Monday, August 06, 2007

BOYS AROUND THE WORLD SHOW EVERYTHING

A piece of news about Thai censorship, written by Kong Rithdee in Bangkok Post, can be read in the link below:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/030807_Realtime/03Aug2007_real11.php

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THIS IS MY COMMENT IN MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE’S BLOG:
http://memoriesofthefuture.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/and-then-one-day-you-kissed-me/

--I haven’t seen PARIS VU PAR…(1965), but I have seen a segment of PARIS SEEN BY…TWENTY YEARS AFTER (1984). The segment I saw is called I’M HUNGRY, I’M COLD, directed by Chantal Akerman, and starring Maria de Medeiros and Pascale Salkin as two poor lesbians wandering the streets of Paris, struggling so hard to survive. What is very impressive about this short film is that the dialogues between the two girls are not spoken in a realistic way, but are spoken like poetry. I really love this film. I think Zach Campbell (Elusive Lucidity) also saw this one. The other five directors participating in PARIS SEEN BY…TWENTY YEARS AFTER are Bernard Dubois, Philippe Garrel, Frederic Mitterand, Vincent Nordon, and Philippe Venault.

--Why Danish boys in particular? It’s because Nicolaj Coster-Waldau is from Denmark. I think he is one of the most desirable actors. He is in WIMBLEDON (A-), FIREWALL (A-/B+), ENIGMA (A), BENT (A+) and THE BOUNCER. Nikolaj Lie Kaas, another handsome actor, is also from Denmark. He is in RECONSTRUCTION (A+), MURK, ADAM’S APPLE, BROTHERS, and OPEN HEARTS.

Hahaha. Just kidding. The real reason for DANISH BOYS SHOW EVERYTHING is just because I want to mock the real omnibus film DANISH GIRLS SHOW EVERYTHING (1996).

If you don’t prefer Danish boys, I think maybe the film project should be changed to BOYS AROUND THE WORLD SHOW EVERYTHING. And maybe these five directors can be added to the film project:

16.Isaac Julien (UK)

17.Onir (INDIA)

18.Constantine Giannaris (GREECE)

19.Cui Zi’en (CHINA)

20.Bruce La Bruce (Canada)


--I think Gurinder Chadha’s segment in PARIS I LOVE YOU is very romantic and lovely, while reflecting social problems at the same time. I think this short film should be shown together with YASEMIN (1988, Hark Bohm, West Germany, A-/B+) and AE FOND KISS (2004, Ken Loach, A+), because all these films share more or less the same theme. Gurinder Chadha’s film is the most optimistic one among these three, though.

--Bangkok, my city, also has an omnibus film made for it 7 years ago. It’s called BANGKOK 2000 FRAMES. In this project, many Thai filmmakers were asked to make a film about Bangkok using only 2000 frames from a film reel. I can’t remember many segments in this film, but my most favorite segment is called BANGKOK BEAUTY. It is directed by Wisit Sasanatieng (TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER). In the first shot of this film, viewers will see a plastic bag dancing in the wind on the street, very similar to that famous shot from the film AMERICAN BEAUTY. But a few seconds later, the camera will zoom out from that plastic bag, and the viewers will see plenty of plastic bags also dancing in the wind on the street of Bangkok. The film is very funny. Bangkok is really a dirty city.

--I just would like to add a little thought on omnibus films. I think what is interesting about omnibus films is that many ones were made to respond to catastrophes, mishaps, or injustice. This kind of project shows the unity of many filmmakers in fighting for a good cause. For example:

1.TSUNAMI

2.NANG SAMANCHAN (It is a Thai omnibus film consisting of 12 segments. The purpose of this film is to find a peaceful way to solve the problem of the violence in the South of Thailand.)

3.11’09”01 – SEPTEMBER 11

4.GERMANY IN AUTUMN (1978, 11 directors including Alexander Kluge, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Edgar Reitz, Bernhard Sinkel, Volker Schlondorff)

5.FAR FROM VIETNAM (1967, Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, Agnes Varda, Jean-Luc Godard). The purpose of this film is to show sympathy for the North Vietnamese army. I think the directors in this project can be called THE DREAM TEAM.

6.ALLERZIELEN (2005, many Dutch directors including Eddy Terstall and Mijke de Jong). The purpose of this film is to respond to the murder of Theo van Gogh.



--This is a poster of BROTHERS, starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas, from http://www.allocine.fr/

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1125/1028527073_7f6c75e2b7_o.jpg



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems that you are interested in political issue so I would like to recommend a new drama by Chula called

VATZLAV

check this site by me

http://vatzlav2007.multiply.com/

initial A

celinejulie said...

Thank you very much ja Nong Initial A

The play seems to be very interesting, and I like stage plays by Chula’s Faculty of Arts very much, especially Rak Taluang Ta (Pawit Mahasarinun, A+), and Sida: Sri Rama (2005, Pornrat Damrung, A++++++++++), which is one of my most favorite stage plays of all time.

I once saw Dungkamol Na Pompetch performed in a play called PIPPIN’ (2006, Pansak Sukee, A). I think his performance is excellent. I think I can’t afford to miss VATZLAV, which is directed by him.