Sunday, September 15, 2013

DOUBLE BILL FILM WISH LIST: SAMAKKEE-PET-KAMCHAN


Double Bill Film Wish List (continued)

 

7.SAMAKKEE-PET-KAMCHAN (2013, Theeraphat Ngathong, 26.09min)


+

LE CAMION (1977, Marguerite Duras)

+

DANGER (DIRECTOR’S CUT) (2008, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, 14min)

+

A MISCHIEVOUS SMILE LIGHTS UP HER FACE (2009, Christelle Lheureux)

+

CORNEILLE-BRECHT OR ROME, THE SOLE OBJECT OF MY RESENTMENT (2009, Jean-Marie Straub + Cornelia Geiser)

 

I want to screen these films together, because SAMAKKEE-PET-KAMCHAN reminds me of the other four films. What I like very much in SAMAKKEE-PET-KAMCHAN includes:

 

1.The fact that it presents some people reading books or texts like LE CAMION and CORNEILLE-BRECHT.

 

2.The fact that it requires the imagination of the viewers to help complete the film. The film doesn’t show the images which tell the story directly. Sometimes we see only the back of the readers. Sometimes we see the texts on the screen. Sometimes we see some students in present-time uniform unconvincingly playing kings and princes in the ancient time. What we see on the screen and hear from the film arouse us to imagine other images in our heads. This is the technique which can be compared to the ones employed in LE CAMION, A MISCHIEVOUS SMILE LIGHTS UP HER FACE, and CORNEILLE-BRECHT.

 

In LE CAMION, we never see the truck driver and the female hitchhiker. We must imagine the faces of these two main characters by ourselves, inspired by what Marguerite Duras and Gerard Depardieu say onscreen.

 

In A MISCHIEVOUS SMILE LIGHTS UP HER FACE, we are also aroused to imagine some images by ourselves, while listening to some characters talking about THE BIRDS (1963, Alfred Hitchcock).

 

In CORNEILLE-BRECHT, we see and hear a woman reciting a text written by Pierre Corneille and a text written by Bertolt Brecht. We must picture the ancient Rome in our own head.

 

3.What is important is not only what is said, but also how it is said. In SAMAKKEE-PET-KAMCHAN, what is important is how awkwardly some students read the texts using old Thai language. In CORNEILLE-BRECHT, how the woman recites the texts is fascinating for me.

 

4.What is important is not only the story, but also the comments on the story. SAMAKKEE-PET-KAMCHAN does not only tell the story about the downfall of a king in the past, but it also analyzes this story, what kinds of verses this story is told, and how usefulness this story is. This reminds me of LE CAMION, in which Duras and Depardieu comment on the story they are reading. It also reminds me of DANGER (DIRECTOR’S CUT), which includes both the story and the vicious comments on the story.

 

DOUBLE BILL FILM WISH LIST 1-6


 

You can read about LE CAMION in Thai here:

 

No comments: