Monday, February 11, 2008

TURTLES SWIM FASTER THAN EXPECTED (2005, Satoshi Miki, A+)

Coincidentally, three films I saw last weekend have interesting (disguised) pregnant women. I-BE AREA (2007, Ryan Trecartin) has a very crazy disguised pregnant character. WANDA (1970, Barbara Loden, A+) has the leading character disguised as a pregnant woman for the purpose of committing a crime, while the real pregnant character in SLEEPWALK (1986, Sara Driver, A+) is the leader of a crime gang. These (false) pregnant characters seem to carry an unusual but interesting images.

I saw WANDA and SLEEPWALK at Thammasat University Library. For the full programs of the films shown there, you can read it from the link below:
http://dkfilmhouse.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html


Mubarak Ali wrote about SLEEPWALK here:
http://supposedaura.blogspot.com/2007/06/scenes-from-parallel-life.html

I really agree with Mubarak that SLEEPWALK reminds me of Jacques Rivette’s films. Another film which reminds me of Rivette lately is TURTLES SWIM FASTER THAN EXPECTED (2005, Satoshi Miki, A+). This Japanese film has nothing resembling Rivette’s, but it reminds me of Rivette’s films because its story is about a young housewife whose daily life seems to enter a new dimension after she decided to work as a spy for another country (I think it implies North Korea here.) She doesn’t have to do any dangerous mission as a spy. She just has to carry on her daily life as usual, but now her small town which used to look very ordinary transforms into a town which is only ordinary on the surface, but full of secrets and conspiracies deep down. It reminds me of Rivette’s films because I think films like CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING, GANG OF FOUR, UP DOWN FRAGILE, and LE PONT DU NORD also makes an ordinary-looking town, city or streets into something full of secrets or magic. While Rivette’s films put magic into daily life, TURTLES SWIM FASTER THAN EXPECTED transforms such an ordinary life into something very exciting.

Another thing I like very much in TURTLES SWIM FASTER THAN EXPECTED is the performance of Yu Aoi. I just saw her in RAINBOW SONG (2006, Naoto Kumazawa, A+), and it’s hard to believe it’s the same actress starring in both films.


--The upcoming weekend is very exciting. I hope to go to see THE VERY SHORT NEW YEAR CINE-BRATION PROGRAM at Chulalongkorn University on Friday.
http://2008shortfilmproject.exteen.com/20080122/2008-very-short-main-page
http://2008shortfilmproject.exteen.com/20071127/filmmakers


And I hope to go to see BIRTH OF THE SEANEMA (2004, Sasithorn Ariyavicha, A+++++++++++++++) for the third time this Saturday and a film by Raya Martin on Sunday. As for BIRTH OF THE SEANEMA, you can read an interview with Sasithorn by Sonthaya Subyen in Thai here:
http://filmsick.exteen.com/20080204/entry

4 comments:

Mubarak Ali said...

Wow - that is some program listed at dk filmhouse. Such rare films! Did you manage to catch Jack Smith's masterpiece?

Anonymous said...

หวังว่าพี่ Mds คงมาดูงาน 2008 ที่นิเทศได้นะครับ

ผมกับเต๋อจะเตรียมปูพรมแดงไว้เลย (ล้อเล่นจ้ะ 55)

Anonymous said...

DEAR MADAMME MdS

see u on saturday

i'll bring u some vcd collection hope u'll like it !

LET'sCELEBRATE BIRTH OF SEANEMA again!

BTW i post mynew moving images on my blog( it was the another part from ANOTHER EVEING OF THER THIRD ) hope u 'll enjoyed it :)/FILMSICK

celinejulie said...

Mubarak, I will try to go to see Jack Smith’s NORMAL LOVE, which will be shown on February 24. I haven’t even seen Jack Smith’s FLAMING CREATURES yet, though it is available in UBUWEB. Filmsick told me that some parts of the music video JUSTIFY MY LOVE by Madonna reminds him of FLAMING CREATURES.

I regret I couldn’t go to see LITTLE FUGITIVE and JUDY BERLIN, which were shown on February 3, because I had to work in my office on that day.

Lately I didn’t go to see many films at Thammasat for many reasons. Maybe it is because I am too lazy. I didn’t go to see ON THE SILVER GLOBE (1987, Andrzej Zulawski) because I had to work in my office on that day. I didn’t go to see MAN ON THE FIRST CENTURY (1961, Oldrich Lipsky) and THE END OF AUGUST AT THE HOTEL OZONE (1967, Jan Schmidt) because I had to go to see the stage play SUNFLOWER on that day. I didn’t go to see SILVER HEADS (1998, Yevgeny Yufit + Vladimir Maslov) and KILLED BY LIGHTNING (2002, Yevgeny Yufit) because I went upcountry on that day. Thammasat University Library keep on showing great films, but I didn’t go to see them. I feel so sad.