1.FUENG (THE UNDERGROUND OFFICE) (Teerani Siangsanoh + Wachara Gunha + Thani Thitiprawat, 28 min, A+++++++++++++++)
เฟื่อง (ธีรนิติ์ เสียงเสนาะ, วชร กัณหา, ธนิ ฐิติประวัติ)
http://celinejulie.blogspot.com/2010/07/fueng-2010-teeranit-siangsanoh-wachara.html
2.DARK SLEEP (Teerani Siangsanoh, 15 min, A+++++++++++++++)
เพียงหลับใหลในเงามืด (ธีรนิติ์ เสียงเสนาะ)
This is my comment in Thai on FUENG and DARK SLEEP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIVqGu6SOrA
3.HOW TO CAST MY DEAR FRIENDS? (Pichet Smerchua, 25 min, A++++++++++)
เพื่อนรักเพื่อนร้าย (พิเชษ เสมอเชื้อ)
I'm not sure if this film is a mockumentary or a documentary. I want to compare it with PRE-ATTITUDE (2010, Panu Saeng-xuto, documentary, A+/A), because both films are about Thai queers. The differences between these two films are the main reasons why I worship HOW TO CAST MY DEAR FRIENDS?.
I like it very much that HOW TO CAST MY DEAR FRIENDS? presents transsexual/transvestite and lesbian people in a very natural way. It doesn't try to treat these people with special respect like PRE-ATTITUDE. I think I prefer the way HOW TO CAST MY DEAR FRIENDS? treats queer people to the way PRE-ATTITUDE treats queer people. I don't know what the goal of HOW TO CAST MY DEAR FRIENDS? is. Maybe its goal is just to record some funny moments with queer friends. Whatever its goal is, I think this film is full of the beauty of life, the beauty of "human beings". This is the kind of queer films I want.
I think PRE-ATTITUDE is made with a very good intention. It wants to show the lives of interesting queers, including a respected village chief, and to treat some of them as if they are heroes or heroines. PRE-ATTITUDE is made for a noble goal, but the goal ends up draining the life, or the true beauty of life, out of the film. Everything in PRE-ATTITUDE seems to be made or selected to serve this goal. PRE-ATTITUDE may achieve its goal. But I prefer a film which shows us "something very human" like HOW TO CAST MY DEAR FRIENDS? to a film with a noble message like PRE-ATTITUDE, though I totally agree with the message of PRE-ATTITUDE. PRE-ATTITUDE is too goal-oriented for me that I feel the juice of the beauty of life, the beauty of human beings, has already been squeezed out of the film, just because this true beauty may distract the film from its goal.
The differences between HOW TO CAST MY DEAR FRIENDS? and PRE-ATTITUDE remind me of the fact that the kind of documentaries that I really like is MODERN LIFE (2008, Raymond Depardon, A++++++++++). I'm not sure what its goal is. Maybe its goal is to lament the old ways of living for farmers. But the most powerful scene in this film for me is the scene in which an old man stares silently into the camera for a long time. Does this scene contain any message? Does this scene correspond to my assumption about the goal of the film? Will the message of the film (if it has a message) be altered if this scene is cut out of the film? Maybe the message will not be altered, but the true power of this film will be much lessened if this scene is cut out of the film.
Some documentaries prefer to "observe and show". Other documentaries prefer to "tell". I prefer the first group of documentaries.
4.DARKEN SKY (Anuwat Upanun, 27 min, A++++++++++)
ฟ้าสีเทา (อนุวัต อุปนันท์)
5.DADDY (Wachara Kanha, 9 min, A+++++)
พ่อครับ ผมรักพ่อ (วชร กัณหา)
This film is very touching for me. It's about a father who has a very serious financial problem, but he tries as hard as he can to support his son. The film is semi-autobiographical. And the problem is not solved at the end of the film, because this film prefers to reflect real life than offer some fake pleasures to the viewers. The film successfully avoids being too melodramatic or tear-jerking. I prefer DADDY to such films as THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (2006, Gabriele Muccino, A).
I hate films which say, "You should love your daddy", partly because I almost have no knowledge about my own father. But DADDY doesn't send this message. DADDY says, "I love my own daddy", which implies that "what you think about your own daddy is none of my business." This is one of the reasons why I like DADDY very much.
I also want to add that I give B+ to DON'T FORGET TO HUG YOUR DAD! (กอดพ่อด้วยดิ) (2009, Pitak Ruangrojsin 3 min), because of my own personal reason stated above. I think DON'T FORGET TO HUG YOUR DAD! is a very effective film. It truly achieves its goal. The reason why I don't like it is just because its message contradicts with my own personal life. The film is good, but I just can't accept its message.
6.SOULMATE (Somkid Jaisri, 25 min, A+++++)
ฟากฟ้าที่เดียวดาย (สมคิด ใจศรี)
7.GROCERY, MY LOVE (Meathus Sirinawin, 14 min, A+++++)
มนต์รักร้านชำ (เมธัส ศิรินาวิน)
Meathus also directed YOU KILL MY GIRLFRIEND (2008, 10 min, A+++++).
The film is very puzzling for me. I don't understand what happens in this film at all. But it has many strong, impressive images/scenes, including the ones in which the heroine vomits blood, the one in which the hero throws away a bottle, and the one in which the hero bathes in a tub.
8.CREATIVE UNIVERSITY (Supanut Chaiglaharn, 21 min, A+++++)
มหาลัยสร้างสรรค์ (ศุภณัฐ ชัยกล้าหาญ)
9.M.A.M.A. (Katon Thammavijitdej + Chonlasit Upanigkit + Jarupat Lorissaratrakool, 18 min, A+++++)
มาม่าใส่ไข่ (กตัณณ์ ธรรมวิจิตเดช, จารุภัทร ล้ออิสระตระกูล, ชลสิทธิ์ อุปนิกขิต)
This film pokes fun at some characteristics often found in arthouse films, namely emotionless faces, eventless scenes, silent staring into the camera, slow-moving activities, and activities which may or may not have deep meanings. The funniest scene in this film is the one in which a character "moves" into the kitchen by twisting his legs in a strange way for no reasons at all.
10.FILMNIMATIQUE (Natthanai Lertpreechapakdee, 28 min, A+)
มายายนตร์ (ณัฐนัย เลิศปรีชาภักดี)
11.THE LATENT IMAGE (2010, Phassarawin Kulsomboon, documentary, 69 min, A+)
ภาพซ่อนเร้น (พัศรวินทน์ กุลสมบูรณ์)
12.BLACK AND WHITE (Wachara Kanha, 12 min, A+)
มนุษยธรรม (วชร กัณหา)
This film is adapted from a short story by Win Leowarin. What I like very much in this film is that it tells the story by voiceover all through the film, while it also shows very impressive images at the same time. If I remember it correctly, my most favorite image in this film is the image of a wall with some broken glasses on it. The broken glasses reflect the sunlight very beautifully.
13.MY FATHER'S ABSENCE ON FATHER'S DAY (Prempapat Plittapolkarnpim, 7 min, A+)
พ่อไม่มาในวันพ่อ (เปรมปพัทธ ผลิตผลการพิมพ์)
I like the ending of this film very much. It doesn't end by having a father atone for his sin for neglecting his child or something like that. The father is really absent in this film. I'm not sure what the ending of this film means. But I believe that if your father doesn't care for you, you should just stop expecting him to care for you. Your happiness doesn't have to depend on whether your father will be there for you or not. The presence of your father is not necessary. The presence of your father is not important at all. The cause of the unhappiness is not the fact that "your father is not there". The cause of the unhappiness is the fact that "you expect your father to be there". If you just don't expect it, you can be truly happy. The ending of this film may not send this message, but at least it doesn't obviously contradict my belief. That's why I like it very much.
14.PORTRAIT (Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa, 5 min, A+)
ภาพเหมือน (วิวัฒน์ เลิศวิวัฒน์วงศา)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDRBQOuMB8w
15.LA LUNAR (Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa, 8 min, A+)
เพ็ญ (วิวัฒน์ เลิศวิวัฒน์วงศา)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4imFaYg-oDY
Wachara Kanha likes this film very much.
16.DAD IS DEAD (2009, Dhan Lhaow, 15 min, A+)
พ่อมึงตาย (ธัญ เปลวเทียนยิ่งทวี)
This is the second time I watched this film, and I like it much more than the first time, because this time it has subtitles. Some jokes in this film depend on choices of words, so if you don't understand what the characters are talking about, you may not understand the jokes. My most favorite scene in this film is the one in which a character (Alwa Ritsila) tries to have sex with a building by rubbing his penis against a wall.
This film also uses "unintelligible characters" in its subtitles from time to time. It is the third Thai film that I know which employs this technique. The other two films are BIRTH OF THE SEANEMA (2004, Sasithorn Ariyavicha, A+++++++++++++++), and PERU TIME (2008, Chaloemkiat Saeyong, 18 min, A++++++++++).
17.HUMANITY (Chotika Parinayok, 15 min, A+)
มนุษยธรรม (โชติกา ปริณายก)
Is this film directed by a female director? This film tells the same story as BLACK AND WHITE (Wachara Kanha). The main thing that I like in this film, which is not found in BLACK AND WHITE, is the desirable cop, and the film chooses to end by fulfilling the desire of the audience who likes this cop. Hahaha.
18.THE KILLER (2010, Itthiphon Muangkaeo, 12 min, A+)
มือปืน (อิทธิพล เมืองแก้ว)
19.YESTERDAY ONCE MORE (2010, Jirat Sompakdee, 12 min, A+/A)
เมื่อวานอีกครั้ง (จิรัฎฐ์ สมภักดี)
20.EMOTION CHANGE (2010, Panitarn Boontarig, 6 min, A)
เพราะอารมณ์เปลี่ยนแปลงบ่อย (ปณิธาน บุณฑริก)
I like the way the hero says something at the end of the film very much. I think it is really like the way Thai teenagers nowadays speak. The hero of this film doesn't look like a hero at all. He looks very ordinary. And that's the main thing I like in this film.
21.EMOTION (2009, Pasinee Jiratananun, 6 min, A)
มนุษย์ (ภาส์สิณี จิรธนานันท์)
22.NEIGHBOR (2010, Tharnvimon Onpapril, 8 min, A)
เพื่อนบ้าน (ธารวิมล อ่อนพาปลิว)
23.FOR (2010, Panja Saitong, 10 min, A)
เพื่อ (ปัญจะ สายทอง)
24.FAREDA (Pi-eye Jamjan, 30 min, A/A-)
ฟารีดา (พิอ้าย แจ่มจันทร์)
I think this film is very well-made, though it is a little bit too melodramatic for me. I think it should be screened together with DIALOGUE ABOUT GOD (2010, M Fazrie Permana, Indonesia), and 0.29S (2005, Boonchai Kanlayasiri, 15 min), which also deal with a reluctant terrorist, though both DIALOGUE ABOUT GOD and 0.29S can avoid being too melodramatic.
You can watch FAREDA here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v3JunGi6sI
25.ENOUGH (2010, Prajak Suya, animation, 2 min, A-)
เพียงรู้จักพอ (ประจักษ์ สุยะ)
I think the film is too fast for me to understand it.
26.FUNERAL (2010, Pirun Anusuriya, 4 min, A-)
พิธีศพคุณยายสลับ นาคเนียม (พิรุณ อนุสุริยา)
Pirun also directed THE PASSION OF FRESHY (2008, 11 min, A+)
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An image from GROCERY, MY LOVE
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