BALTHAZAR, 4 MONTHS, NO COUNTRY ARE THE WINNERS

My poll 45 ended with 11 votes. Thanks very much to everyone who participated in it. Here is the result:

SOMETHING IMPORTANT HAPPENS OFFSCREEN OR ISN’T SHOWN IN THESE FILMS. WHICH FILMS DO YOU LIKE?

1.AU HASARD BALTHAZAR (1966, Robert Bresson, France)
+4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (2007, Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
+NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007, Joel Coen + Ethan Coen, USA)
Each of these films got 5 votes, or 45 %.


4.LORNA’S SILENCE (2008, Jean-Pierre Dardenne + Luc Dardenne, Belgium)
It got 4 votes, or 36 %.


5.L’AVVENTURA (1960, Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy)
+LA BELLE NOISEUSE (1991, Jacques Rivette, France)
+THE HEADLESS WOMAN (2008, Lucrecia Martel, Argentina)
+SHARA (2003, Naomi Kawase, Japan)
Each of them got 3 votes, or 27 %.


9.BLISSFULLY YOURS (2002, Apichatpong, Weerasethakul, Thailand)
+CASA DE LAVA (1994, Pedro Costa, Portugal)
A SCENE AT THE SEA (1991, Takeshi Kitano, Japan)
Each of them got 2 votes, or 18 %.


12.EUROPA 2005 – 27 OCTOBER (2006, Jean-Marie Straub + Daniele Huillet, France)
+FALLEN (2005, Fred Kelemen, Latvia)
+5 x 2 (2004, Francois Ozon, France)
+FORGET ME (1994, Noemie Lvovsky, France)
+GHOSTS (2005, Christian Petzold, Germany)
+GLORIA (1999, Manuela Viegas,Portugal)
+LE MONDE VIVANT (2003, Eugene Green, France)
+SLOW MOTION (1980, Jean-Luc Godard, France)

Each of them got 1 vote, or 9 %


20.FACE, MASK (หน้า, หน้ากาก) (2008, Eakapojd Djangkijkul, Thailand)

It got 0 vote.

--Apart from 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS, other films in which the rape occur offscreen include FRIENDSHIP (2008, Right Brain Team, Thailand, B+ ). I think this part is told very well in this film, because it is not told directly. The viewers only see some vicious guys looking at the heroine. The voiceover of the heroine said, "I didn't reach the school." And the viewers knew that the heroine disappeared for many years before she dies of AIDS. Then the viewers realized by themselves that the heroine was raped, got HIV-infected, was ashamed and decided to disappear for many years. I think this event is one of the most important events in the film, but it is not told or shown directly at all. It is hard to find this kind of storytelling technique in Thai mainstream films.

I think FRIENDSHIP is not a great film, but what I like the most about it is this kind of unexpected ending. Before the last five minutes of this film, this film seems to be a romantic comedy, with a little drama. Then at the last five minutes, when all the secret is revealed indirectly, it turns out to be a really feel-bad film. I think it makes me feel nearly half as bad as THE MACABRE CASE OF PROMPIRAM (2003, Manop Udomdej, B+ ), though in the case of FRIENDSHIP, this violent event only occurs in the audience's imagination.

However, I guess the real intention of the filmmakers of FRIENDSHIP may be to make the viewers have more sympathy towards HIV patients, and I think FRIENDSHIP really achieves that purpose.

--There are two films in which the rape is shown indirectly—THE CRUEL EMBRACE (1987, Marion Hansel, Belgium, A+), in which the viewers see only some lights above the victim, and GROOVE ON A STANLEY KNIFE (1997, Beth Kotler + Tinge Krishnan, UK, A), in which the viewers see someone destroying a furniture instead (if I remember it correctly). I think it is interesting that this kind of technique is employed by female filmmakers, who may be more sensitive about how to represent this thing.