Thai films seen on Saturday, July 30, 2011

I can't remember any details of any films now. I apologize if I remember anything wrongly.

1.GAZE AND HEAR (2010, Nontawat Numbenchapol, 10 min, A+++++++++++++++)
สายตา รับฟัง (นนทวัฒน์ นำเบญจพล)
http://www.mobilelabproject.com/
This film tells us a Thai-styled folklore tale via voiceover while showing us images of beautiful geometric patterns. The tale is very intriguing. The soundtrack is one of the most powerful soundtracks I have heard this year. But what I like the most in this film is the fact that the story and the visual may or may not correspond to each other. Thus, the film provides me two images at the same time: the first image is the geometric patterns that I see with my own eyes; the second image is the image of the king, the queen, the Mother Earth, the mole rat king, and other characters in the story that I see in my mind. Because this film gives me two images at the same time, the pleasure I get from this film is at least double the pleasure I get from any average film.

The film reaches its climax and gives me an orgasm when we can't hear the voiceover for a while. We don't know what happens in the story for a few minutes. But the visual and the sound become more and more intense, and they inspire me to imagine the story by myself. In these few minutes, I don't need the voiceover to tell me the story any more. The picture of the geometric patterns and the electronic music can inspire the audience to imagine what happens next in the story. The ability of the audience to "imagine" is maximized in these few minutes. Before these few minutes, the audience imagines "some pictures" in his mind based on the story told by the voiceover. But in these few minutes, the audience imagines both "the story" and "some pictures of the story" in his mind based on the pictures of the geometric patterns and the electronic music.

Most films don't inspire the audience to imagine anything. The audience is very passive while seeing these films. This film is the opposite of that kind of films. GAZE AND HEAR arouses my imagination to the utmost.

If I have to screen GAZE AND HEAR with other films, I may choose the following films:

1.1 RHYTMUS 21 (1921, Hans Richter), because this film also presents us some geometric patterns
http://www.ubu.com/film/richter_rhythmus.html

1.2 MV: GIVE IT TO ME SLOW -- Greymatter
http://vimeo.com/30016426

1.3 Possibly some films of Oskar Fischinger and Jordan Belson. I haven't seen the films of these two, but I guess the visual of the abstract films of these two might be comparable to GAZE AND HEAR.

1.4 INDIA SONG (Marguerite Duras), because the voiceover and the visual in INDIA SONG do not correspond totally with each other. The voiceover in INDIA SONG sometimes arouses the audience to imagine things which are not present on the screen.

1.5 DECODINGS (1988, Michael Wallin), because the voiceover and the visual in DECODINGS do not correspond totally with each other.

1.6 30 (2010, Tossapol Boonsinsukh), because Tossapol also uses voiceover to tell the story in this film, while presents us the pictures of geometric patterns. However, the geometric patterns in 30 correspond to the story much more than the ones in GAZE AND HEAR.


2.CRYSTALLIZATION TIME (2011, Krisda Phongphaew, 21 min, A++++++++++)
วาเลตกผลึก (กฤษฎา ผ่องแผ้ว)
This film is very unique. I have never seen anything like this before. The film talks about a weird metaphysical theory by showing us a scene of a university classroom in which a lecturer discusses this theory with some curious students. The film only resembles a normal sci-fi film only in its last five minutes when some actions happen. Most sci-fi films about parallel universes are action-thrillers, such as THE ONE (2001, James Wong) and MASTER KEY (2009, Patrice Sauvé, Canada, A+/A). But CRYSTALLIZATION TIME resembles an essay film, instead of an action-thriller film.

3.SIAM PARK CITY (2011, Chonlasit Upanigkit, 45 min, documentary, A++++++++++)
สวนสยาม (ชลสิทธิ์ อุปนิกขิต)
Chonlasit proves it again that he is one of the most promising Thai directors/cinematographers. SIAM PARK CITY captures the daily activities of people who use various public parks in Bangkok. The images are beautiful, but not too beautiful. The film doesn't try to give us a lot of information or messages, but lets us observe these normal people and their normal activities calmly.

4.IN TRAIN (2011, Boripat Plaikeaw, 83:30, documentary, A++++++++++)
เวียนหัว และ เมื่อยก้น (บริพัตร พลายแก้ว)
The film has some boring moments, but a few months passed after I saw this film, I find this film is very memorable. The film makes me envy younger generations very much. I used to go on a trip like this with my friends twenty years ago, but we didn't have a digital video camera at that time, so our trips are only recorded in photos, written diaries, and our own memories which are getting weaker and weaker, not in videos like this.

Korn Kanogkekarin is the star of this documentary. He goes on a trip upcountry with his gay friends, but he carries an upper torso of a handsome mannequin with him, paying no attention to the way other people might think of him. I worship his self-confidence.

My most favorite scene in this film is the scene in which a friend of Korn seems to have a crush on a guy on the train, and consults with his friends if he should make the first move or something like that. I like this kind of lovely moments very much.

Another scene that I like very much is the one in which a straight guy is leaving the group and the camera follows him for a long time for some unidentified reasons. :-)

IN TRAIN may be about a trip, but what I'm interested in this film is not "the location element", but "the human element". I like it very much that the film doesn't focus on "information" about places they visit, because you can find this information elsewhere. What I'm interested is the human reaction to the places and the human reaction to one another. That's why I find this film much more charming than CHAI-LAI: I LOVE YOU (2010, Kowit Daekhuntod, 53:13 min) and HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERS' TRIP TO KANCHANABURI (2010, Tivapon Vongpan, 120 min), which are also documentaries about trips, because IN TRAIN focuses on the deeper side of human beings than the other two documentaries.

IN TRAIN deserves to be analyzed, compared and contrasted with some documentary films about friends, such as I REMEMBER (2011, Authawut Boonyuang, 90 min), DEAR HOME LETTER (ถึงเธอ) (2011, Pattaraporn Werasakwong, A-, (not sure if it's a documentary or not)), 6 OR 5 (2006, Sarawan Weerawat, 56 min), and OUR LAST NIGHT TOGETHER (2010, Wachara Kanha, 48 min). I think the charms of these films depend on

4.1 How close the friends are. The closer the friends are, the more interesting the films will be.

4.2 If the friends dare to express themselves in front of the camera or not. If the friends dare to talk about their private lives, their families, their problems, their fears, their hopes, their love, their hatred, etc, in front of the camera or not. If the friends dare to quarrel with one another in front of the camera or not.

Among this group of films, OUR LAST NIGHT TOGETHER may be my most favorite, because the three friends in this film are close friends and they dare to talk about many things in front of the camera.


5.THE GOLF COURSE (2010, The Underground Office, 5 min, documentary, A++++++++++)
สนามกอล์ฟ (สำนักงานใต้ดิน)
I like many films which possess the power of anger or vengeance within them. THE GOLF COURSE is one of them. It is about some villagers who are angry about the big flood in Nakhon Ratchasima in 2010. The villagers say that some golf courses belonging to aristocratic people are the cause of this big flood, because building these golf courses means destroying large areas of forests which would have helped prevented the big flood. I hadn't heard about this thing before I saw this film. The film gives me a very useful information. There's "the fire of anger" in this film, and it reminds me of such films as THE BANGKOK BOURGEOIS PARTY (2007, Prap Boonpan) for this aspect.

6.KITE (2011, Nuntawut PooPhasuk, 7:30 min, A++++++++++)
ว่าว (นันทวุธ ภูผาสุข)
I like the presentation of beautiful rural areas in this film very much. Rural areas may be not really "heavenly" as presented in this film, but at least the film gives me the "blissful feeling of heaven". For some people who have time and money, they can go on a vacation to some rural provinces and enjoy the real thing. As for me who don't have much free time or money, I can only enjoy "the images of beautiful rural areas" via this kind of films, which include some films by Uruphong Raksasad and Chaiwat Wiansantia.

7.ONE DAY YOU WILL LOVE ME LIKE I LOVE YOU (2011, Wachara Kanha, 50 min, A++++++++++)
สักวันเธอจะรักฉันอย่างที่ฉันรักเธอ (วชร กัณหา)
It's like what I wrote about IN TRAIN. ONE DAY YOU WILL LOVE ME LIKE I LOVE YOU has some boring moments, but a few months passed after I saw this film, I find this film is very memorable. I like the use of music and cheap digital effects in this film very much. This film is like a 50-minute music video of a broken-heart song. There's not much story in this film. But some scenes are very memorable, especially the scene in which the camera focuses on a woman in a train for a long time, and the scene in which the still image of Wachara is increasingly destroyed by some digital effects.

8.ONE NIGHT STAND (2011, Pongtawee Srilasuk, 3:17, A+)
วัน ไนท์ แสตนด์ (พงษ์ทวี ศรีลาศักดิ์)

9.V (2010, Thee Boonkreangkrai, 23:25, A+)
วี (ธีร์ บุณย์เกรียงไกร)

10.GOOD DAY OF KORNLY (2010, Korn Kanogkekarin, 3:51, A+)
วันสบายสบายของน้องกร (กร กนกคีขรินทร์)

11.WHERE IS THE TRUTH LIE (2010, Pirun Anusuriya, 3 min, A+)
ศาลไคฟง (พิรุณ อนุสุริยา)

12.SANAM LUANG (2010, Wuttipan Deepanya, 28 min, A+)
สนามหลวง (วุฒิพันธ์ ดีปัญญา)
Wuttipan also directed ALONG TOGETHER (พบ) (2009, 9 min, A++++++++++).

13.DISCOURSE, CARELESS TALKS, FLYING BIRDS (2011, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, 21 min, A+)
วาทกรรม คำจร วิหคเหินลม (จุฬญาณนนท์ ศิริผล)

14.LOCKED (2011, Non-Touch Promsri, 6 min, A+/A)
สะเดาะ (นนทัช พรหมศรี)

15.MUKRIN'S UTOPIA (2011, Boonyakorn Vanichtantikul, 11:44, A+/A)
โลกสวยของมุกรินทร์ (บุณยกร วาณิชตันติกุล)

16.RUN ALEY, SPOIL ALEY (2011, Krichtiya Suwankasin, 9 min, A+/A)
วิ่งกระแดะฟัด (กฤชติยา สุวรรณกสิณ)
The film shares a scene with TONG, YOU ARE SO DUMP! (ต๋อง นายแน่มาก!) (2011, Porntip Wongnakpan, 12 min). It's the scene in which the main character of TONG, YOU ARE SO DUMP! walks past the heroine of RUN ALEY, SPOIL ALEY. These two films belong to the same film project.

17.STATE, SYN AND TIME (2011, Nuttorn Kungwanklai, 4:58, A+/A)
สถานะ, สภาวะ และกาล (ณัฎฐ์ธร กังวาลไกล)

18.SLEEPING DIRTY (2010, Dollada Chunjuen, A+/A)
สลีพพิ่ง เดอร์ตี้ (ดลลดา ชื่นจันทร์)

19.MINIMAL ANIMAL (2011, Sorayos Prapapan, 1:30, animation, A+/A)
สัตว์เล็ก (สรยศ ประภาพันธ์)

20. WAR GAME (2011, Bunnita Patchana, 1:54, animation, A+/A)
สงครามกลางเมือง (บัญนิตา พัฒน์ชนะ)

21.SIKH COMMUNITY TEMPLE (2011, Manasawee Kitpisut, 10 min, documentary, A)
วัดซิกข์ (มนัสวีร์ กิจพิศุทธิ์)

22.TATTOO COLOR (2010, Thapana Wannapream, 2:38, A)
สัก-ศรี (ฐาปนา วรรณเปรม)

23.WANLEE 2010 (2010, Chaweng Chaiwan, 11:15, A-)
วัลลี 2010 (เชวง ไชยวรรณ)

24.I FEEL THE RAIN. (2010, Prempapat Plittapolkarnpim, 11:33, A-)
สายฝนบนทุ่งนาแห่งความรัก (เปรมปพัทธ ผลิตผลการพิมพ์)

25.THE PROMISE (2011, Tikampon Pupanna, 20, B+)
สัญญาหน้าเสาธง (ทิฆัมพร ภูพันนา)
The film is cinematographically very beautiful, but I'm not personally interested in this kind of story.

26.KARMA (2010, Nujira Pongchaoumdee, 32 min, B+)
เวรกรรม (นุจิรา พงษ์ชะอุ่มดี)