Thursday, October 6, 2011

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening October 5-12, 2011

Melancholia


Apocalypse looms as newlyweds are celebrating in Melancholia, a much-acclaimed psychological disaster drama by the controversial director Lars von Trier.

Kirsten Dunst stars as the depressed bride at the sumptuous party with her new husband (Alexander Skarsgård). It's taking place at the home of her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law (Kiefer Sutherland).

Meanwhile, the rogue planet Melancholia is on a collision course with Earth

Melancholia premiered in the main competition this year's Cannes Film Festival, where Dunst received the Best Actress Award. However, the film was overshadowed by comments from Von Trier during a press conference in which he said he sympathasized with Hitler, causing Dunst to gape at him in disbelief. The festival then declared him persona non grata. And he may face criminal charges back in France over those comments.

The movie is generally critically acclaimed.

At Apex Siam Square and from Saturday at SFX the Emporium. Rated 13+.



Also opening


50/50 – Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays a young man diagnosed with a rare form of cancer who's given a 50/50 chance of living. Determined to beat the illness, he approaches life with a sense of humor and renewed vigor, even has he's going through arduous chemo treatments. Seth Rogen stars as his best friend with Angelica Huston as his mother and Bryce Dallas Howard as his faithless girlfriend. Anna Kendrick, Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer also star. Directed by Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, The Wackness), the fact-based story is by screenwriter Will Reiser and is partly based on Reiser's bout with cancer. The comedy-drama is generally well received, with the critical consensus being that it's "a good-hearted film about a difficult topic ... maneuver[ing] between jokes and drama with surprising finesse." It's at House, Paragon Cineplex and SFW CentralWorld. Rated 18+.


The Sorcerer and the White Snake – Jet Li stars in this Chinese epic martial-arts fantasy. He's a kung-fu sorcerer who makes it his mission in life to root out evil demons and monsters. He encounters one in a plague-stricken town – the White Snake, who's taken the form of a woman (Eva Huang). She's sacrificed everything in order to help the man she loves, the local herbalist (Raymond Lam). Charlene Choi also stars as the Green Snake. Tony Ching directs. The Sorcerer and the White Snake premiered out-of-competition at last month's Venice Film Festival. It's just now opening outside of China, so reviews are hard to come by, though one at Singapore's MovieXclusive is generally favorable. Chinese soundtrack only at SFW CentralWorld; elsewhere Thai-dubbed. Rated 15+.


Rascals – Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt are competing conmen trying to outdo each other in a series of outlandish schemes. Arjun Rampal and Kangana Ranaut also star. Directed by David Dhawan, this Bollywood comedy was entirely filmed in Thailand. The plot bears remarkable similarity to the Steve Martin-Michael Caine comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It was recently the subject of a lawsuit in India, though not over the similarity, but due to some dispute about the financing. It's in Hindi with English subtitles at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) on Friday at 8, Sunday at 7.30 and Monday at 8 and at Major Cineplex Central Rama III on Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4. Visit BollywoodThai.com or call (02) 225-7500 or (089) 488-2620.


Love Summer: Rak Talon on the Beach (Love Summer รักตะลอน ออน เดอะ บีช) – A group of Thai youngsters have an adventurous roadtrip to a beach destination and along the way they befriend a bikini-clad Japanese actress (Yui Tatsumi) and a bearded foreigner named Bob (Jonathan Samson). "Bai Fern" Pimchanok Leuwisetpaibul, Tana Eamniyom and Tanwa Suriyachak star. Trilak Makmeongpad directs. Rated 15+.


Doraemon the Movie 2011: Nobita and the New Steel Troops – The little boy Nobita and his earless robotic cat friend Doreamon build a giant robot that turns into a weapon in the fight against an invading robot army. There have been more than 30 of these annual Doreamon movies, based on the long-running Japanese manga and anime series by Fujiko F. Fujio. This is a remake of a 1986 entry in the franchise and is the first one in 3D, though it appears the Thai release is not in 3D. Thai-dubbed. Rated G.



Also showing


In Memory of Mitr Chaibancha – Forty-one years ago this Saturday, October 8, superstar actor Mitr Chaibancha fell to his death from a helicopter while making Insee Thong (Golden Eagle). As they do each year in memory of Mitr, the Thai Film Archive will have a special program including some of Mitr's movies. They'll screen the 1966 comedy Sam Kler Jer Long Hon (สามเกลอเจอล่องหน, "three friends meet the invisible man"). Following lunch, at 2pm, actress Butsakon Sakonrat, who co-starred with Mitr in some other movies, will have her hand-and-foot impressions made in the Star Terrace outside the Sri Salaya Theatre. And at 3.30, there will be a biographical documentary on Mitr's life.


Eyes Wide Open (Tu n’aimeras point) – A married Orthodox Jewish father of four falls in love with a 22-year-old male student in this 2009 Israeli-French-German drama by Haim Tabakman. It screened in the Un Certain Regard category at the Cannes Film Festival and is generally well-received. by critics. It's in French with English subtitles at the Alliance Francais Bangkok at 7.30pm on Wednesday, October 12.

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