POLL 65: LESBIAN

POLL 65: LESBIAN

My poll 65 is inspired by five Thai short films I saw this year – MAHJONG, MISS YOU SO MUCH, SHE AND HER, THE SPECIAL LOVE, and WHEN FON LEFT CHUANG. These five films deal with lesbianism. MAHJONG and SHE AND HER are very interesting, because these two films present lesbianism in a very positive way. These two films are against discrimination and ask for society's acceptance of lesbianism.

MISS YOU SO MUCH, THE SPECIAL LOVE, and WHEN FON LEFT CHUANG are darker. These three films focus on the psychological aspects of their characters. I like the narrative structure of MISS YOU SO MUCH very much. THE SPECIAL LOVE is made by a female high-school student. The film shows that this young filmmaker is ambitious and has a high potential to be a great director in the future. WHEN FON LEFT CHUANG is like a psychological thriller. It is made by Thossaporn Riantong. I like Thossaporn's films very much, but I usually give "A+/A" to his films, not "A+". I love the emotions and atmosphere in his films, but I think his films are restricted by "genre". His films seem to belong in either horror or thriller genre, and that makes the stories in his films not really interesting. I think if Thossaporn makes a film which focuses only on the atmosphere and emotions, but does not try to make the film fit into the horror/thriller formula, that may be the kind of films that I like.

There's another Thai short film that I love this year. It's PSYCHOSIS (2009, Nisarut Komsup). I think this film may deal with lesbianism, but I'm not 100 % sure about it. The ending of this film is ambiguous for me. So I decided not to include PSYCHOSIS in the list.

I LOVE THESE LESBIAN FILMS/PLAY. WHICH ONES DO YOU LIKE?

1.LES BICHES (1968, Claude Chabrol, France)
You can watch the whole film with English subtitles in Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hpIrYVI8Bc

2.CACHE (1998, Carolyn Coal, USA)

3.HAPPY END (2004, Narumon Jaisa-ard, Thailand)

4.HERSTORY (เรื่องของเธอ) (1999, Buddhiporn Boosabarati, Thailand)
Buddhiporn works as a co-writer of the films SICK NURSES (2007, Piraphan Laoyont + Thodsapol Siriwiwat, A) and WOR (2008, Bunjong Sinthanamongkolgool, A+). SICK NURSES also has lesbian supporting characters.

I remember that in HERSTORY, the motif of the film is a necktie. I didn't know what it meant in this film, but the director's friend explained after the screening that the shape of the necktie may make the audience think about the male and female symbols, or something like that. I didn't remember exactly what he said.

5.HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (2000, Frank Mosvold, Norway)
Frank Mosvold also directed some gay films, such as A KISS IN THE SNOW.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hog6tgvhlA

6.JE TU IL ELLE (1974, Chantal Akerman, Belgium)
You can watch the whole film with English subtitles in Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt_Ozg4pDw0

Filmsick's comment on this film:
http://filmsick.exteen.com/20080715/je-tu-il-elle-chantal-akerman-1974

7.MADAME X: AN ABSOLUTE RULER (1978, Ulrike Ottinger, West Germany)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21UEp809O7E
http://filmsick.exteen.com/20051018/ulrike-ottinhger

8.MAHANAKORN 2009 (2009, Taweewat Kamnerdpetch + Paiboon Soponsuwaparp, Thai play)

9.MAHJONG (2009, Napha Sasalak, Thailand)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/3975401601_60fef64d16_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3535/3976163496_3cb8fd569e_o.jpg

10.THE MARS CANON (2002, Shiori Kazama, Japan)

11.MISS YOU SO MUCH (มีแต่คิดถึง...เธอ) (2009, Teera Prachumkong, Thailand)

12.1977 (2007, Peque Varela, UK)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA8Chz2fWAQ

13.PEPI, LUCI, BOM (1980, Pedro Almodovar, Spain)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2pdPSaP8ug

14.ROOM NO.3 (ห้องเลขที่ 3) (2004, Navarutt Roongaroon, Thailand)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3123/3975291909_97bf625403_o.jpg
The photo is from
http://thirdclasscitizen.exteen.com/20090924/third-class-cinema-016-present-continuous-poster-more-detail

15.SHADOW OF A FIRE (2008, Mikael Ivan Roost, Switzerland)

16.SHE AND HER (เธอและเธอ) (2008, Sutthion Na Lamphoun, Thailand)

17.SHOW ME LOVE (1998, Lukas Moodysson, Sweden)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jVSvV8bgoY

18.THE SPECIAL LOVE ('รัก'คนพิเศษ แบบพิเศษ เป็นพิเศษ) (2009, Pornrumpa Techavichitra, Thailand)

19.SPIDER LILIES (2007, Zero Chou, Taiwan)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCFkA_7B3N4
http://initiala0099.exteen.com/20070916/spider-lilies

20.WHEN FON LEFT CHUANG (เมื่อฝนทิ้งช่วง) (2009, Thossaporn Riantong, Thailand)

You can cast multiple votes.

--If you haven't seen ROOM NO.3, you can see it on Sunday, October 4, around 1700 hrs at Kiosk Cafe, TCDC, on the sixth floor of Emporium. The film will be shown as a part of Navarutt Roongaroon retrospective, organized by Third Class Citizen.

You can find the details of the program here:
http://thirdclasscitizen.exteen.com/20090924/third-class-cinema-016-present-continuous-poster-more-detail
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/3976057866_4b08ca5d5a_o.jpg