FILMS WITH CHALLENGING NARRATIVE STRUCTURES

This is my comment in SUPPOSED AURA blog:
http://supposedaura.blogspot.com/2007/06/scenes-from-parallel-life.html

--DAVE, I’m not sure if you will like OBABA or not. OBABA is the only film by Montxo Armendariz that I have seen. I like the film a lot, but what I like is the structure of the story, which consists of many small stories. So I’m not sure if what I like in this film results from the talent of the director, the screenwriter, or the novelist.

--Mubarak, I envy you because you have seen MUSCLE. I have seen only one film by Hisayasu Sato—AN ARIA ON GAZE. I can’t find any other films by Sato in Bangkok, His films are hard to find here.

I think FILM COMMENT once compared Sato to Alain Robbe-Grillet, and I agree with it. AN ARIA ON GAZE’s storytelling structure reminds me of Robbe-Grillet’s films, because the viewer won’t know for sure

1.if the scene is really happening

2. if the scene is just a dream

3.which character dreams that scene

4. if the scene is just the character’s imagination

5. if the scene is just a part of the character’s novel

6.if the scene happens in the past or present


--There are two other Japanese films that I like very much and I think they have very interesting storytelling structures:

1.KOKKURI (1999, Takahisa Zeze)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119477/

2.A SNAKE OF JUNE (2002, Shinya Tsukamoto)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0330904/


--Talking about this kind of storytelling structure, I also think of some
Thai films, including:

1.PLOY (2007, Pen-ek Ratanaruang)
Reality and dreams are merged into each other very well in this film.

2.BUS-STOP (2004, Tosaporn Mongkol)
This is a gay short film. I think the DVD of this film can be found in Bangkok. So if you are interested in watching this film, you can e-mail me and I can send you the DVD.

3. JIM (PUSSY) (2005, Tosaporn Mongkol)
Since the structure of this short film is so complex, I think I had better not try to describe this film. It’s the kind of film that anyone who has seen it will say, “I don’t know what happen.”

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Below are images from KOKKURI
http://www.asiavisionfilms.com/films/kokkuri/