FLUORESCENT LAMPS UNINTENTIONAL TRILOGY

This is my reply to Harrytuttle in my English-only blog:
http://celinejulie.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/my-feelings-for-frost-1997-fred-kelemen/

--I’m glad you like MY MOTHER AND HER DARKNESS. I will tell Filmsick about it. I also like the shot of the insects in the light very much. It is interesting that something which is very irritating in real life can turn to be very beautiful when it is presented in film.

I don’t know if this kind of insect thing happens abroad or not, because I have never been abroad. But I find it very annoying when these insects (I think it is a kind of moth) gather around fluorescent lamps in my apartment. It is very annoying because after they gather around the lamps for a few minutes, they will drop dead. And I have to get rid of their bodies. Sometimes they gather around the lamps above my bed, and then their dead bodies will spread all over my bed. When this kind of insect thing happens in my apartment, I must switch off the lamps in my apartment very quickly and switch on the lamps outside to draw the insects away from my apartment.

MY MOTHER AND HER DARKNESS makes me feel a little bit sad, though that may not be the intention of the filmmaker. I feel sad because whenever I see these moths, they remind me of something which can live for a very short period of time. These moths remind me of the transience of life.

In my personal opinion, I think MY MOTHER AND HER DARKNESS can be a part of an unintentional trilogy. The other two parts of this unintentional trilogy are THIS AND MILLION MORE LIGHTS (2003, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) and WAR OF FLUORESCENT (2006, Nontawat Numbenchapol, 8 minutes). THIS AND MILLION MORE LIGHTS focuses on a fluorescent light and a boy who is hesitating to jump from a springboard in a swimming pool. WAR OF FLUORESCENT is a documentary about the director’s fight with the moths in his house. What makes MY MOTHER AND HER DARKNESS stands apart from these two films may be Filmsick’s love for his mother. In this film we can hear his mother talking to him in Thai, showing her care for him. (I’m sorry that his mother’s talk is not subtitled in English.)

--I love Fred Kelemen’s films very much, though I think what I wrote doesn’t represent the real greatness of his films. I can write about my opinions for his characters and his stories, but I think the real greatness of his films may not be the characters or the stories, but something which is beyond my ability to verbalize. I wish Fred Kelemen’s films are released as DVDs soon, so that some great critics can have a chance to see his films and write worthy reviews of his films.


This is my reply to Wisekwai in my English-only blog:
http://celinejulie.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/birth-of-the-seanema-shown-on-feb-16/

I hope you will have a chance to go to see BIRTH OF THE SEANEMA in this Fringe Festival. I think this film is rarely screened. I’m not surprised many people haven’t seen it. It was shown in the Thai Short Film Festival in 2004, then it was shown at Thammasat University Library in 2004, then it was shown in the Bangkok International Film Festival in 2005. That means it may have been shown only three times in Bangkok in the past. So don’t miss this upcoming chance. The brochure says it will be shown at Patravadi Theatre on February 16 at 17.00 hrs.