TEN MOST FAVORITE CHARACTERS IN BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2008
SPOILERS ALERT
CAUTION: I may misunderstand some parts of some films, because I have seen them only once, and my memory is not reliable. I tend to distort my memory of some films by my own desires.
1.LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008, Tomas Alfredson)
The middle-aged female vampire who chooses to burn herself alive instead of sucking other people’s blood.
2.BE LIKE OTHERS (2008, Tanaz Eshaghian)
BE LIKE OTHERS is the film to which I gave only A+ after I had just finished watching it, because I think it has a good content, but it is not aesthetically interesting. Now I give it A+++++, because I find that the pain of the interviewees in this film still stay with me, and I may never forget their pain. I can’t remember exactly what an interviewee in this film said, but he/she said something like this:
“I have killed the love in me. When someone says, “I love you”, I ask, “How much will you pay?” The greatest love of all is the parental love. But my parents have killed their love for me. So I have killed the love in me.”
I don’t want to watch good films. I want to watch films like this—films which I can feel totally connected to or seem to understand my feelings. There are not many films which can make me feel like this. BE LIKE OTHERS, CRY IN SILENCE (2006, J.G. Biggs, A+++++++++++++++), and UNINVITED (2003, Lee Su-yeon, A+++++++++++++++) are one of those rare films which can understand my feelings.
3.FEAST OF VILLAINS (2008, Pan Jianlin)
The hero. Because he has a chance to steal a computer, but he decides not to steal it, though he is extremely poor and doesn’t have money to pay for the cure of his seriously-ill father.
4.MODERN LIFE (2008, Raymond Depardon)
An old Protestant farmer who likes to watch Catholic rituals. This farmer doesn’t have to speak anything. I feel an overwhelming emotion just by looking at his eyes. I feel as if I was watching a portrait by a great painter in that scene. It’s like staring at a portrait of a person which shines “life” through his eyes, or a portrait which tells us no story, no biography, but has a tremendous power over us.
5.MODERN LIFE (2008, Raymond Depardon)
A middle-aged farmer who doesn’t know what he wants to be. He has been farming all his life, but he doesn’t like this job. He wants to do other jobs, but he tells us he doesn’t know what he really wants to be. I wonder if the real reason he does this farming is because of his parents or not. I wonder if he is happy. I wonder if he knows what he wants, but doesn’t want to tell us. I’m grateful that this documentary lets us meet this kind of people.
6.MODERN LIFE (2008, Raymond Depardon)
Wife of Alain. Because she is mysterious. I can’t decide whether she is a good or bad person. An old interviewee seems to hate her a lot. I don’t know if what he said is true or not. I don’t know if what Alain’s wife said is true or not. All I can do is accepting the fact that we can’t judge her and should listen to each side of this family conflict.
7.PAPER CANNOT WRAP UP EMBERS (2007, Rithy Panh)
The prostitute who seems to bear a life-long guilt, because she is an indirect cause of the HIV infection of her sister
8.IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (2007, Jose Luis Guerin)
A gothic girl in the club. I like the expression (or non-expression) of her face. Her face makes me want to write a vampire story for her. This great scene reminds of the power of one scene in DON’T FORGET YOU’RE GOING TO DIE (1995, Xavier Beauvois, A+), in which a feminine-looking gay watches the hero’s face in a clinic and the gay’s face seems to show some constantly-changing feelings. These two scenes are not alike, but their great power is caused by letting a camera linger on a human face.
9.LITTLE MOTH (2008, Tao Peng)
The one-armed boy who tries to help the disabled girl to escape
10.THE LAST MISTRESS (2007, Catherine Breillat)
The curious grandmother of the legal wife
--Apart from the characters in this film festival, one of my most favorite characters this year is the (super)hero of ONE CHOICE ONE CHANCE (2008, Paween Bupphanhakun, Thailand, A+), because he chooses to use his superpower to help his gay friend, instead of helping his own father and mother.
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3 comments:
For me,
-Edith Scob and her old maid in Summer Hours.
-the woman who decides to close the farm because she doesnt have enough money to fix the roof (Is it just her excuse?) in Modern Life.
-Vicky and her aunt.
-Lorna and her baby
-the hearttrob murderer in Jay
-the grandmother who smokes all the time in Nanayo.
-the wife (who is AKA and come down from the mountain) in Citizen Juling.
Thank you very much, Vespertine, for reminding me about that woman in MODERN LIFE. I shouldn’t have forgotten her. If I remember it correctly, the problem is in the roof of the barn where she keeps some animals. I like it very much that she decides to close the farm instead of keeping on torturing her animals by keeping them in that barn. I can’t imagine how painful it would be to live in that barn. As I live in a tropical country, I know that living under a leaky roof is unbearable because of the rain. But for a country like France, living under a leaky roof must be doubly unbearable because of the rain and the snow.
It’s heartbreaking for me to hear stories about some people who fail in their occupational dreams, such as the story of that woman in MODERN LIFE. It reminds me that I also feel very sad for the story of the hero and heroine of THE CONVERT (2008, Kong Rithdee + Panu Aree + Kaweenipon Ketprasit, A+), who failed in their fruit stall business. I also feel sad for the occupational failure of the hero of A LOT LIKE LOVE (2005, Nigel Cole, A+). The story about the hero’s business failure in A LOT LIKE LOVE is what touches me the most in that film, and is the main reason why I give this film A+, not its romantic story.
I also would like to add that my favorite animal in BKKIFF 2008 is the sick cow in MODERN LIFE. She just sits still in the film, but she gives me as much emotional impact as the last ox in OUR DAILY BREAD.
Yes, the sitting sick cow is very heartbreaking.
I want to confess that at first i just like this movie, but the more time pass by, many pictures in this movie still haunted me. Especially the road : snowy road, normal road, greeny road, entering the raod, leaving the road. It's all heartbreaking.
About the woman and her rooftop. I'm not sure is it just her excuse. As i remember, in the first scene that she was interviewed, she said something (that surprise her husband) like she doesn't want to be the farmer for all her life. (I'm not sure about my memory)
But for my perception, i m not sure about this woman's feeling. Is she sad? or she feel her freedom? or both? These kind of un-clearity always makes me love these kind of movie more and more.
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