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Saturday, February 11, 2012
Berlin and the Bolsheviks
Berlin, Feb 10Overthrown kingdoms mark the first two highlights of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, commonly known as the Berlinale. On Feb 9 the festival, taking place amidst the temperature so cruel to tropical creatures that I'd venture to nickname the event the Brrrrrrlinale, opened ...
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16 May 2011
Day 5: Bordellos!
Day 5, May 15Usually by Day 5 it should've happened, at least once. But so far booing, another Cannes tradition, hasn't entertained the international press corp so hungry for scandal. There was a feeble attempt this evening after the screening of the dreamy bordello tale, "L'Apollonide" ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)15 May 2011
Day 4: The kids are not all right
May 14, Day 4 I have a funny feeling that there are probably about 12 people reading this, you know, the Dirty Dozen of insomniac cinephilia, holed up in some dark Siamese caves, half-drugged by the rotting enchantment of artistic cinema. OK, Dirty Dozen, as they say in American movies, let's ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)14 May 2011
Day 3: Holy father help me
Day 3, May 13 It's only three days, and nobody is going to jump off the cliff or flee to North Africa for not having encountered a cinematic revelation. There is NO cinematic revelation, as long as you're clamouring for one. Let's take it easy, for the big guns will start smoking on Sunday and onto ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)13 May 2011
Day 2: Thai Night and a haunted supermarket
Day 2, May 12First thing first: The Thai Night.Playing a patriot and freeloader, I missed Faye Dunaway and the screening of her 1970 movie "Puzzle of the Downfall Child" by opting instead to attend the Thai Night, a showcase party sumptuously held at Hotel Majestic (wow!) and lubricated by ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)12 May 2011
Cannes Day 1: Sleeping, Beauty
May 11, Day 1In Cannes there are a number of strange practices that have matured into some sort of tradition. For example, at a press screening somebody in the audience would shout "Raoul!" right at the start, provoking a throaty laugh from the rest. For what, I have no idea, and who's ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)10 May 2011
Daily Cannes Blog from Kong Rithdee Begins!
So here we go again. It's been a tradition in the past three years that Yours Truly, by fate and love and obligations, brings you a daily update from Cannes Film Festival, also known as cinematic Purgatory, somewhere close to Heaven as much as Hell. It is, of course, the most respected ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)28 June 2010
One month on: A brief reflection
Is everything back to normal? What's the definition of normalcy anyway? One month after the May 19 incident, all is smooth on the surface -- perhaps we have even forgotten -- but underneath the carpet the cracks are real.When we walk the street we hear chatters of joy but listen carefully, maybe the ...
Read this blog post | comments (1)16 May 2010
Cannes Day 5: Purgatory
Is Cannes Film Festival the closest thing to Purgatory?Some days, it's hell; others, heaven, or critics work hard to convince (delude) ourselves. And when we all get properly half-mad after 12 days, we equate the Palme d'Or with fire-baptism and the Judgement Day. God bless cinema and Thailand, ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)15 May 2010
Cannes Day 4: A screaming man
Today I watched a sad film about a civil war: it's titled A Screaming Man, made by Chadian director Mahmut Saleh-Haroun. We've seen movies on the subject before, about Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, America, etc, but never before had I felt the shudder like I did today, for the distant, disembodied jpeg ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)15 May 2010
Cannes Day 3: Movies are pointless
Movies are pointless, aren't they?The circus of Cannes seems to confirm that sentiment when news from home is shrouded in the smoke of burning tires and the distant sound of gunshots. The only consolation, as my dearest friend rightly believes, is that to watch movies on the big screen, as they're ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)13 May 2010
Cannes Day 2: Strip tease
Just two days in and I already feel like swimming in a paralell reality, a simulacrum of the world cut off from what's really happening, like the mess back home. If cinema is a religion and the theatre is our temple, then in Cannes I spend hours watching light flicker and praying, quietly. Madness, ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)12 May 2010
Cannes Day 1: Will Uncle Tim recall his past lives?
May 12: The ash cloud dispersed so I've landed in Cannes, sunny and blue and crazy. To begin, I quote Mathieu Amalric, a French actor/director who has a film selected for the Competition this year: "If you approach Cannes with a sense of humour, nothing is that bad." Thank you. One ...
Read this blog post | comments (0)09 May 2010
Pre-Cannes (and the scourge of volcanic ash)
First there was a rogue wave. Now it's the Icelandic ash, erupted like watercolour nebulas from the unpronouncable volcano to threaten the arrivals of guests at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. The world's most prestigious cine-jamboree (also a Mediterannean madhouse overrun by blurry-eyed film ...
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