Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening February 23-29, 2012

The Artist

Probably this year's most-awarded movie, The Artist opens in Bangkok on the same weekend as the Oscars. A "silent" film, shot in black and white in keeping with the style of the old silent movies, it's a nominee for 10 Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and original screenplay for Michel Hazanavicius, best actor for Jean Dujardin and best supporting actress for Bérénice Bejo.

Other accolades include the Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical, seven Baftas and best actor at the Cannes Film Festival. Even the movie's scene-stealing canine star, the Jack Russell terrier Uggie, has won awards, including Cannes' Palm Dog and the recent Golden Collar Awards in Hollywood.

Set in 1927 Hollywood, Dujardin is an actor whose career is fading away with the advent of talkies. But he receives encouragement to develop a new skill from a rising young actress (Bejo).

Other stars include John Goodman, James Cromwell, Missi Pyle, Penelope Ann Miller and Malcolm McDowell.

Critical reception is wildly positive. It's a Apex Siam Square, SFW CentralWorld and SFX the Emporium. Rated 13+.

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Also opening

Haywire – Double-crossed and left for dead while on a mission in Dublin, a government security operative (Gina Carano) has to use her high-kicking skills to evade killers while trying to find out the reason behind her attempted assassination. Steven Soderbergh directs this action-packed globetrotting thriller, which is led by Carano, a real multiple-martial-arts fighter who performs her own stunts. The supporting cast includes Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and Bill Paxton. Critical reception is mostly positive. Rated 18+.

The Ides of March – An up-and-coming campaign press secretary (Ryan Gosling) finds himself involved in a scandal that threatens to end his candidate's shot at the presidency. George Clooney also stars. He also directed and co-scripted this political thriller. The cast also boasts Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright. It's an Oscar nominee for best adapted screenplay and was also a nominee for several Golden Globes, including best picture, best director and best actor for Gosling. Critical reception is mostly positive. Rated 15+.

A Dangerous Method – David Cronenberg, the master of psychological thrillers, goes back to the dawn of the psychoanalytic method in this historical-fiction drama about psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and his student Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) becoming involved with unbalanced patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). It's won a few accolades this season, including a Golden Globe nomination for Mortensen – working in this third consecutive film with Cronenberg, following A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Fassbender has also been noted by critics, both for his role here and for his work in Shame, which is due to be released in Bangkok soon. Critical reception is mixed, but mostly positive. Rated 18+.

Jack and Jill – In a week when so many great movies are opening, distributors are also slipping in what's likely the worst movie of 2011. Adam Sandler stars in this crude stinker, playing dual roles about a family man whose comfortable life is thrown into disarray when his heavyset, clumsy and overbearing twin sister – Sandler in drag – comes for a visit. Katie Holmes and Al Pacino also star. Critical reception is resolutely negative. Rated G.

War of the Arrows – The best archer in Korea (Park Hae-Il) goes up against the Qing Dynasty to save his younger sister (Moon Chae-Won) who was abducted by Mongolian invaders. It's in Korean with Thai subtitles at Paragon; dubbed elsewhere. Rated 15+.

Gang Tob Phee (แก๊งค์ตบผี, Ghost Day) – Making his directorial debut Gangcore Gud last year, rapper-actor Joey Boy got Bang Rajan director Thanit Jitnukul to serve as technical adviser. And I guess the zombie comedy must've been a successful-enough collaboration because they've teamed back up for another horror-comedy for Phranakorn Film, Ghost Day. With Thanit directing, Joey Boy stars with Jazz Chuancheun. They are a pair of ghostbusters whose YouTube video of an exorcism becomes a viral hit. They are then invited to do a demonstration for a TV show, which at first underestimates the pair as mere tricksters, but then they show just how real ghosts can be. Fresh-faced young actress Phimnara Wright from last year's Do+Nut also stars, along with Boriboon Chanruang and Surasak Wongthai as well as some of the usual comedians, including Kom Chuancheun. Rated 13+.

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Also showing

Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival – CU's Dramatic Arts Department's twice-annual DVD screening series started last week, but I only heard about it this week. Today's screening is Our Beloved Month of August (Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto), a Portuguese comedy about musicians in a dance band during their country's most festive time of year. On Monday it's Incendies, about Canadian twin siblings sent on a trip to the Middle East by their mother's dying wish. And next Wednesday it's A Screaming Man, the 2010 Cannes Grand Prize winner from Chad. It's about an ageing former swimming champ who is replaced as hotel pool attendant by his son, and the consequences of the man's jealousy of his son against the backdrop of war. Remaining movies are Le Quattro Volte on March 2, Estomago on March 5 and Attenberg on March 2. All movies are screened on DVD with English subtitles. Afterward, there will be a discussion with Thai film critics. Admission is free. The venue is off Henri Dunant Road, in CU's Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Building, 9th floor. The show time is 5pm.

German Film Week – Free German movies continue at 7 nightly until Sunday at Paragon Cineplex. From tonight, the films are A Year Ago in Winter, I’ve Never Been Happier, Lila Lila and When We Leave. And don't forget the Goethe-Institut's German Open Air Cinema season, which closes out next Tuesday, February 28, with The Stranger.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening February 16-22, 2012

Hugo

Martin Scorsese takes a break from making movies about gangsters to channel his inner-child in Hugo, a fantasy about an orphan boy (Asa Butterfield) living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station, where he keeps the station's clocks running.

He's frequently chased by the leg-brace-wearing station guard (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his Doberman attack dog.

Hugo is trying solve a mystery that links a broken robot made by his father to an ill-tempered toy shop owner (Ben Kingsley). The answer has something to do with pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès. Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) also stars along with Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Christopher Lee, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emily Mortimer and Richard Griffiths.

The story is based on a New York Times best-seller, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

Hugo won best sound at the recent BAFTA awards in the U.K., where Scorsese was honored with the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, critical reception is mostly positive.

It's screening in 3D only, as Mr. Scorsese insists, at Paragon and CentralWorld. Rated G.

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Also opening

The Descendants – George Clooney is an Oscar nominee and winner of the Golden Globe for his role as the dysfunctional "back-up dad" of a wealthy Hawaiian family. He's thrust into the uncomfortable position of being the sole parent after his wife has a Jet Ski accident and falls into a coma. Then, troubling secrets of her life are exposed and threaten to further unravel the family. It's nominated for five Oscars in all, including best director for Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt). Critical reception is overwhelmingly positive. At Apex Siam Square and SF Cinemas. Rated 13+.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance – Wacky Nicolas Cage returns as the skull-headed stunt motorcyclist who made a bad deal with the devil. He's hiding out Eastern Europe where faces a new enemy, Blackout (Johnny Whitworth) and finds new allies in a group of rebel biker monks, led by Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther). Meanwhile, the Devil (Ciarán Hinds) is trying to take human form. Violante Placido also stars. It's directed by the daredevil rollerblading duo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor who previously did the Crank movies and Gamer, so get ready for stylistic overload. This is just being released this week in the U.S., so not many critics have weighed in yet. In 3D, including IMAX Digital. Rated G.

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Also showing

Wish Us Luck (ขอให้เราโชคดี) Indie filmmaking twin sisters Wanweaw and Weawwan Hongvivatana make their feature debut with the documentary Wish Us Luck, chronicling their one-month journey by train from London back home to Bangkok. Travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, their trip took them through France, Germany, Russia, Mongolia, china, Vietnam and Laos. it's their Master's project for the University for the Creative Arts in the U.K. It's screening at 4pm on Sunday, February 19 in the Eat@Double U Restaurant at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld as part of the Third Class Citizen screening series. Admission is free.

German Film Week – Seven movies in seven days will be shown at 7 nightly from Monday, February 20, at Paragon Cineplex in the Goethe-Institut Thailand's German Film Week. Among the critically acclaimed highlights is A Year Ago In Winter on February 23 and When We Leave on February 26. Others are Almanya (Welcome to Germany) on February 20, Krabat on February 21, Poll on February 22, I’ve Never Been Happier on February 24 and Lila Lila on February 25. All are free and in German with English subtitles. And don't forget, the German Open Air Cinema season is still on at 7.30pm on Tuesdays at the Goethe-Institut, with Poll this Tuesday night and the series closer The Stranger on February 28.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Valentine's Day 2012

It Gets Better

Thai cinemas and movie distributors think they are being clever and cute by releasing romantic films on the Valentine's Day greeting-card holiday, even if that day falls in the middle of the week, like this year's, which is on a Tuesday.

So there are two Thai films being released on this special day of love.

One of them is It Gets Better (ไม่ได้ขอให้มารั, Mai Dai Kor Hai Ma Rak), directed by controversial filmmaker Tanwarin Sukkahpisit.

The ensemble romance has three intertwining stories about transsexual love. Veteran actress Penpak Sirikul stars in one, playing a retired post-op transsexual who travels to northern Thailand and falls in love with a local man who works in a garage. Another has a young man returning to Thailand from the U.S. to find that he's inherited a transsexual cabaret from his father. He then falls in love with a bar employee. She's played by "Bell" Nuntita Khampiranon, whose singing talents surprised a nation on the "Thailand's Got Talent" reality-TV series. A third thread involves an effeminate boy sent away by his disgusted father to the monkhood, where the novice falls in love with a senior monk.

Tanwarin, a popular industry figure and independent maker of short films, was in the news last year when her critically acclaimed debut feature Insects in the Backyard was banned by the National Culture Commission for its daring portrayal of a transvestite widower father and his dysfunctional relationship with his troubled teenage son and daughter.

It Gets Better aims to take a more mainstream approach to the issues Insects explored, and it was rewarded at the recent Hua Hin International Film Festival with the Audience Award. It's rated 15+.

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Also opening

The Melody รักทำนองนี้ – "Dan" Worrawech Danuwong is a famous pop singer who goes into hiding in Mae Hong Son after his career goes down the tubes. There, he meets talented pianist Mork (Pariyachat Limthammahisorn) and life takes a turn for the better. The movie was initially slated for release sometime last year, but was postponed because of the floods. Now it's a Valentine's Day release. How sweet. Rated G.

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Also showing

Each year on Valentine's Day, the La Fête French-Thai cultural festival puts on the romantic Cinema Picnic by Moonlight, an outdoor screening at the Museum Siam.

This year's show is pretty special, with the screening of the restored hand-colored version of the 1902 proto-science-fiction film, A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune) by pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès (who's featured as a character in the upcoming Hugo by Martin Scorsese). Based loosely on Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon, it's about a group of astronomers who board a bullet-shaped space capsule that's fired out of a huge cannon and hits the Man in the Moon in the eye. They then have all sorts of adventures. The restored version is accompanied by a soundtrack by the French band Air. After that, there's the 2011 feature romance, The Art of Love, directed by Emmanuel Mouret and featuring and ensemble cast that cinldues François Cluzet, Julie Depardieu and Gaspard Ulliel. The show time is at 7.30.

Also, the Geothe-Institut's German Open Air Cinema Season continues on Tuesday at 7.30 with The City Below, a romance that screened in last year's Un Certain Regard competiton at the Cannes Film Festival.