings resume at the FCCT, with a special Thai documentary screening and panel discussion tonight and a South African film on Monday. First up is Y/Our Music, a critically acclaimed and nominated Thai-British documentary on the political and social divide in Thai music. It covers the nearly forgotten mor lam artists of the Thai country music scene in the Northeast and oddball indie musicians in Bangkok. Panelists will be co-director "Art" Waraluck Hiransrettawat Every, political scientist Dr. Sirote Klampaiboon, and Bangkok Post music columnist John Clewly. The show is at 7 tonight. Admission is (yikes!) 450 baht for non-members. Monday marks the beginning of the year's Contemporary World Film Series, which opens with Drum, a fact-based 2004 South African drama about a writer for Drum magazine getting caught up in the anti-Apartheid movement in the 1950s. Taye Diggs and Gabriel Mann star. South African Ambassador Ruby Marks will be on hand, along with South African wine and snacks. Entry is 150 baht for non-members plus 100 baht for the drinks and food. The show starts at 7pm.

German Film Week – The Goethe-Institut's annual showcase continues tonight with Inbetween Worlds (Zwischen Welten), following a German soldier in Afghanistan as he becomes conflicted between duty and his conscience as he works in a Taliban-controlled area with a young Afghan interpreter. Tomorrow, it's A God send (Ein Geschenk der Götter), in which an unemployed actress takes a job teaching theater to other jobless folks. Saturday has Jack, about a 10-year-old boy looking for his missing mother. And the week concludes on Sunday with Patong Girl, about a dysfunctional German family on vacation on Phuket. It was shot in Phuket with a Thai and German cast, with assistance from production-services firm De Warrenne Pictures. Shows are at 7pm at Paragon Cineplex. Tickets are 120 baht and 150 baht at the box office.

The Friese-Greene Club – A support-group meeting for the confused will be convened at the Club immediately following tonight's screening of the L.A.-noir mystery Mulholland Drive, part of a monthlong tribute to cult director David Lynch. Tomorrow's "controversial" film is another cult entry, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. "Not for the faint-hearted," warns the Club. Saturday is the first of three screenings this month of Trump: What's the Deal?, a 1999 documentary on the bloviating U.S. presidential candidate. It's reportedly "the movie Trump doesn't want you to see." Showing no fear of being sued by Trump, the FGC has specially licensed the film for screenings in its nine-seat boutique cinema, and is charging 150 baht a head to recoup the costs. Douglas Slocum, the veteran British cinematographer who died last month at age 103, is paid tribute in Sunday screenings. This week's entry is The Servant, a 1963 adaptation of a Harold Pinter novel that won four BAFTAs, including best cinematography. "The Best of Danish" is featured on Wednesdays, with Thomas Vinterberg's 1998 family drama Festen. It's the first of the films made under the rules of the Dogme 95 movement, which aimed to bring filmmaking back to the basics of story, acting, and theme, eschewing special effects and slickness. 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.

German Film Series – The Goethe has got it going on when it comes to film. In addition to the recent Wim Wenders retrospective and the ongoing German Film Week there are the monthly installments in the year-round German Film Series, which has screenings at the Thai Film Archive and the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. This month's entry is Love Steaks, an indie romance about the unusual relationship between a resort's trainee masseur and the hotel's chef-in-training. It screens at 1pm on Sunday at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, and at 6pm on Tuesday in the BACC's fifth-floor auditorium.

Alliance Française – Following a one-week hiatus, the free French films return at the Alliance with Deux de la Vague (Two in the Wave), a 2010 documentary on the friendship between two of the founding titans of the French New Wave – Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. It screens at 7pm on Wednesday, March 16, at the Alliance.

---

Take note

Details are starting to emerge about the Salaya International Documentary Film Festival, which runs from March 26 to April 3 at the Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, and the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Hit the Salaya Doc Facebook page to see what they are up to.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening April 17-23, 2014

Transcendence

Wally Pfister, the lensman for  Christopher Nolan on everything from Memento to The Dark Knight Trilogy, makes his feature directorial debut with Transcendence, a Nolanesque high-concept sci-fi thriller in which a man's experiments with artificial intelligence threaten to bring an end to human existence.

Johnny Depp stars as an ambitious tech guru who wants to create a powerful sentient computer network that combines the collective knowledge of everything. "Once online, its analytical power will be greater than the collective intelligence of every person born in the history of the world," he says. His controversial experiments make him the target of anti-technology extremists who inadvertently become the catalyst for him to take his work to the next terrifying level.

Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Cole Hauser and Morgan Freeman also star.

This is just coming out, so critical reception is still being parsed. Rated 15+

---

Also opening

Need for Speed – Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman from TV's Breaking Bad) stars in this adaptation of the popular Electronic Arts video game. He's an ex-convict street racer who joins a cross-country race with revenge on his mind and a massive bounty on his head. Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots and Michael Keaton also star. Critics aren't racing to praise it, but if you like car-chase flicks (or the Emmy-winning Aaron Paul) then it's probably okay. This opened in sneak previews last Friday and moves to a wider release today. It's in 3D (converted) in some cinemas, including IMAX. Rated 13+

My House (บ้านขังวิญญาณ, Baan Khung Winyarn) – After a young couple move into a new home with their daughter and mother-in-law, the whole family starts to change. The girl sleepwalks, the husband is always bad-tempered and the food goes rotten at an alarming rate. When the mother-in-law dies, the couple decides to investigate. Akara Amatayakul and Ariya Tharnwong star. It's directed by Theeratorn Chaowanayothin, who a few years back took part in the omnibus horror Ngao. Rated 18+

Khumba – Not content to let Disney's The Lion King nor DreamWorks' Madagascar hog all the talking African animal action, South Africa's Triggerfish Animation Studio turns out this musical tale about a half-striped zebra who is rejected by his superstitious herd. He embarks on a daring quest to earn his stripes. The voice cast includes Jake T. Austin, Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne, Richard E. Grant, Steve Buscemi and a host of others. Critical reception is mixed. It's in 3D in some cinemas. Rated G

Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan – Anime franchises cross over as the boy detective Conan Edogawa aims to catch master thief Arsene Lupin III, who is suspected of stealing the the Cherry Sapphire. It was a nominee for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, which went to Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. It's at SF cinemas only and it Thai-dubbed only. Rated 13+

2 States – A young man and woman meet at college and fall in love. Trouble is, they are from different states with wildly different cultures – he's from Delhi and comes from a Punjabi household while she is from a Tamil Brahmin family in Chennai, and none of the parents are going to easily accept the marriage. Starring Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, this romantic comedy is based on the partly autobiographical 2009 novel by Chetan Bhagat. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Paragon, Major Cineplex Sukhumvit, Rama III and Pattaya. Opens Friday.

---

Also showing

The Friese-Greene Club – Tonight, Anthony Hopkins is in one of this career-best performances in Merchant-Ivory's Remains of the Day, portraying a butler who begins to question his lifelong loyalty. Tomorrow, Albert Brooks takes a witty look at what happens after we die in Defending Your Life. Saturday, a film crew invades a small town, leading to chaos in State and Main, written and directed by David Mamet. Sundays this month are normally for Michael Redgrave movies, but this week there's a special event – it's Cinematography Evening. The guest is Geoff Boyle, an early adopter of digital technology who's shot such films as The Mutant Chronicles and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, which was made in Thailand. The event, sponsored by VS Service, a prominent production-services firm, begins at 7pm with a screening of Boyle's documentary Side by Side. Next Wednesday, go behind the scenes of the golden age of Filipino exploitation cinema in Machete Maidens Unleashed. Shows start at 8 unless otherwise noted. 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 must. There are sometimes additions and changes in the schedule, so please check the website and Facebook page for updates.

Film Virus Double Bill – Saddle up and hit the trail to Thammasat University on Sunday as the Double Bills resume with a pair of "late westerns". First up is Uli Edel's 1999 made-for-TV movie Purgatory, in which outlaws ride into a town that turns out to be a holding space for the Wild West's legendary figures. The terrific cast includes Sam Shepard, Eric Roberts, Randy Quaid and Donnie Wahlberg. That's followed by John Wayne's swansong, 1976's The Shootist, directed by Don Siegel. The show starts at 12.30pm. The venue is the Rewat Buddhinan Room in the basement of the Pridi Banomyong Library at Thammasat University, Tha Prachan. You'll need to show your I.D. and have it scanned to gain entry. To get there by ferry, take the Chao Praya River Express to Wang Lang (Siriraj) pier and then transfer to a ferry heading to Tha Prachan or Wat Mahathat piers.

Thailand International Film Destination Festival – The second edition of the Thailand Film Office's showcase of foreign film productions in Thailand has three screenings daily from April 22 to 28 at Paragon Cineplex. The offerings include such classics as the Oscar-winning The Killing Fields and the Robin Williams' laughfest Good Morning Vietnam, in which Thailand stood in for its wartorn neighbors. There will be two Bond movies – The Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies.  And there are a host of premieres, among them Glory Days, about a '90s hair-metal band reuniting in Pattaya and attempting to turn back the clock. Other films include the Bangkok crime flick Only God Forgives, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li and Ninja: Shadow of a Tear. Local premieres include the Pang brothers' 3D disaster thriller Out of Inferno and Hong Kong director Benny Chan's crime drama White Storm. The schedule has yet to be finalized, so keep your eye on the website and Facebook page.

Alliance Française – Romain Lévy directs the 2012 comedy Radiostars, about shock jocks from a failing radio station who hit the road in a bid to win back their audience share. The show is at 7pm on Wednesday, April 23 at the Alliance Française de Bangkok, at the intersection of Rama IV and Wireless roads, opposite Lumpini Park in the former location of the Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

---

Take note

I can't seem to find showtimes on Major Cineplex's website. Where'd they go? Their smartphone app still carries the timings though. And so does Moveedoo.

With Songkran out of the way, film-event organizers aren't letting the heat slow them down. Upcoming engagements include the Swedish Film Festival from April 24 to 27 at SFX the Emporium, the Autism Film Festival on April 26 at Paragon and Bangkok International Student Film Festival from April 29 to May 4 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 27-October 3, 2012

End of Watch

David Ayer, the screenwriter behind the gritty Los Angeles police thriller Training Day, is back with another tale of LA's men in dark blue, End of Watch.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña star as a pair of gung-ho young patrolman who make a traffic stop of a drug suspect and seize a cache of money and firearms, including a gold-plated AK-47. The arrest puts them on the trail of a ruthless cartel and marks them for death.

To get in shape for their roles, Gyllenhall and Peña underwent five months of training, which included 12-hour ride-alongs with Los Angeles law enforcement agencies.

The filming was done documentary style, similar to the TV show Cops, to give viewers that "you are there", first-person-shooter feeling.

Ayer's third feature as writer director following Harsh Times and Street Kings, Critical reception for End of Watch is generally positive. Rated 18+.

---

Also opening

Fighting Fish (ดุ ดวล ดิบ, Du Duan Dib) – A French expat and his Thai pal (JJ Jakkris Kanokpojnanon) get mixed up in an underground boxing club in this martial-arts drama from Saga Studios. The Frenchman is portrayed by Jawed El Berni, a stuntman who's made a name for himself as the double for Bollywood superstar Salman Khan. Fans of Thai action films might recognize Suchao Pongvilai as the mob boss from his turn as the villain in Ong-Bak. French-Vietnamese stunt performer Kazu Patrick Tang from Raging Phoenix and BKO: Bangkok Knockout also turns up. It's the directorial debut by former pin-up model and sexy video star "Ying" Julaluck Ismalone (formerly Kittiyarath). A decade ago she starred in the controversial erotic mermaid fantasy Phra-Apai-Mani but recently relaunched her acting career playing a villain in Bangkok Revenge, starring Jon Foo, one of the bad guys who fought Tony Jaa in the first Tom Yum Goong. Rated 15+.

Motorway – Hong Kong director Soi Cheang and his producer Johnnie To have the lock on stylishly slick, twisty Hong Kong crime thrillers. Their latest effort stars Shawn Yue as a hard-driving cop who belongs to the "invisible squad", an elite unit of highway patrolmen. Blasting around the city in his Audi A4, he's partnered with a cooler-headed veteran officer, played by the always-reliable Anthony Wong. The maverick young cop meets his match when he's tasked with bringing in a mobster's cunning getaway driver (Guo Xiaodong). Barbie Hsu, Li Haitao, Lam Ka-tung, Michelle Ye and Josie Ho also star. Critical reception is mixed, though Singapore's Nutshell Review likens it to "Hong Kong's answer to Drive". In Cantonese with English and Thai subtitles at House. Rated 15+.

Stolen – Nicolas Cage is doing Liam Neeson in this Taken-esque thriller, which comes out just before the release of Taken 2. Cage is a former master thief who has just finished an eight-year prison sentence after being double-crossed in a heist gone awry. Everyone seems to think he knows where the $10 million is from that last caper, and so his vengeful ex-partner (Josh Lucas) turns up and kidnaps Cage's estranged daughter. Malin Ackerman, Danny Huston and M.C. Gainey also star. Stolen reunites Cage with his old Con Air director Simon West, making a comeback this year with Expendables 2 having just been in cinemas. Stolen had a limited release a week or so ago in the U.S. and looks destined mainly for the home-video market. Critical reception, what little there is, is negative. Rated 15+.

The Assassins – Chow Yun-fat takes on the role of Chinese warlord Cao Cao in this historical drama set during the Three Kingdoms period. He's plotting to overthrow the emperor and has tasked a pair of young lovers (Hiroshi Tamaki and Liu Yifei), who have undergone five years of training as assassins, to kill Emperor Xian. It's Thai-dubbed with English subtitles at Major Cineplex. Rated 15+.

---

Also showing

Otelo Burning –  A boy in apartheid-era South Africa struggles to overcome the racist obstacles to achieve his dream of surfing in this much-acclaimed South African drama screening at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Bangkok at 8 tonight (September 27). The Embassy of South Africa and its newly-arrived ambassador will lay on a spread of South African wine and food. Admission is 150 for non-members and 200 baht for the food.

Barfi! – India has submitted this much-acclaimed romantic comedy to the Academy Awards as its best foreign language film entry. Ranbir Kapoor stars as Barfi, a mischievous deaf-mute young man in picturesque 1970s Darjeeling. He captures the heart of a young upper-class woman (Ileana D'Cruz) who is already engaged. Their unique friendship becomes complicated with the return of an old childhood acquaintance of Barfi's, a young autistic woman (Priyanka Chopra) and Barfi's being accused of bank robbery and kidnapping. Kapoor has won many plaudits for his incredible physical-comedy portrayal as has Chopra for her role as the autistic girl. It's at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit and Rama III. Rated 13+.

---

Take note

Cinema Diverse –  After a couple months' hiatus, the film series of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and Films Forum starts back up on October 20 with Niño, a much-acclaimed Filipino family drama in which an opera singer tries various ways to revive her comatose politician brother, including singing arias to him and dressing her 9-year-old boy up as St. Niño, the Child Christ. Meanwhile, other family members return home, all wanting a share of the estate, and secrets come tumbling forth. It's the debut feature by veteran stage director Loy Arcenas and stars 84-year-old Fides Cuyugan Asensio, one of the Philippines most prominent opera singers. They will attend the screening, which is being supported by Cebu Pacific Air. The Philippines Embassy will serve Filipino food and beer before the screening of the film, which is also being supported by the Society of Filipinas in Thailand. The reception is at 5pm with the screening starting at 6.30pm in the BACC's fifth-floor auditorium. Admission is free.