ZERO (2010, Kriangkrai Watananiyom, A++++++++++)

THAI FILMS I SAW ON JULY, 11, 2010:

1.ZERO (Kriangkrai Watananiyom, A++++++++++)
ซีโร่ (เกรียงไกร วัฒนนิยม)
My comment in Thai on ZERO:
http://vimeo.com/13249323

ZERO seems to share many things with LOVE SLEEP (รักหลับ) (2009, Kriangkrai Watananiyom + Amornchai Sirirat, 30 min, A++++++++++), such as the obsession with clocks and bus stops, and it makes me believe that Kriangkrai Watananiyom may be a Thai auteur in the future, if he keeps on making great films like these.

Things I like in ZERO (and in some cases including LOVE SLEEP):

1.1 Some viewpoints on romantic relationship. I don't know what Kriangkrai's viewpoints on relationship are, but I can adapt his two films to fit my own viewpoint. I think his two films don't really believe in love or romantic relationship. In LOVE SLEEP, a man and a woman become attracted to each other, but the film has an ambiguous ending. As for my own interpretation, I think the ending of LOVE SLEEP means that the man has become something like a caged monkey after he begins a romantic relationship. He is happy. He is not a single, lonely man any more. But he loses his freedom in exchange for this so-called happiness.

The first part of ZERO is very romantic, but the second part of ZERO is very un-romantic. "Love" in this film is something temporary, like everything else in this world. You can find a cute girlfriend/boyfriend. He/She will love you "for a while". And then the love just ends. And it's no one's fault. It's very natural. I don't think that it's the characters' fault at all that one day they find out that they don't love their lovers any more. But it's the characters' fault that they lie to their lovers that they will call. I think they shouldn't lie to their lovers. They should just say straightforwardly, "I don't love you any more. It's just because time changes, and I change,... ."

1.2 Both ZERO and LOVE SLEEP portray daily activities. LOVE SLEEP focuses on daily activities of a single man and a single woman. ZERO doesn't really focus on daily activities, but I think some activities portrayed in this film are very memorable: waiting for a phone call, waiting for a bus, using a library, running around a field, and playing a video game. If I understand it correctly, the film begins and ends with the shot of the hero playing a video game.

1.3 The emotional cruelty in ZERO. I don't know why the emotional cruelty in ZERO makes me feel very hurtful. I think it is very cruel that the female student lies to the hero, and makes the hero spend all night long waiting for her phone call. I also think that the scene in which the adult hero breaks up with his girlfriend is very cruel. Somehow these scenes let me share the pain of these characters. And I'm not sure why these scenes are successful in making me feel like that, while many other films, especially romantic films, can't make me feel like that. The "indifference" that the hero feels for his girlfriend at the end of the film makes me feel very sad. But I don't hate him for it. He just doesn't love her any more.

1.4 Its ambiguous tone. I think ZERO is romantic, anti-romantic, playful, serious, funny, sad, sarcastic, ironic, and deeply hurtful. The scene in which the adult hero breaks up with his girlfriend makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. I think it is easier to make a film which makes me want to laugh, or a film which makes me want to cry, but ZERO can do both things in one scene.

1.5 I'm glad that there is no moral lesson at the end of the film. The hero isn't punished.

1.6 I like the scene in which the female student thinks that the hero stalks her, but when she turns around, she finds out that the hero doesn't stalk her any more.

1.7 I like its flash forward. The film seems very pessimistic in the way that I like. Most Thai films dealing with romantic relationship in universities have happy endings, but ZERO seems to do the opposite. ZERO seems to imply that you may have romantic relationships or romantic problems when you are university students, and you will still have this problem no matter how old you are. The problem will persist when you become an adult.

1.8 The second part of the film surprises me. At first, I thought that the hero might find his old girlfriend after fifteen years has passed. Fortunately, he doesn't find her.

1.9 The development of the character. As I like many feel-bad films, I feel very glad to see some Thai short films of which the hero/heroine turns from a good person into a bad person, or from a victim into a victimizer, or from an object of a verb into a subject of a verb. In the case of ZERO, the hero turns from "someone who is dumped by his girlfriend" into "someone who dumps his girlfriend".

1.10 This development of character reminds me of myself. When I was a child, I hate some adults who scolded me harshly without sufficient reasons. When I grow old, I find that I also scold some people harshly without appropriate reasons. Sometimes I get angry at office guards, building guards, sales assistants, office maids, etc, and scold them harshly. And I always regret it later. I have turned into someone I hate. I know I'm a very hot-tempered person. So I always avoid talking to people. But I still have to go to work or go to buy some stuff at a shop. So I can't avoid talking to people all the time. I feel very guilty for the emotional pain I caused to other people.

My comment in Thai on LOVE SLEEP (2009, Kriangkrai Watananiyom + Amornchai Sirirat):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYfkbaQ9hX8

LOVE SLEEP is one of my most favorite films I saw last year:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2010/feature-articles/2009-world-poll/#70


2.SURREPTITIOUS (Thitikarn Karnjanapakdee, 13 min, A+++++)
ซ่อนเร้น (ฐิติกาญจน์ กาญจนภักดี)

3.YOU, ME & TIME MACHINE (Teerath Wangwisarn, 7 min, A+++++)
ฉัน เธอ และไทม์แมชชีน (ธีรัช หวังวิศาล)
One thing I like very much in this film is the fact that the heroine kills her lover without any reason, or without any really appropriate reason. This is the real dark side of human beings. There is something evil inside some of us, and if we are not careful, the evil will control us, maybe for just one minute, and we may spend the rest of our lives regretting that one minute.

This film reminds me of the documentary BAD BOYS CELL 425 (2009, Janusz Mrozowski, Poland, A++++++++++), because there is one handsome prisoner in this documentary who is jailed because when he was a teenager, he killed a person just because he was curious about what it felt like to murder someone.

YOU, ME & TIME MACHINE also reminds me of myself. When I was a little child, I killed some snails just for fun. And I have to spend the rest of my life regretting this sin.

4.PRINCESS (Siraprapa Peungton, 11 min, A+++++)
เจ้าหญิง (ศิรประภา พึ่งตน)
The heroine of this film reminds me of myself, because I like to spend time in my own imaginative world.

5.I’M HERE, YOU’RE FAR (Patana Chirawong, documentary, 90 min, A+)
ฉันอยู่นี่ เธออยู่ไกล (พัฒนะ จิรวงศ์)
This film makes me feel very concerned about the boy who is still alive at the South of Thailand. I wish he becomes successful in his life.

6.CHERIE IS KOREAN-THAI (Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, 19 min, A+)
เชอรี่เป็นลูกครึ่งเกาหลี (นวพล ธำรงรัตนฤทธิ์)
I like its ending very much. This is a very funny film with class consciousness.

7.ME (Meesak Jeanpong + Kullaya Udomporntepsakul, 19 min, A+)
ฉัน (มีศักดิ์ จีนพงษ์ + กุลยา อุดมพรเทพสกุล)

8.SYMMETRY OF THE UNIVERSE (Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit + Natwadee Jumpakam, Pasutha Disayanun, Wacharapol Saisongkroh, Kochakorn Nawajindapong, 8 min, A+)
ดุลยภาพแห่งจักรวาล (นวพล ธำรงรัตนฤทธิ์, ณัฐวดี จำปาแขม, พสุธา ดิษยนันท์, วัชรพล สายสงเคราะห์, กชกร นวจินดาพงศ์)
The idea of using a little child to talk like a big artist is very funny.

9.DEAR FATHER (Reality Filmmaker, 19 min, A+)
ฉันกับพ่อ (Reality Filmmaker)

10.THE CENTER OF PAIN (Saranij Meesorn, 15 min, A+)
ใจ กลาง ความเจ็บปวด (สารนิจ มีศร)

11.SEVEN TIMES SEVENTY (Sittipong Wongarj, 12 min, A+)
เจ็ดคูณเจ็ดสิบครั้ง (สิทธิพงษ์ วงศ์อาจ)

12.RISK POINT: CHOKING (Bank Rama, 9 min, A+)
จุดเสี่ยง ตอนของติดคอ (Bank Rama)

13.HUSH! (Tanit Pintong, 25 min, A+)
ชู่วส์! (ธนิษฐ์ พินทอง)
I like the two female characters in this film very much. They are not "typical heroines" found in most Thai films. And I like it very much that these two female characters get some handsome rewards in the film.

14.PUNCTURE (Kittipat Knoknak, 10 min, A+)
เจาะ (กิตติพัฒน์ กนกนาค)
Is this a vampire film?

15.DIFFERENT (Dechatorn Bumrungmueng, 8 min, A+)
ชีวิตใคร ชีวิตมัน (เดชาธร บำรุงเมือง)

16.EVERYONE WAS ONCE A KID (Songpol Juntarasom + Pornpong Wongwatrapong, 21 min, A+/A)
เด็กไม่ดี (ทรงพล จันทรสม + พรพงษ์ ว่องวัตรพงศ์)
I like the ending of this film very much.

17.SEND UNKNOWN (Montien Sawasdi, 23 min, A+/A)
จดห(ม)าย (มณเฑียร สวัสดี)

18.STILL (Palakorn Gluengfak, 8 min, A)
แช่ (พลากร กลึงฟัก)
I feel ambiguous for this film. It is very funny, but it unintentionally makes me think about many films I cherish. The ending of STILL reminds me of ALL MY LIFE (1966, Bruce Baillie, A+++++++++++++++), because both films end with the camera moving up onto the sky.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo5mg_bruce-baillie_creation

19.CHANGE (Tasawas Punyakaew, 6 min, A)
จุดเปลี่ยน (ทศวรรษ ปัญญาแก้ว)
This is not a good film. I just like it because it is rare to find a film which deals with "meeting process".

20.BELONGINGNESS AND LOVE NEEDS (Athawut Boonyuang, 3 min, A)
ดินแดนแห่งความรักชั่วนิรันดร์ (อรรถวุฒิ บุญยวง)
I think the film is too fast for me. I haven't had time to feel anything for the poetry and the images before the film ends.

21.IN THE ROOM (Eakaluck Anuntasomboon, 19 min, A)
ณ ใจ (เอกลักษณ์ อนันตสมบูรณ์)

22.DEFUNCT (Pathompong Lomchai, 8 min, A)
ดับ (ปฐมพงษ์ ลมชาย)

23.SPACE (Jumpot Ruayjaroensup + Kompetch Hongha, 19 min, A)
ช่องว่าง (จุมภฏ รวยเจริญทรัพย์ + คมเพชร หงหา)

24.RISK POINT: CAR SEAT (Bank Rama, 7 min, A)
จุดเสี่ยง ตอนเบาะนิรภัย (Bank Rama)

25.JAO NGO (Yoknapa Ratanamanee + Somporn Kongrod, animation, 3 min, A/A-)
เจ้าเงาะ (หยกนภา รัตมณี + สมพร คงรอด)

26.DEK PETCH (Tossaporn Chuetong, animation, 5 min, A-)
เด็กเพชร (ทศพร เชื้อทอง)

27.FLOWERS AND BUTTERFLY (Prempapat Plittapolkranpim, 26 min, A-)
ดอกไม้และผีเสื้อ (เปรมปพัทธ ผลิตผลการพิมพ์)
I like the text at the end of the film very much. It is very surprising.

28.THE INNOCENT SAMURAI (Tanongsak Tunnopparat, documentary, 17 min, A-)
ซามูไรไร้เดียงสา (ทนงศักดิ์ ตันนพรัตน์)