BLACK FOREST (
http://www.blackforests.blogspot.com/ ) left a comment in my blog here:
http://celinejulie.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/most-fav-film-of-2007-so-far-cry-in-silence/#comment-336This is Celinejulie’s reply:
Thank you very much for your comment, Black Forest.
--Black Forest, do you remember ANGEL’S FALL (2005, Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkey, A++++++++++), a film which you love very much? I just knew that Kaplanoglu has a new film called EGG (2007), which is very interesting. EGG is described as minimalist, metaphysical, and philosophical.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1021004/I just knew about EGG from UNSPOKEN CINEMA’S BLOG:
http://unspokencinema.blogspot.com/2006/10/chronology.html--I haven’t seen FULL METAL JACKET, but after seeing CRY IN SILENCE, I thought about a French film called I FOR ICARUS (1979, Henri Verneuil, A+). In this film, the protagonist is told about an experiment on human behaviors. The volunteers for this experiment are divided into two groups. One group of volunteers will be sitting on a chair and will be hurt by a little electricity running through the chair. The other group of volunteers will control the volume of the electricity used in hurting the ones on the chair. The experiment boss will give an order to the electricity controller to gradually increase the volume of the electricity, while the volunteer on the chair will start begging, crying, screaming, because the pain is increasing to an unbearable degree.
However, the volunteers on the chair are the fake ones. The real volunteers who control the electricity don’t know this fact. The real volunteers think they are really hurting someone on the chair. The purpose of this experiment is to observe how willing people are in accepting the orders from the tyrant. Different people react differently. Some real volunteers keep on doing what the experiment boss tells them. They keep on increasing the volume of the electricity and don’t care how painful others people will be. But other real volunteers don’t tolerate unjustified orders. When these volunteers see that what they do can hurt other volunteers, they stop doing it. They tell the experiment boss, “No, I won’t do it.” These people are the ones who are ready and willing to stand up against tyranny.
Why does CRY IN SILENCE make me think about I FOR ICARUS? It is because one sister in CRY IN SILENCE reminds me of a kind of volunteers in I FOR ICARUS—the kind of volunteers, or citizens, who are willing to obey orders, even if the orders are unjustified, cruel, inhuman, or come from tyrants. Unfortunately, many people in Thailand seem to behave like this sister in CRY IN SILENCE.
--I just noticed that Mylene Jampanoi, the leading actress of VALLEY OF FLOWERS (2006, Pan Nalin, A-/B+), also plays a supporting role in CRY IN SILENCE. She plays the eldest sister.
--CRY IN SILENCE also reminds me of other French films which show intense relationships between family members. So I recommend that CRY IN SILENCE be shown with the following French films:
1.SOUND AND FURY (1988, Jean-Claude Brisseau, A+)
2.MON FILS A MOI (2006, Martial Fougeron, A+)
3.FEAR, LITTLE HUNTER (2004, Laurent Achard, A+)
This is a short film.
4.THE DEVILS (2002, Christophe Ruggia, A+)
5.I STAND ALONE (1998, Gaspar Noe, A)
--I just chose CRY IN SILENCE to be my most favorite film for July 2007. To choose my most favorite film for July was very difficult, because I saw many great films in July, and there are at least four films I saw in July which I love wholeheartedly. These four films are:
1.CRY IN SILENCE
2.KWAM LUKLUN NAI NGAN RUENREANG (AN INCONVENIENCE IN A HAPPY PARTY) (2007, Prap Boonpan, A+)
3.BERLIN – EXERCISES IN NINE PARTS: DREAMING UNDERWATER OF THINGS AFAR (1975, Rebecca Horn, A+)
4.VIDEO 50 (1978, Robert Wilson, A+)
An excerpt from VIDEO 50 can be watched here:
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/artist/wilson/biography/video/1/It is hard for me to choose my most favorite among these four films. All of them are very great and shouldn’t be compared to one another. From an aesthetic viewpoint, Rebecca Horn’s film and Robert Wilson’s film might be more interesting than the other two films. When comparing between these two video arts, Rebecca Horn’s film made me feel more ecstatic while watching it, but Robert Wilson’s film sticks in my mind longer than Horn’s film. I can’t forget the image of a chair hanging in the sky and the duck scene in VIDEO 50.
AN INCONVENIENCE IN A HAPPY PARTY might be one of the best Thai films and one of the best political films I have ever seen. This film seems to understand the problems of Thailand very, very well, and it shows me how to change my perspective, how to think differently, and how to improve myself as a member in society.
To choose my most favorite film among these four films is like to choose between the great artists, someone who really understands the country and the people, and someone who understands my soul. So in the end I choose someone who understands my soul. “CRY IN SILENCE” IS THE FILM WHICH UNDERSTANDS MY SOUL.
Photo of Mylene Jampanoi from THE CHINESE BOTANIST’S DAUGHTERS (2006, Dai Sijie)
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1024/1039070493_2d21470843_o.jpg
