Bangkok Cinema Scene special: French Film Festival, March 18-27, 2011

As part of the annual La Fête French culture and arts festival, the French Film Festival is back for a seventh edition, with a line-up of 11 recent French box-office hits and critically acclaimed film-fest favorites that include comedies, dramas, romance and suspense.

After an invite-only opening on Thursday, the fest runs from March 18 to 27j at SF World Cinemas at CentralWorld. Tickets are 120 baht, and SF Cinemas has a package deal of 500 baht for five movies.

Here's the line-up:

Gainsbourg – Joann Sfar adapts his graphic novel for this biographical comedy-drama about Serge Gainsbourg, tracking the singer-songwriter's life from his childhood in Nazi-occupied Paris, the swinging songwriting years of the 1960s to his death in 1991. Eric Elmosnino stars as Gainsbourg with Lucy Gordon as Jane Birkin (Gordon's last filmed appearance) and Laetitia Casta as Brigitte Bardot. Friday, March 18, 8pm and Saturday, March 27, 2.30pm.

Baby Love (Comme les autres) – Lambert Wilson stars as Manu, a gay paediatrician who wants to adopt a child and bring him or her up with his partner, Philippe (Pascal Elbé). Problem is, the lawyer Philippe isn't interested in such entanglements. Manu persists though, and goes about searching for a surrogate mother. He finds an Argentine beauty (Pilar López de Ayala) who's willing, if he'll grant her a marriage of convenience. This romantic comedy is the debut feature by director Vincent Garenq. Saturday, March 19, 12:30pm and Tuesday, March 22, 8pm.

What Love May Bring (Ces amours-là) – A woman named Ilva (Audrey Dana) looks back on her love life with the bulk of the story taking place during the German occupation of Paris. Directed by Claude Lelouch, the veteran filmmaker describes it as a "a remake of my 41 films". Musician Laurent Couson, who also composed the score, makes his acting debut as one of Ilva's many lovers, Simone the piano player. He'll be present for a Q&A session after the screening. Saturday, March 19, 2.30pm.

Restless (L'insurgée a.k.a. Le Bel âge) – 17-year-old Claire (Pauline Etienne) struggles between her commitment to swimming and her first love. She lives with her 80-year-old grandfather Maurice (Michel Piccoli) Reverdy, a composer who spends much of alone with his memories of World War II. The debut feature by Laurent Perreau, this drama is a sensitive study of contrasting characters – one facing her impending adulthood and the other the inevitability of his death. Saturday, March 19, 5.30pm and Thursday, March 24, 8pm.

Lights Out (Simon Werner a disparu...) – During a drinking party in the woods, a group of teenagers discover a corpse hidden in the undergrowth. Who is it? How did it get there? Fabrice Gobert directs. Saturday, March 19, 7.45pm and Sunday, March 27, 5pm.

Memory Lane – One summer, seven 25-year-old friends get together in their old hometown to spend a few days together. Some still live there, others have returned for family reasons or to find the traces of lingering adolescence, while others think that they'll perhaps find love. The debut feature by Mikhaël Hers, it's a study of characters caught "in between" – between city and country, friendship and love, life and death and youthful dreams and the impending realities of growing up. Sunday, March 20, 12.30pm and Wednesday, March 23, 8pm.

The Refuge (Le refuge a.k.a Hideaway) – For a long time director François Ozon wished he could make a movie with an actual pregnant actress. He did it with his 2009 drama, starring Isabelle Carré. She portrays Mousse, a young woman, who with her lover has everything going for her, but drugs invade their lives. Louis dies of an overdose, leaving Mousse alone and pregnant. Not having anywhere else to go, she seeks refuge in a house far away from Paris. Sunday, March 20, 2.30pm and Saturday, March 26, 12.30pm.

LOL (Laughing Out Loud) – High-school girl Lola (Christa Theret) navigates the pressures of romance, friendship, the Internet and social-networking websites. Meanwhile, Lola's mother (Sophie Marceau) tries to cope with the generational differences with her daughter while navigating odd relationships of her own. Directed by Lisa Azuelos, this French hit romantic comedy has been picked up by actress Demi Moore for a Hollywood remake that stars her and Miley Cyrus. Sunday, March 20, 4.30pm and Saturday, March 26, 7.30pm.

Welcome – Bilal is a 17-year-old Kurdish boy from Iraq who sets off on an adventure-filled journey across Europe, following his dream of making it to England to become a professional football player and meet his girlfriend. He gets as far as Calais, France, where he decides he wants to cross the Channel but first must learn how to swim. He makes friends with a Frenchman (Vincent Lindon) who will teach him. Philippe Lioret directs. Sunday, March 20, 6.45pm and Saturday, March 26, 5.10pm.

Mademoiselle Chambon – Jean (Vincent Lindon), a hard-working, dedicated husband and family man, is asked by his son's homeroom teacher Mademoiselle Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain) to be a substitute teacher and finds himself falling for her elegant charm. Stéphane Brizé directs. Monday, March 21, 8pm and Sunday, March 27, 12.30pm

Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur) – Alex (Romain Duris) has a speciality in breaking up relationships. His aim is to charm the pants off a bride-to-be, wife or girlfriend and make her intended mate an ex. He runs into trouble with this latest target, a woman named Juliette (Vanessa Paradis), a young free-spirited heiress. Pascal Chaumeil directs. Friday, March 25, 8pm and Sunday, March 27, 2:45pm.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening March 10-15, 2011

127 Hours


James Franco stars in 127 Hours, a fact-based drama about a mountain climber who is trapped in a suspenseful situation for five days in the Utah desert.

Because it's based on real life, everyone probably already knows the story, but I won't spoil it here.

The movie was up for best picture at this year's Academy Awards and Franco scored an Oscar nomination. Danny Boyle directs and the Slumdog Millionaire helmer again collaborates with Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman for the Oscar-nominated soundtrack.

Critical reception is overwhelmingly positive, the consensus being that it's "as gut-wrenching as it is inspirational ... one of Danny Boyle's most beautifully exuberant directorial efforts with a terrific performance from James Franco."

It's only at Major Cineplex (including Paragon, Paradise, Esplanade). Rated 13+.

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Rango


Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski enlists his Jack Sparrow buddy Johnny Depp for Rango, a spaghetti western that's disguised as an animated feature.

Depp voices the chameleon who has the identity crises that are endemic to his species. But he puts on a badge and becomes sheriff in a small desert town called Dirt that is threatened with have its water supply cut off by bad guys.

Verbinski has said he aimed to get Depp's past movie characters into the portrayal of Rango, with bits of Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorshands and Ed Wood turning up. I think there's a bit of Hunter S. Thompson as well.

Other voices are by Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty as the tortoise mayor, Alfred Molina, Harry Dean Stanton, Timothy Olyphant, Ray Winstone, Stephen Root and Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake.

Critical reception is mostly positive. The consensus: "It may not be as charming as it thinks it is – and it certainly isn't for kids – but Rango is a smart, giddily creative burst of beautifully animated entertainment." Rated G.

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Also opening


Red Riding Hood – Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and Orphan screenwriter David Leslie Johnson take on the old folktale. Here, Red isn't so little, but she has big eyes and she has a name, Valerie. As played by Amanda Seyfried, she's a poor young woman in medieval times who's heading toward an arranged marriage with a wealthy man but plans to elope with her lover (Shiloh Fernandez). The big, bad wolf in this case is a werewolf, and the Witchfinder General, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), clues the villagers in to the fact that the werewolf only changes form at night and the rest of the time is human, and could be any one of them. Critical reception is too early too tell, but the buzz on this so far is mostly positive. Rated G.


Hak Na Sarakham (ฮักนะ 'สารคาม) – Indie filmmaker Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, director of the banned social drama Insects in the Backyard, goes strictly commercial with her latest effort, which is produced by Sahamongkol Film International. It's a sunny comedy about the love lives of youngsters in Maha Sarakham, a rural province in the culturally distinct Isaan region of Thailand's northeast. Impish comedienne "Tukky" Sudarat Butrprom stars, playing the upperclassman mentor to some of the schoolkids. Check the trailer. Rated 15+.


Dek Phee Du 2002 Sop (เด็กผีดุ 2002 ศพ, 2002: The Unborn Child – Opportunistic showman Poj Arnon seizes upon last November's aborted fetuses scandal for his latest ripped-from-the-headlines movie. Somchai Kemklad stars. He plays a crime reporter, married to a high-school teacher, portrayed by "May" Pitchanart Sakakorn. The happy couple have a young daughter, and the little girl starts seeing ghostly playmates, which are apparently tied to an abortion had by one of the teacher's students. They make their lives a living hell. See what it's all about in the trailer. Rated 15+.


Namtan Daeng (น้ำตาลแดง, a.k.a. Brown Sugar) – The full version of last year's anthology of erotic short films gets a limited run this week at House cinema on Bangkok's Royal City Avenue. This "uncut" version runs for 2 hours and 40 minutes. House RCA's Facebook page says Brown Sugar will run for just one week, until next Wednesday. There were six segments of Brown Sugar by indie directors Panumat Deesatta, Zart Tancharoen, Kittiyaporn Klangsurin, Prachya Lampongchat, Surawat Chuphol, Anurak Janlongsilp and produced by Prachya Pinkaew and Bandit Thongdee. For the commercial release by Sahamongkol Film International, they were split in half, with the first three in cinemas last September, and the second helping in November. The first batch had the much-talked-about masturbation scene by Lakkana Wattanawongsiri, playing a massage girl who has the hots for a tattoo artist. She later goes to get a tattoo on her pelvic region. The original theatrical releases were rated 18+. Thai soundtrack only, no English subtitles.

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Also showing


Living with the Tiger – Directed by Mike Thomas, this documentary about children living with HIV focuses on two youngsters as they take an emotional journey back to the families that had once left them to die at a hospice. The story is framed by the children's performance in a specially written opera, composed by Bruce Gaston, and performed to audiences in Bangkok and the countryside. The screening will be at 8pm on Monday, March 14, at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. The British director Thomas and Anthony Pramualratana from the Thailand Business Coalition on AIDS will take part in a post-screen discussion.

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Sneak preview


Just Go With It – Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston team up for this romantic comedy, directed by Sandler's regular Happy Madison helmer Dennis Dugan. Sandler is a plastic surgeon, divorced for 20 years but lies about being in an unhappy marriage in order to gain sympathy other women. While on vacation in Hawaii he's meets a younger woman (Brooklyn Decker) who he really likes. He convinces his long-suffering assistant Aniston to play the part of his soon-to-be-ex wife and ropes her children into the lie as well. Critical reception is mostly negative, with the consensus being it's "slightly better than some entries in the recently dire rom-com genre, but that's far from a recommendation." Just Go With It was originally scheduled to open in a wide release but instead is only showing in sneak previews this week, with nightly screenings at most multiplexes from around 8. Rated 13+.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening March 3-9, 2011

Unknown


Liam Neeson is back in action-star mode in Unknown.

It's a typical tale of a everyman caught in a web of intrigue. He's a biotechnology specialist attending a summit in Berlin with his wife when his taxi crashes off a bridge and into a freezing-cold river. He awakens from a coma to find his identity stolen, and the woman he believes is his wife (Mad Men's January Jones) denies she isn't and is with another guy (his Michael Collins co-star Aidan Quinn) who is posing as him.

So he's got to piece together what the heck has happened, and he enlists the help of the taxi driver, who is not a typical male Berliner cabbie but a fetching blonde (Diane Kruger).

Bruno Ganz and Frank Langella also star.

It's directed by Spanish helmer Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax, Orphan).

Unknown has a similar feel to Taken, the gritty Euro-action thriller that cemented Neeson into the pantheon of bad-ass action stars. Before Taken, Neeson had primarily been known as a serious dramatic actor in such historical fare as Michael Collins and Schindler's List, even though he did movies like the swashbuckler Rob Roy, played a disfigured masked vigilante in Darkman, swung a Jedi knight's lightsabre in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and kicked Christian Bale's butt in Batman Begins. But it was Taken that enabled him to take on tough-guy roles like leading The A-Team and landing a cameo in the upcoming The Hangover Part II.

Critical reception is mixed with the consensus being "Liam Neeson elevates the proceedings considerably, but Unknown is ultimately too derivative – and implausible – to take advantage of its intriguing premise." Rated 13+.

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Rapunzel


After agonizing over the title of this animated comedy-adventure, based on a fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, the powers that be at Disney went with Tangled. But since that conceptual title is probably too much for most folks to wrap their heads around, for its release in many territories outside the U.S. it's simply Rapunznel.

This latest Disney princess movie has Mandy Moore as the extraordinarily tressed young woman, trapped in a tower. She lets down her hair for a wise-cracking bandit named Flynn Rider, voiced by Zachary Levi from the TV series Chuck. More comic relief comes from various animal friends, such as a laughing horse and Rapunzel's pet lizard.

Various criminals and other heavies are voiced by such character actors as Ron Perlman, M.C. Gainey, Jeffrey Tambor, Brad Garrett and Richard Kiel.

There's also Oscar-nominated music by trusty Disney tunesmith Alan Menken.

Critical reception is mostly positive, with the consensus being that while it's "far from Disney's greatest film, [Rapunzel] is a visually stunning, thoroughly entertaining addition to the studio's classic animated canon." In 3D in some cinemas, including IMAX. Rated G.

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Also opening


The Adjustment Bureau – Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star in this Inception-like sci-fi thriller. It's based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, whose books have spawned such big-screen dystopian dramas as Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly and Blade Runner. Damon is an up-and-coming politician whose chance meeting with a dancer (Blunt) changes the fate that's been pre-determined for him by a shadowy group of men in fedoras that include John Slattery (Roger Sterling from the TV series Mad Men). Anthony Mackie from The Hurt Locker and Terence Stamp also star. They have his whole life mapped out for him in an elaborate, maze-like flowchart that's written in a little notebook. Critical reception so far is mixed. Rated 13+.


Season of the Witch – Nicolas Cage puts another long-haired wig to play a knight in the 14th century. He and his cohort (Ron Perlman) return to their home after the Crusades and find the realm reeling from the Black Plague. A young woman (Claire Foy) is believed to be a witch and the cause of the sickness. The knights escort her to a monastery where monks investigate her purported powers and try to lift the curse. Christopher Lee also stars. Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds, Swordfish) directs. Critical reception has been overwhelmingly negative, with the consensus being it's "slow, cheap-looking, and dull [and] fails even as unintentional comedy". Rated 13+.


Love Julinsee Rak Man Yai Mak (เลิฟ จุลินทรีย์ รักมันใหญ่มาก) – This teenage romance by studio M-Thirtynine caused a stir a few months back when the teaser clip was banned by censors who deemed it unsuitable because it showed almost-kissing youngsters in school uniforms. The offending teaser has since been removed from M-Thirtynine's official YouTube channel, and a new clip was uploaded last month. Directed by Chainarong Tampong and Sakol Tiachareon, the ensemble romance is four stories against the backdrop of the show by costumed rock band Paradox at last year's Big Mountain Music Festival. One story has the girl Nao (Tisanat Sornsuek) and the guy Yoh (Alex Rendell) waiting for each other to say "I love you". Musician Pla (Irada Siriwut) goes to the concert to forget her playboy ex-boyfriends. Fon (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk) looks back at the cute romance she had in school with an underclassman (Nuttapong Piboonthanakiet), which included sharing shredded fish snacks. Yok (Jirayu La-Ongmanee) and Eue (Monchanok Saengchaipiangpen) are lifelong best friends who've taken things to the next level of being boyfriend and girlfriend. Rated 13+.

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Also showing


A Ripe Volcano (ภูเขาไฟพิโรธ) – Filmmaker and visual artist Taiki Sakpisit and sound artist Yasuhiro Morinaga collaborate on this art installation, "an allegorical revelation where Bangkok becomes a site of mental eruption and the emotionally devastated land during the heights of terrors, primal fears, trauma, and the darkness of time." Locations include the the Rattanakosin Hotel, where the military captured and tortured protesters during the Black May of 1992 and the Ratchadamnoen boxing stadium, for contrasting scenes of violence and ghostly suspense. The multi-channel video and sound installation is at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in the fourth-floor studio, until Sunday.