IN PRAISE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AND MALAYSIAN FILMS

THIS IS MY COMMENT IN GIRISH SHAMBU’S BLOG:
http://www.girishshambu.com/blog/2007/08/undistributedantonioni.html

I have seen only one film starring Lucia Bose. It is NATHALIE GRANGER (1972, Marguerite Duras). I like her in this film a lot. Both Lucia Bose and Jeanne Moreau seem to have some kind of mysterious aura around them in this film. There’s nothing supernatural happening in this extremely slow film, but somehow the presence of these two women and the atmosphere in the film seem to make ordinary world look mysterious and supernatural. That’s just my feeling, though. One of my friends also said Bose and Moreau look like witches or vampires in NATHALIE GRANGER. Bose also starred in many horror films.

One film of Bose that I would like to see very much is DEATH OF A CYCLIST (1955, Juan Antonio Bardem). I have heard that Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis Garcia Berlanga were very interesting Spanish directors. But their films are hard to find at the moment, at least in Bangkok.

I like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, too. But I have different opinions from my Thai friends because my friends seem to hate some recent films of his, but I like BUG’S HOUSE (2005) and DOPPELGANGER (2003) very much.

I also like FORGIVENESS very much. This film also makes me realize how talented Arnold Vosloo (the leading actor) is. Before I saw FORGIVENESS, I only knew him from THE MUMMY series. I think Arnold Vosloo is one of many foreign actors who should be given much more interesting roles to play in Hollywood films. Other great foreign actors who seem to waste their talents in Hollywood films include David Wenham in films like VAN HELSING, Katja Riemann in films like BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE, and Edison Chen in THE GRUDGE 2. But if I look at it in another way, I think it might be good that these foreign actors have a chance to show their faces for a few seconds in Hollywood films, if they still have time to continue doing good films in their countries.

Speaking of FORGIVENESS, I would like to add that last year I was crazy for South African films. I saw some South African films that I like very much. They are MEN OF GOLD (2006, Vincent Moloi), THE HEART OF WHITENESS (2006, Rehad Desai), DIFFERENT PIGMENT (2006, Omelga Mthiyane), WHITE MAN’S DOG (2006, Sipho Singiswa), and THE WOODEN CAMERA (2003, Ntshaveni Wa Luruli). All of them, except THE WOODEN CAMERA, are documentaries. Film about South Africa which I would like to see very much is DUST (1985, Marion Hansel), which is adapted from J.M. Coetzee’s novel.

As for this year, I think I am crazy for Malaysian films, especially the ones directed by Tan Chui Mui, Ho Yuhang, James Lee, and Khoo Eng Yow. Some of my friends call these films pretentious or fake. But I think I always enjoy films which are labeled ‘pretentious’ by others.