In 1953, Chris Marker and Alain Resnais released Statues Also Die, a key work in their fledgling early careers that focused on traditional African art and its exploitation by wider French culture. For the two intrepid modernists, sculptures, masks and other remnants of traditional Sub-Saharan African life had lost their meaning when seen through Western eyes, becoming a mere, hollow commodity. Come Here, a short, potent, and experimental feature by Anocha Suwichakornpong, asks a similar question of the historical memorials that dot our war-ravaged planet.
For Suwichakornpong’s perspective as a major political critic of Thailand, the mere existence of a Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum is an example of unabashed living irony. Constructed in 1983, it was commissioned to honor the Hellfire Pass, a railway carved into the inhospitable sides of the Tenasserim Hills during World War Two by forced labor, resulting in the deaths of 90,000 civilians and 12,000 allied prisoners of war.
For Suwichakornpong’s perspective as a major political critic of Thailand, the mere existence of a Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum is an example of unabashed living irony. Constructed in 1983, it was commissioned to honor the Hellfire Pass, a railway carved into the inhospitable sides of the Tenasserim Hills during World War Two by forced labor, resulting in the deaths of 90,000 civilians and 12,000 allied prisoners of war.
- 3/4/2021
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Day 2 of this week’s Berlinale announcements see the selections for its Forum, Forum Expanded and Shorts programs revealed.
The Forum program contains 17 movies, primarily from filmmakers at the beginning of their careers, though with some establish directors included such as Israeli documentarian Avi Mograbi and Berlin directors Chris Wright and Stefan Kolbe. In total, 14 are world premieres.
The Forum Expanded selection consists of shorts, medium-length films and features, and will screen 17 films as well as art installations. In the Shorts program, a total of 20 titles will compete for the Berlinale prizes this year. Scroll down for the full line-ups.
Yesterday, the festival unveiled its Generation and Retrospective programs.
As previously reported, buyers will get the chance to view these movies during the virtual EFM, which runs March 1-5. Juries will also be appointed to decide on the festival’s awards during this period. Audiences will hopefully have a chance...
The Forum program contains 17 movies, primarily from filmmakers at the beginning of their careers, though with some establish directors included such as Israeli documentarian Avi Mograbi and Berlin directors Chris Wright and Stefan Kolbe. In total, 14 are world premieres.
The Forum Expanded selection consists of shorts, medium-length films and features, and will screen 17 films as well as art installations. In the Shorts program, a total of 20 titles will compete for the Berlinale prizes this year. Scroll down for the full line-ups.
Yesterday, the festival unveiled its Generation and Retrospective programs.
As previously reported, buyers will get the chance to view these movies during the virtual EFM, which runs March 1-5. Juries will also be appointed to decide on the festival’s awards during this period. Audiences will hopefully have a chance...
- 2/9/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Despite its title, “I Miss U” is actually a Thai horror film, albeit one with a decidedly romantic and wistful bent, director Monthon Arayangkoon, combining the love story of his 2010 “Big Boy” with the spooky shenanigans of his earlier shockers “The House” and “The Victim”. The urban legend inspired film is headlined by a trio of ghost veterans, actor Jesdaporn Pholdee (“The Eye 2”), Apinya Sakuljaroensuk (“4 Bia”) and Natthaweeranuch Thongmee (“Shutter”), and proved highly popular at the box office, emerging as the country’s top grossing genre hit of 2012 to date. The film follows a fairly familiar sounding plot, with Apinya Sakuljaroensuk as Bee, a trainee doctor who starts working at a new hospital and soon catches the eye of the handsome and much sought after Dr Thana (Jesdaporn Pholdee). Unfortunately, despite his attraction to her, the poor man is a tormented soul, still apparently heart-broken after the death of...
- 11/7/2012
- by James Mudge
- Beyond Hollywood
The recent popularity of Thai horror continues with “Ladda Land”, directed by Sophon Sakdaphisit, who also helmed the entertaining genre flick “Coming Soon”, as well as scripting Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom’s superb “Shutter” and “Alone”, and working on the hit “4bia” anthologies. Drawing upon an urban legend, the film relocates from the usual Bangkok setting to Chiang Mai, revolving around supernatural occurrences in a new upmarket housing estate and attempting to balance its ghosts with financial and domestic terrors. The film follows Saharat Sangkapreecha (“The Legend of Suriyothai”) as Thee, a marketing manager who leaves Bangkok to take a higher paying job in a new Chiang Mai area called Ladda Land, bringing with him his wife Parn (Piyathida Woramuksik, “The Sisters”), angsty 14 year old daughter Nan (Suthatta Udomsilp) and young son Nat (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk). Despite ongoing pressure from his nagging mother in law, Thee is determined to make...
- 12/21/2011
- by James Mudge
- Beyond Hollywood
Hawaii International Film Festival
HONOLULU -- Romantic jealousy leads to vicious suspicion in Ploy, Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang's follow-up to Invisible Waves, as a couple attempt to come to terms with the remnants of their faltering relationship.
Factoring in critical support and Ratanaruang's Asian auteur cachet, this 2007 Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection should be assured a healthy fest run and with savvy marketing could see modest success in niche markets.
Wit (Pornwut Sarasin) and his wife Dang (Lalita Panyopas) return to Bangkok after seven years in the U.S. to attend a funeral, taking a hotel room to rest up after their red-eye flight. Wit goes down to the lobby bar to buy a pack of cigarettes, where he encounters Ploy (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk), a waif-like young woman waiting to meet her mother later that day at the hotel. Their casual conversation reveals they share the same hometown, prompting Wit to offer Ploy the use of his room to shower and relax.
Dang, trying to get some sleep, is none too happy to meet Wit's new friend. Although she acts polite to Ploy, Dang quietly tells Wit to get rid of the girl. Their tense conversation indicates that all is not well after Wit refuses to ask Ploy to leave. Later, when Dang tries to discuss their deteriorating relationship, Wit avoids divulging too much about his feelings, prompting her to accuse him of infidelity.
In a parallel story line, hotel bartender Nut (Ananda Everingham) engages housekeeping maid Tum (Phornthip Papanai) in a steamy erotic encounter, setting up a telling contrast to the aridity of Wit and Dang's marriage.
Dang clearly feels threatened by the possibility that Wit might be attracted to Ploy, prompting a violent dream about smothering the girl to death. Upset by her disturbing fantasies and argument with Wit, Dang retreats to the hotel lobby, leaving Wit and Ploy alone as she embarks on a questionable assignation of her own.
Ratanaruang's unhurried pace gradually ratchets up the tension in this charged scenario by obscuring his characters' motivations and manipulating the narrative with telling dream sequences that reveal their ulterior intentions. Chankit Chamnivikaipong returns as cinematographer, conjuring a twilit lighting design that evocatively infers the early morning time frame and the characters' sleep-deprived state, while Ratanaruang's carefully plotted camera moves and deliberate framing emphasize their isolation and disconnectedness.
PLOY
Five Star Production Co. and Fortissimo Films in association with the Film Factory
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Producer: Rewat Vorarat
Executive producer: Charoen Iamphungporn
Cinematographer: Chankit Chamnivikaipong
Production designers: Saksiri Chantarangsri, Wittaya Chaimongkol
Music: Hualampong Riddim, Koichi Shimizu
Editor: Patamanadda Yukol
Cast:
Dang: Lalita Panyopas
Wit: Pornwut Sarasin
Ploy: Apinya Sakuljaroensuk
Tum: Phornthip Papanai
Nut: Ananda Everingham
Running time --107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
HONOLULU -- Romantic jealousy leads to vicious suspicion in Ploy, Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang's follow-up to Invisible Waves, as a couple attempt to come to terms with the remnants of their faltering relationship.
Factoring in critical support and Ratanaruang's Asian auteur cachet, this 2007 Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection should be assured a healthy fest run and with savvy marketing could see modest success in niche markets.
Wit (Pornwut Sarasin) and his wife Dang (Lalita Panyopas) return to Bangkok after seven years in the U.S. to attend a funeral, taking a hotel room to rest up after their red-eye flight. Wit goes down to the lobby bar to buy a pack of cigarettes, where he encounters Ploy (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk), a waif-like young woman waiting to meet her mother later that day at the hotel. Their casual conversation reveals they share the same hometown, prompting Wit to offer Ploy the use of his room to shower and relax.
Dang, trying to get some sleep, is none too happy to meet Wit's new friend. Although she acts polite to Ploy, Dang quietly tells Wit to get rid of the girl. Their tense conversation indicates that all is not well after Wit refuses to ask Ploy to leave. Later, when Dang tries to discuss their deteriorating relationship, Wit avoids divulging too much about his feelings, prompting her to accuse him of infidelity.
In a parallel story line, hotel bartender Nut (Ananda Everingham) engages housekeeping maid Tum (Phornthip Papanai) in a steamy erotic encounter, setting up a telling contrast to the aridity of Wit and Dang's marriage.
Dang clearly feels threatened by the possibility that Wit might be attracted to Ploy, prompting a violent dream about smothering the girl to death. Upset by her disturbing fantasies and argument with Wit, Dang retreats to the hotel lobby, leaving Wit and Ploy alone as she embarks on a questionable assignation of her own.
Ratanaruang's unhurried pace gradually ratchets up the tension in this charged scenario by obscuring his characters' motivations and manipulating the narrative with telling dream sequences that reveal their ulterior intentions. Chankit Chamnivikaipong returns as cinematographer, conjuring a twilit lighting design that evocatively infers the early morning time frame and the characters' sleep-deprived state, while Ratanaruang's carefully plotted camera moves and deliberate framing emphasize their isolation and disconnectedness.
PLOY
Five Star Production Co. and Fortissimo Films in association with the Film Factory
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Producer: Rewat Vorarat
Executive producer: Charoen Iamphungporn
Cinematographer: Chankit Chamnivikaipong
Production designers: Saksiri Chantarangsri, Wittaya Chaimongkol
Music: Hualampong Riddim, Koichi Shimizu
Editor: Patamanadda Yukol
Cast:
Dang: Lalita Panyopas
Wit: Pornwut Sarasin
Ploy: Apinya Sakuljaroensuk
Tum: Phornthip Papanai
Nut: Ananda Everingham
Running time --107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 12/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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