Quote:
Returning to Thailand after studying in the US, Ananda lands a part in a new film and finds himself swept up in a whirlwind of success. When American girlfriend Zoe turns up to visit, she soon begins to feel shut out and the distance between them grows as Ananda becomes increasingly absorbed with his role in the film. His attention soon turns to May from the film’s production crew, and so as one relationship fades, another ignites. All the while, Ananda finds himself revisiting his past and reflecting on his present – from the building he grew up in and a Bangkok he once knew, to two cultures that he is now caught between.Read More »
Thai
-
Aditya Assarat – Hi-so (2010)
2001-2010Aditya AssaratArthouseDramaThailand -
Surapong Pinijkhar – Tawipop AKA The Siam Renaissance (2004)
2001-2010DramaFantasySurapong PinijkharThailandA mirror joins two worlds, modern-day Bangkok and Bangkok under Rama IV, together. Maneechan, a diplomat investigating recently uncovered documents in France concerning ancient Thailand, learns the story behind them first-hand as she travels back in time through the mirror.Read More »
-
Susanna Salonen – Patong Girl (2014)
2011-2020DramaRomanceSusanna SalonenThailandGerman family Schroeder is spending their Christmas holidays on the Thai island, Phuket. Of all the things, deep within the sleazy tourist bars and alleys of Patong, the youngest son Felix falls in love with a gorgeous Thai girl Fai who in return appears to mutually attracted to him. Fai holds a special secret. Following a sorrowful last goodbye to Fai at the end of his holiday, Felix decides while en-route to the airport, to follow the calling in his heart and stay a week longer.Read More »
-
Thunska Pansittivorakul – Boriven nee yu pai tai karn kuk kun AKA This Area Is Under Quarantine (2009)
2001-2010DocumentaryExperimentalQueer Cinema(s)ThailandThunska PansittivorakulQuote:
It doesn’t look spectacular at first. Two boys each talk separately about their experiences. In the end also on the sexual level. In the end they are also in the room together. In the end they don’t leave it at talking. Remember that homosexuality on film is banned in Thailand and so this film maker has been very daring.Europeans on sex holidays to Thailand and transvestites who work in tourist areas may give a different impression, but this country is far from liberal in regard to homosexuality. A candid film maker like Thunska Pansittivorakul is therefore sure to come into contact with censorship sooner or later. So anyone who wonders why the two kids in this film keep their pants on right up to the end now knows the answer.Read More »
-
Banjong Pisanthanakun – The Medium (2021)
2021-2030Banjong PisanthanakunHorrorThailandQuote:
A horrifying story of a shaman’s inheritance in the Isan region of Thailand. What could be possessing a family member might not be the Goddess they make it out to be.Read More » -
Anocha Suwichakornpong – Jai Jumlong AKA Come Here (2021) (HD)
Anocha Suwichakornpong2021-2030ArthouseThailandQuote:
How do you put together the puzzle if the image is missing? You start from individual pieces and see how they fit together. There are the four young actors on a trip to Kanchanaburi, “a city so meaningful, I’d rather die if I don’t get to be with you”, as the song goes. They stay in a hut in the forest by the river, drink on the terrace, talk and watch the fireworks at night, the same scene they later re-enact on the stage set back in Bangkok. The harried young woman is lost in the same forest, or maybe in the young actress’ dream; when the screen splits into two distinct parts, it’s also not clear how they fit together. The foursome came to Kanchanaburi to see the museum, but it’s closed for refurbishment, although they still manage to walk along Hellfire Pass. You can hear the sounds of construction as the scenery rushes past on the train; you can see the rails rush towards you from the window of the theatre set. If you follow the Death Railway back from the west, you reach Bangkok too, which was once home to the Dusit Zoo; the actors also cluck, howl and bark, in city and country alike. What if the missing image isn’t one place or moment in time, but many?Read More » -
Thunska Pansittivorakul & Harit Srikhao – Homogeneous, Empty Time (2017)
2011-2020DocumentaryHarit SrikhaoThailandThunska PansittivorakulQuote:
This documentary film explores the spread of nationalism according to the concept of “Homogeneous, Empty Time” by Walter Benjamin, a German Jewish philosopher and cultural critic. The theory as referenced in the book Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson stated that nationalistic ideologies originated from emptiness within an area where people have homogenous consciousness. This film, therefore, explores people in a variety of communities in Thailand, such as high school students, religious people, nationalistic right-wingers, military cadets, and people in the Southern border, in an attempt to find what foundation the Thai nation is formed upon.Read More » -
Manop Udomdej – Ka lok bang dai sha, ka lok na dai korn AKA The Dumb Die Fast, the Smart Die Slow (1991)
1991-2000CrimeFilm NoirManop UdomdejThailandTony Rayns, VIFF wrote:
No postman rings twice, but Manop’s gutsy reinvention of the hard-boiled film noir has deep roots in American thrillers of the late 1940s. It comes complete with a criminal ‘hero’, a trashy, ruthless femme fatale and a dog which is forever scratching around where it shouldn’t – not to mention dazzling chiaroscuro compositions and a camera as mobile as the wife’s morals. Salak (Sorasak Wongthai, a perfect cypher of bruised masculinity) is an expert safe-cracker on the run from the police who is offered work as a handyman by garage-owner Boonpreng, a serial husband apparently with very poor taste in wives. The current wife Chanang (Aungkana Timdee, as fatale as they come) learns Salak’s secret and blackmails him into helping her rob Boonpreng’s safe… A seasoned social critic, Manop Udomdej expertly uses generic conventions to deliver a devastating account of crime in a time of materialism and bad faith.Read More » -
Jazzsiam – Kon Song Jao AKA Silhouette of God (1989)
Drama1981-1990AsianJazzsiamThailandEverybody wants to lead a good life such as Karm, a young farmer who foolishly believes in communion with spirits. Karm has been used by Boonma to fool the people off their money. Karm falls in love and then realizes that everything he has done was wrong. In the end Karm destroys those believes that he had created.Read More »