Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening July 18-24, 2013

Only God Forgives

Following the widespread acclaim for his 2011 movie Drive, cult Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn moved to Thailand with his family and set up shop in Bangkok as he immersed himself in Thai culture and worked on his next project. The result is an ultra-violent framing of Winding Refn's view of Bangkok culture in the crime drama Only God Forgives, which reunites him with his enigmatic Drive star Ryan Gosling.

The Gos is a gangster in Bangkok who runs a boxing gym as a front for his smuggling ring. When his brother is killed, the crime family's domineering matriarch (Kristin Scott Thomas, cast wildly against type) arrives on the scene to demand he take revenge, or else. This sets up a confrontation with the "Angel of Vengeance", a sword-wielding retired Thai policeman who dispenses his own brand of justice.

Vithaya Pansringarm, who played a sleuthing monk in the 2010 Thai mystery movie Mindfulness and Murder and has been featured in bit parts in foreign productions here, plays that brutal cop. It's possibly the role of his lifetime. A soft-spoken late-bloomer actor, the 50-year-old "Pooh" Vithaya is quite a bit different from the character he plays on screen.

The cast also includes Ratha Po-ngam, a pop singer who garnered praise for her break-out film role in the remake of the erotic drama Jan Dara and was also recently seen in the burlesque tale Angels.

Only God Forgives also sees Refn reuniting with his Drive score composer, Cliff Martinez, who collaborated closely with the director in unearthing ear-wormy Thai pop and luk thung music for the soundtrack.

The film premiered in the main competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it was actually booed. Critics were divided, with Bangkok-based Kong Rithdee among the detractors. Nonetheless, Only God Forgives went on to the Sydney Film Festival, where it was awarded best film. Also premiering this week in the U.S., critical reception remains polarized. Rated 18+.

---

Also opening

Red 2 – Bruce Willis and his gang of aging spies are back for more explosive adventures. Former CIA agent Frank Moses (Willis) is enjoying retirement and a normal life with his new lady (Mary-Louise Parker) when his crazy old colleague (John Malkovich) tracks them down and convinces them to take a mission. This leads them to needing to go to Russia to track down a missing portable nuclear device. Helen Mirren also returns as the sophisticated British assassin and joining the cast this time around are Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones as an old flame of Moses and Lee Byun-hun as a relentless killer. Dean Parisot, director of 1999's Galaxy Quest along with many television credits, takes over for Robert Schwentke, helmer of the first film. Red is based on a cult comic-book series, so there's plenty more stories that could be told. Critical reception, so far, is mixed. Rated 15+.

Man of Tai Chi – Falling back on his martial-arts training from The Matrix, Keanu Reeves directs and co-stars as the villain in this Chinese drama about a humble tai-chi student who is forced to puts his skills to use in a deadly underground fight club. A pet project of Reeves' that's been in development for several years, it stars his friend and trainer Tiger Chen and is loosely based on his life. It also features work from Matrix fight choreographer Yuen Woo Ping. Karen Mok also stars as a feisty Hong Kong police inspector with Simon Yam as her boss. Among the featured fighters is Iko Uwais (The Raid). Critical reception is mixed. Rated 15+.

Turbo – Dreamworks Animation introduces what's ultimately going to be a TV series with this feature. Though it clearly aims to capture some of the fan base for the Fast and Furious films, it actually appears to be an unlikely combination of Crank and Pixar's Cars. Here, a snail with delusions of being the greatest racer in the world has his dream come true after a freak accident gives him with the power of incredible speed. The voice cast stars Ryan Reynolds with support from Maya Rudolph, Paul Giamatti, Samuel L Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Michael Peña, Michelle Rodriguez and many others. Critical reception is mixed. It's in 3D in some cinemas. Rated G.

Prayok Sanya Rak (ประโยคสัญญารัก, a.k.a. Present Perfect Continuous Tense) – '90s movie star and soap actress Lalita Sasiprapha is back on the big screen in this romantic drama about an attractive fortysomething woman in a doomed relationship with a guy half her age (Setthapong Phiangpor). Rated 15+.

The Berlin File – Three South Korean movies open in Major Cineplex branches this week as part of a promotion. The best of the bunch appears to be this hit spy thriller, which was released earlier this year in South Korea. The action involves an illegal arms deal and a "ghost" agent (Ha Jung-woo). Watching it all go down are an embattled South Korean intelligence chief (Han Suk-Kyu), the North Koreans and the Americans, all at odds about whose side the ghost is on. Rated 18+.

All About My Wife – This 2012 South Korean romantic comedy is about a guy (Lee Seon-gyoon) who is desperate to divorce his stubborn nagging wife of seven years (Lim Su-jeong). He asks his womanizing neighbor (Ryoo Seung-yong) to seduce her in hopes she will be wooed away. At Major Cineplex, including Paragon, Mega and Esplanade. Rated 13+.

Love 911 – In this 2012 romantic comedy-drama, a widowed, guilt-ridden firefighter is increasingly taking more risks as he mourns his wife who died while he was helping others. He is thrown together in rocky romance with a doctor who is fighting the loss of her medical license. Han Hyo-joo and Ko Soo star. It's also part of the South Korean films package at Major Cineplex. Rated 15+.

Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen – Big in Japan and popular with youngsters here, this 2012 costumed-and-masked hero adventure combines the forces of two popular teams from the tokusatsu suitmation franchises. Rated G.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – Bollywood's answer to Chariots of Fire recalls the deeds of the "Flying Sikh", runner Milkha Singh, who represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, 1960 Rome Olympics and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics during a time of great upheaval in his Punjab homeland (now part of Pakistan). Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor star. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Paragon, Major Cineplex Sukhumvit and Major Rama III. Opens Friday.

D-Day – And here's another Bollywood film – a crime-thriller about officers charged with going to Pakistan and bringing back India's most wanted man. Irrfan Khan and Arjun Rampal star. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Paragon, Major Cineplex Sukhumvit and Major Rama III. Opens Friday.

---

Also showing

Boundary (ฟ้าต่ำแผ่นดินสูง, Fahtum Pandinsoong) – Indie director Nontawat Numbenchapol had originally planned a more-extensive release for his embattled documentary on the Thai-Cambodian border conflict. But he had to scale back due to a controversy over another politically sensitive film, Paradoxocracy, which Major Cineplex came under pressure for showing and actually discouraged customers from seeing. Under his unusual arrangement with the theater chain, Nontawat is hiring out the hall and selling tickets himself, with the Bangkok release running for only four days at Esplanade Cineplex Ratchadaphisek. Showtimes are at 7 nightly until Sunday. For more details, see the movie's Facebook page.

Biguine – The Alliance Française screens free movies with English subtitles at 7.30pm every Wednesday. Next week's show is a 2004 musical that recounts the lively dancehall scene in Martinique in the 1870s.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening July 11-17, 2013

Pacific Rim

Cult director Guillermo del Toro pays tribute to the classic kaiju monster movies with Pacific Rim.

A combination of Godzilla and the popular-in-Japan mecha and anime genres, Pacific Rim is a big-budget disaster movie, with giant monsters from deep underneath the sea emerging to wreak havoc on coastal cities. The only way to fight the monsters is with our own monsters, so giant, 25-story robots called jaegers are created. They are piloted by two mind-linked soldiers. To get a sense of the scale of these creatures, one of the jaegers grabs a ship from the harbor and uses it like a baseball bat to pummel a kaiju.

Among the characters are a washed-up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) who are paired up to pilot a legendary but seemingly obsolete jaeger from the past.

Other stars include Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther), Charlie Day and del Toro regular Ron Perlman.

Casual movie-goers might dismiss this as yet another giant-robot spectacle like Transformers, but genre-film fans and fans of del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth) know better. He left The Hobbit and ended up doing this, so it had better be good. Anticipation is high and critical reception so far is favorable.

It's in 2D in some cinemas and hybrid 3D in others, including IMAX.  Rated G.

---

Also opening

Byzantium – The Crying Game director Neil Jordan returns with his first feature film in three years. I suppose it isn't a spoiler to say this is a vampire movie. Gemma Arterton stars as a 200-year-old vampire prostitute who moves with her daughter (Saoirse Ronan) to open brothel in a run-down English coastal resort hotel. Daniel Mays, Caleb Landry Jones, Sam Riley and Jonny Lee Miller also star. Critical reception is mixed. Rated 18+.

Arthur Newman – Colin Firth is a man going through a mid-life crisis who fakes his own death and buys another man's identity. Reinventing himself as a golf pro as he drifts around the Midwestern U.S., he attracts the attention of a young kleptomaniac (Emily Blunt) who sees through his scam. Together they embark on a cross-country crime spree, breaking into houses to "borrow" other people's lives. It's somewhat reminiscent of a couple of Asian films, South Korea's 3 Iron and last year's indie Thai release P-047. Becky Johnston (The Prince of Tides, Seven Years in Tibet) penned the screenplay with Dante Ariola as director of this indie feature. Critical reception is mixed, leaning to negative.

---

Also showing

Estômago – A homeless man falls into a career as a restaurant cook that takes an increasingly darker path in this award-winning 2007 black comedy by Marcos Jorge. It screens at 8pm on Monday, July 15, at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, courtesy of the Embassy of  Brazil, which will lay on caipirinha and snacks. Entry for non-members is 150 baht and 100 baht for anyone wanting the food and drink.

Le voyage du directeur des ressources humaines (The Human Resources Manager) – The Alliance Française screens free movies with English subtitles at 7.30pm every Wednesday. Next week's show is Eran Riklis' award-winning 2010 tragi-comedy about a human resources manager at a Jerusalem bakery who sets out on a journey to save the reputation of his business and prevent the publication of a damaging article.

---

Take note

Be sure to call before heading out to the Apex cinemas in Siam Square. Frequently, the Apex's crown jewel Scala is hired out for concerts and private functions on weekends, throwing the movie showtimes into disarray. Sometimes the Apex website is updated, but more often it is not. So to confirm those showtimes, call the Lido at (02) 252-6498, where, surprise, surprise, an actual person will pick up the phone and tell you when the movies are playing.

Also, keep an eye on House. They will frequently show "out of menu" movies from this library. This week, to get ready for next week's release of Only God Forgives from Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling, they are showing Drive.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening July 4-10, 2013

Sarawat Mah Baa (The Cop)

A hot-headed police inspector ("Tao" Somchai Khemklad), under investigation by internal affairs is called back to duty to probe the murder of a government minister's daughter. He's partnered with a veteran sergeant (Bamrer "Note Chernyim" Phongintakun) and the young female lieutenant (Krystal Vee). Meanwhile, the killer has the cop in his sights, setting out to ruin him by exposing his possible misdeeds in a previous case.

Sarawat Mah Baa, (สารวัตรหมาบ้า , literally "inspector mad dog"), a.k.a. The Cop, is the feature directorial debut of MR Chalermchatri "Adam" Yukol, son of veteran filmmaker MC Chatrichalerm Yukol. Having grown up on film sets and schooled in film in Australia, Adam sought to make a name for himself with his new media company, the cheekily named FuKDuk Production, and immersed himself in the latest technology while shopping his first film project to the Thai studios.

For The Cop, Adam has said he aimed to capture the spirit of police films of the 1980s, taking inspiration from Lethal Weapon, though The Cop is much more serious in tone than the Mel Gibson action-comedy. And, it might also hark back to the gritty 1970s and '80s action films of his father, such as The Colonel, The Elephant Keeper and Gunman. Rated 18+.

---

Also opening

The Lone Ranger – Teaming up again with Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp dresses up in another weird costume to play another quirky character in this big-budget refashioning of the famous tale of the Old American West. He's Tonto, the Native American spirit warrior. No mere sidekick, he's an equal partner with a masked lawman (Armie Hammer from The Social Network) in seeking revenge, fighting for justice and jumping from a runaway train. For his character, Depp sought inspiration from the original Tonto of the 1950s TV series, Jay Silverheels, as well as the deadpan pratfalls of Buster Keaton. He probably also borrowed from Gary Farmer, his Native American co-star in Jim Jarmusch's 1998 acid western Dead Man. Long in development by Disney, The Lone Ranger began in 1933 as a radio series and was then a B-movie serial and then a TV series in the 1950s, starring Clayton Moore and Silverheels. Other stars in this new Lone Ranger include William Fichtner as the villain Butch Cavendish, Barry Pepper, Tom Wilkinson and Depp's cohort from all those Tim Burton movies, Helena Bonham Carter. Critical reception is mostly negative, but that probably won't stop it at the box office. Rated 13+.

Despicable Me 2 – Reformed former mad scientist Gru (Steve Carell) has changed his life around and become a father figure for orphan kids. But he has to return to his old ways when he's approached by the Anti-Villain League to work undercover to combat a new supervillain. The voice cast also includes Kristin Wiig and Benjamin Bratt. Also again featuring his scene-stealing little yellow minions, who will be getting their own movie next year, Despicable Me 2 opened in sneak previews last week and moves to a wider release today. Critical reception is generally positive. It's in 3D in some cinemas. Rated G.

Lootera – A young scoundrel poses as an archaeologist in an attempt to steal a temple's ancient idol but is sidetracked when he falls for the daughter of a local aristocrat. Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha star. Opening tomorrow, it's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Paragon, Major Cineplex Sukhumvit and Rama III.

---

Also showing

Canta! Timor – Japanese documentarian Natsuko Hirota directs this feature on Southeast Asia's newest country, East Timor, telling the story of how the Timorese kept their music and forgave their enemies. There are interviews with local men and women – villagers, soldiers and shamans – as well as Timor-Leste's first president, Xanana Gusmão, and with former guerrillas. It screens at 8pm on Tuesday, July 9 at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Admission for non-members is 150 baht.

Simon Konianski – The Alliance Française screens free movies with English subtitles at 7.30pm every Wednesday. Next week's show is this 2010 comedy about a 35-year-old man-child who returns home to live with his father. When the family's uncle dies, they take a crazy journey to Ukraine to bury the old man.