Best Supporting Actor second to Avatar

The Golden Globe-winning sci-fi fantasy Avatar was back at No. 1 at the Thai box office last weekend after being unseated for two weeks by the romantic comedy 32 Thunwa.

According to the chart at NangDee.com, 32 Thunwa dropped to third place but is so far the biggest-earning Thai film this year, raking in 96.6 million baht.

Opening in second place with 7.7 million baht was Best Supporting Actor (Yaak Dai Yin Wah Rak Kan ), a romantic comedy from NGR, Doctor Head and M Pictures directed by "Book" Alongod Uabhaibool. It stars "Guy" Nawapon Lumphoon, son of celebrity former couple Marsha Wattanapanich and Amphol Lumphoon.

The top five is rounded out with the live-action Chinese historical costume epic Mulan and Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes, which means another Thai release, Sahamongkol's remake of the 1978 country teacher drama Kru Bannok (To Sir, With Love) did not make it to the head of the class.

Juling, Nymph, Bangkok Traffic top Kom Chad Luek Awards

An independently produced, limited-released 4.5-hour documentary was named the best picture at the Kom Chad Luek Awards last night.

Directed by Ing K., Manit Sriwanichpum and Kraisak Choonhavan, Citizen Juling (Polamuang Juling) was a sprawling examination of violence and politics in Thailand's predominantly Muslim deep south, stemming from the 2006 mob beating of a young woman Buddhist schoolteacher. After premiering at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and then screening at the 2008 Bangkok International Film Festival and last year's Berlinale, it was released in one cinema in Bangkok, House on RCA, which gave it an extended run.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang got two awards for director and script for Nymph (Nang Mai), a drama about a dysfunctional marriage that has a haunted forest as a backdrop. Released by Five Star Production, Nymph premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival and then was re-edited in what was called the "director's cut" for its release in Thai cinemas and subsequent run on the international festival circuit last year.

The popular vote went to the GTH romantic comedy Rot Fai Fah Ma Ha Na Ter (Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, which was the year's top Thai film at the box office.

Bangkok Traffic star Cris Horwang won best actress.

The actor prize went to Parames Nongaum, who played a crusading teacher in the teenage drugs drama Samchuk, which was produced by Pacific Island Film and directed by Thanit Jitnukul.

Sunsanee Wattananukul won best supporting actress for GTH's and director Yongyoot Thongkongtoon's Best of Times (Kwaam Jam San Dtae Rak Chan Yaao), in which she portrayed a widowed woman whose love for a man becomes troublesome when it's revealed he has Alzheimer's.

Ray MacDonald won the supporting actor award for GTH's Dear Galileo (Nee Tam Galileo), in which he played a streetwise Bohemian in Paris who befriends a troubled young Thai woman traveller.

The Kom Chad Luek Awards, given by the mass-market Thai daily newspaper in the Nation Multimedia Group, also handed out awards for music, soap operas and for most-popular votes.

Update: More photos at NangDee.

(Via The Nation, Dirtii Laundry)

Apichatpong update: Uncle Boonmee online, Spanish producer added, Phantoms in poll

A flurry of news about Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the biggest of which I guess is that his short film A Letter to Uncle Boonmee made its online premiere on Tuesday at The Auteurs. For now anyway, it's free, and it can be viewed anywhere, though you still need to register to watch.

Here's what The Auteurs has to say about it:

If 1990s world cinema was ruled by Abbas Kiarostami and Hou Hsiao-hsien, will the 2000s be remembered as the age of two younger Asian masters, Jia Zhangke and Apichatpong Weerasethakul?" asked Mark Peranson in Moving Image Source last April. The occasion of the piece was the publication of the anthology Apichatpong Weerasethakul, coinciding "not with a new film but rather a multiplatform project titled Primitive," which "investigates the memory of a specific place in the northeast of Thailand, where the bulk of his work is shot. A chance meeting with a monk not far from his home inspired the project. With a recently developed interest in reincarnation and Buddhism since the death of his father, Apichatpong was drawn to the small book the monk gave him that detailed the many lives of Uncle Boonmee, including as an elephant hunter, water buffalo, cow, and wandering ghost -- always reincarnated in Thailand's northeast."

Apichatpong's search led him to the village of Nabua. Mark Peranson: "Beginning with the onset of a famous gun battle between farmer communists and the totalitarian government on August 7, 1965, Nabua was occupied by the Thai Army from the '60s into the '80s to suppress communist agitators. The only thing similar to the story of Boonmee is that, in Apichatpong's words, 'the village is also full of repressed memories.... It is a place where memories and ideologies are extinct.'"

A Letter to Uncle Boonmee screened at last year's World Film Festival of Bangkok, as well as the Pusan, Toronto and Obserhausen festivals.

It's a tantalizing taste of what Apichatpong's Primitive exhibition has to offer. I wish I knew if another exhibition of Primitive was happening this year, because I was unable to make it to Munich, Liverpool or Paris to see it last year.

The feature-film component of Primitive, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, meanwhile, has picked up a Spanish producer, Eddie Saeta S.A., Variety reports. Here's what the company has to say:

Weerasethakul meshes avant-guard inspiration and traditional Thai culture in a very personal fashion," said Eddie Saeta producer Luis Minarro.

"I want to introduce Weerasethakul to Spain, where he is practically unknown," he added.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the sixth feature from Apichatpong, "turns on the last 48 hours of Uncle Boonmee, who recalls six of his past lives on his deathbed. The reincarnations play out against a jungle bristling with spirits and animals."

As is typical for Apichatpong's Kick the Machine shingle, the production adds the Barcelona-based Eddie Saeta to a patchwork of overseas support that has so far come from Simon Field and Keith Griffiths' Illuminations Films in the UK, Charles de Meaux's Anna Sanders Films, Hans Geissendoerfer's Fernsehproduktion, and Michael Weber's Match Factory in Germany.

Production started last October and is set to wrap up in February.

Lastly, another Primitive component, Phantoms of Nabua found its way into the poll of the best online videos of 2009 by Sight and Sound. A further explanation:

Was there any consensus, any common ground? Not much: three votes for Weerasethakul’s Phantoms of Nabua and related Primitive videos, and three in total for Adam Curtis’ It Felt Like a Kiss video and his multimedia blog more broadly. There were also two votes for David O’Reilly’s Berlinale-winning dysmorphic animation Please Say Something and two for street animators Blu and David Ellis’ collaboration Combo. I count 50 other unique votes, making for less a bell curve than a barely rippled line. Welcome to the wide-open cyber sea!

Phantoms of Nabua can be viewed at Animate Projects.

(Thanks to Animate Projects and The Auteurs Daily)

A Thai high-school musical glee club

Appearing to imitate Disney's successful High School Musical franchise and the award-winning TV series Glee -- neither of which I have watched (I'm more of a Dr. Horrible kind of guy) -- Chalat Sriwanna directs After School, a musical about high schoolers who achieve fame with their rock band. They break into song-and-dance routines and fall in and out of love.

The cast is headed by the busy Apinya Sakuljaroensuk -- also in theatres in 32 Thunwa -- with Atiwit “Kirin” Iamyodsib, Nattapong Chartpong (one of the comic foursome from 4bia and Phobia 2), model Arisara Tongborisut, Pornrawi Anantakun and French-Thai model-actor Louis Hess D'Alzon.

After School (After School วิ่งสู่ฝัน, After School Wing Soo Fun) also stars the classic red Chevy convertible that was used in a game of chicken in Ahimsa: Stop to Run. They didn't crash it after all.

The trailer is at YouTube or you can watch it below. After School opens in Thai cinemas this week.

Ong-Bak 2 not so big in Japan

Ong-Bak 2 opened in Japan on January 9, where Jason Gray reports it is called Mach (Mahha) 2 (Ni) (マッハ！弐) and has a wild poster that makes it look as if Tony Jaa is leaping over an Egyptian pyramid.

In Japan, Jaa is battling the likes of Avatar, Up, Michael Jackson's This Is It, 2012 and Kamen Rider for a place on the box-office chart, and he's nowhere to be found, at least not in the top 10.

It's being distributed by Klockworx. Jason, who enjoyed Ong-Bak 2 when it was released in Thai cinemas, also muses about the rights for Ong-Bak 2 in Japan.

Jarunee Suksawat is 'proud eagle'

Recovered from his traumatic experience reviewing the ouevre of Sompote Sands, Todd at Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill once again braves the grave dangers of old-time Thai cinema with a look at Insee Daeng: Insee Payong (อินทรีแดง ตอน อินทรีผยอง).

With Mitr Chaibancha killed in a mishap on the set of 1970's Golden Eagle, a succession of different actors donned the mask of the Red Eagle franchise, and this 1980s incarnation had a heroine. Jarunee Suksawat, the top actress of the era, becomes the vigilante crimefighter Red Eagle. She's supported by the main leading man of the time, Sorapong Chatree.

Here's a snip from the review:

Her basic m.o. seems to be to show up wherever the criminals are and immediately kill all of them. Not that Chaibancha's version of the hero was markedly more noble in his comportment -- if perhaps not as bloodthirsty, he was a terrible philanderer -- but Jarunee really does just seem to be all about the "kill, kill, kill".

Jarunee and Sorapong were back in action in the same movie with 2008's Queens of Langkasuka by Nonzee Nimibutr. Only English-friendly home-video version of that film is bootlegged, sad to say.

Happily, there will be more Red Eagle with Wisit Sasanatieng's reboot of the franchise set for release sometime this year. Hopefully.

Update: See recent comments at Limitless Cinema for details about Jarunee's career implosion.

Posters for thriller Who Are You

I have yet to do a post looking ahead to Thai film releases for the year. And as the minutes tick by, I'm running out of time. So I'll mention this one quickly: Who Are You (ใคร ... ในห้อง, Krai … Nai Hong, also ฮู อาร์ ยู, Who R U). It's by writer Eakasit Thairatana, who wrote 13 Beloved and Body #19. It's directed by Pakphum Wonjinda, who previously tackled horror in VDO Clip and Scared. Veteran actress Sinjai Plengpanich from Love of Siam stars along with another Love of Siam alum, Kanya Rattapetch.

It's due in Thai cinemas on February 25, from Prachya Pinkaew's Baa Ram Ewe production house and Sahamongkol Film International.

(Via MThai, Popcornmag)

Top Thai films of the 2000s and 2009: More lists

I've listed my own decade and 2009 bests. And earlier there was the Time Out New York and TIFF Cinematheque lists. Here's a look at others.

Nanoguy

Thai film blogger Nanoguy has a decade list. Among the alphabetical ordering of international releases are a few Thai films: Kongdej Jaturanrasamee's underappreciated Handle Me With Care (Kod) plus one by Apichatpong Weerasethakul that's on a lot of other lists, Tropical Malady. His list of the best Thai films of the decade includes Pantham Thongsang's Ai Fak (The Judgement) from 2004, last year's Slice by Kongkiat Komesiri, Apichatpong's 2000 debut Mysterious Object at Noon, 2004's The Siam Renaissance (Tawipob) by Suraphong Pinijkhar, the Pang brothers' original Bangkok Dangerous (I thought it was a 1999 movie but wasn't officially released in Thailand until 2000), 2005's Dear Dakanda (Puen Sanit) by Komgrit Treewimol and 2004's Citizen Dog by Wisit Sasanatieng. He's got a best performances of the 2000s too. It's in Thai, which you can Google on and find out more. Among them is Somlek Sakdikul from Monrak Transistor. Sure brings back great memories.

Thunska Pansittivorakul

Filmmaker Thunska Pansittivorakul listed his favorite films of the decade and of all time on his Facebook page. His No. 1 is a film that was actually made 12 years ago -- Ing K's controversial (and banned) My Teacher Eats Biscuits, which has had recent privately arranged screenings. It's provocative, but not a surprising pick from a guy who had his own film banned last year. His all-time best Thai film is an equally idiosyncratic and bold -- the silent, singular feature Birth of the Seanama, made in 2005 by Sasithorn Airyavicha.

Peter Nellhaus, Coffee coffee and more coffee

The Denver-based film critic and Coffee coffee and more coffee blogger lists Wisit Sasanatieng's Tears of the Black Tiger and Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love as his best of the decade.

Todd Brown, TwitchFilm.net

In his top and bottom of 2009, Twitch's chief gives a shout out to Paween Purijitpanya for being one of the "directors to watch", on the basis of Paween's strong segment, Novice in the Phobia 2 anthology, which Todd reviewed, and so did TwitchFilm.net's Onderhound.

Andrea James, Boing Boing

The Boing Boing guest blogger Andrea James recommends trans-themed films, name-checking Ekachai Uekrongtham's Beautiful Boxer, the 2003 biographical drama about transgender Muay Thai boxer Nong Toom.

Cahiers du cinéma

The French film magazine lists Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady at No. 3 on its top 10 films of the 2000s.

Film Comment

The magazine's critics' poll of the best 150 films of the 2000s lists four of Apichatpong's: Syndromes and a Century at No. 4, Tropical Malady at No. 8, Blissfully Yours at 39th and Mysterious Object at Noon at 130.

Mike D'Angelo, Listen Eggroll

Fist-licking? Tropical Malady is No. 17 on the top 101 films of the decade.

Michael J. Anderson, Tativille

Blissfully Yours tops the alphabetical list of the best films of the 2000s on Tativille, a blog by film scholar Michael J. Anderson. He writes: "In Asia, the southeast emerged, largely due to the considerable achievement of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Indeed, were I to single out a single director as the key figure of the decade, it would have to be Apichatpong ..." Aditya Assarat for Wonderful Town, Pen-ek Ratanaruang for Last Life in the Universe, Garin Nugroho for Opera Jawa and Tsai Ming-liang for I Don't Want to Sleep Alone are also mentioned.

The Telegraph

The English newspaper lists its top 100 "films that defined the noughties", with Tropical Malady at No. 97.

Time Out London

Tropical Malady is at No. 73 on Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade.

Paste

Apichatpong's Syndromes and a Century is at No. 18 on Paste's 50 best movies of the decade. "In one moment, his camera is idling in a verdant Asian village, and in the next it’s gazing through portals of time, like the mind-blowing films of Kubrick or Antonioni. "

Village Voice

Syndromes and a Century gets two votes on the best of the decade list. Tropical Malady gets one vote from Chuck Stephens and Blissfully Yours gets one vote. Uruphong Raksasad's Agrarian Utopia appears on the list of undistributed films in the Village Voice's annual year-end poll.

IndieWire

Tropical Malady appears on several lists in this IndieWire and Industry Top Tens of the Decade.

Sight and Sound

The British film magazine asks critics to submit the 10 best films they saw each year. Thai films on the list for 2009 are Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Nymph, from Naman Ramachandran, and Uruphong Raksasad's Agrarian Utopia on the list of Thailand's own Kong Rithdee of the Bangkok Post.

Kong Rithdee, Bangkok Post

The Post compiled a list of lists for the decade. For his decade best, Kong has Apichatpong's Tropical Malady as No. 1. Kong also did a top five Thai films for 2009 for the Post's entertainment year in review. Agrarian Utopia is his No. 1.

Noel Vera, Critic After Dark

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is chosen among the best directors of the decade on a list that also offers a look at "10 Filipino Films That Deserve to be Known Better".

Jit Phokeaw, Limitless Cinema

In his Senses of Cinema list, Thai cinemaphile Jit Phokeaw has Bodily Fluid Is So Revolutionary by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke as his top Thai film of the year. It's an interesting, eclectic list. Check it out. Jit has links to more lists at Limitless Cinema.

Filmsick

Filmsick lists Bodily Fluid Is So Revolutionary (ของเหลวที่หลั่งจากกาย) as his top short film of 2009.

The Golden Rock, Love HK Film

The Love of Siam makes The Golden Rock Top 25 Panasian Films of the Decade. "I don’t care for Achitpatong, Kim Ki-Duk, or Hong Sang-Soo," says the Rock. About LoS, "the center of this Thai film is a gay romance between two teenagers, but it’s about a lot more than that, and it works on those other levels too. Despite some awkward directing, the film runs surprisingly fluid, and the acting is uniformly strong. A Thai gay romance is rare enough already, but one that is this good is even more rare."

Senses of Cinema

Also on the 2009 World Poll by Senses of Cinema, Agrarian Utopia appears on the list of festival programmer Paolo Bertolin, Melbourne-based festival programming consultant Michael Campi, Canadian professor Peter Rist, Viennese critic Christoph Huber and Swiss teacher, curator and critic Barbara Wurm.

German cinephile Olaf Möller lists Ong-Bak 2 and Agrarian Utopia for his team.

Australian academic Conall Cash lists Nymph as does Melbourne university teacher Peter Hourigan.

(Via The Auteurs)

Thunska's Reincarnate to make world premiere in Rotterdam

Thailand's cultural watchdogs probably had no idea what they were doing when they banned Thunska Pansittivorakul's This Area Is Under Quarantine from screening at last year's World Film Festival of Bangkok.

The experience has encouraged the maverick indie filmmaker, university teacher and Silpathorn Award winner, whose new feature Reincarnate is set to make its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Here's the description from the IFFR:

In separate sketches, Thunska Pansittivorakul shows the homosexual love between a teacher and pupil more explicitly than ever. Several cryptic scenes refer to the oppressive Thai political situation. A clear reaction to the new law that subjected his previous film, This Area Is Under Quarantine (2009), to censorship.

Here' s the synopsis from the film's press kit, which is available at ThaiIndie.com.

A teacher and his student go for a trip on this magical island where there are urban life and tourist attractions as well as a palace and temples. Moreover, a haunting past still gnaws, spreads, mates and mutates in a loop that can not be eliminated. It dissolves and mixes up with memories affecting the present and possessing the power that can destroy the future. In the vague atmosphere, the place slowly becomes deserted like a nightmare you want to wake away from but can not resist.

And the director's notes, also from the press kit:

August 2009, Kingdom of Thailand has issued a law forbidding films with these contains from screening in the country:

1. Affect the royal institution and constitutional monarchy.
2. Insult or bring disgrace on religions.
3. Cause disharmony among the people.
4. Affect inter-state relationship.
5. Concern sexual intercourse.
6. Contain a scene of sexual activities in which sexual organ is shown.

Moreover, the Board of Censorship can order for cuts or ban a film that [are] against morality, subvert the nation, and affect the security of the nation.

In a way this might be troublesome for commercial filmmakers. But for me this is a chance to do something I have been worried that I would never be able to do because I know that I can’t compromise with the latest censorship law anymore. Whatever you do, you can be judged that you are going against moral standards or sabotaging your own country. Meanwhile the politic situation has split us into many sides. Each side is only interested in its advantage. All of these give me hindsight that whatever happens right now is the collective consequence of our past. Not only it can’t be removed, it is also harming our people and spreading wider and wider that it can’t be easily brought to an end.

Shot on Si Chang island and in Trat province and Songkla, the film includes a documentary segment that gives production credit to Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

There's a trailer at YouTube and it's embedded below.

In addition to Reincarnate, other Thai films that are publicly listed on the IFFR website are:

• Slice (Chuen) -- Kongkiat Komesiri's gruesome hard-boiled serial-killer thriller makes its international festival premiere in the Bright Future program.
• Mundane History (Jao Nok Krajok) -- One of IFFR's earlier announced entries, Anocha Suwichakornpong's debut feature makes its European premiere in the VPRO Tiger Awards competition.
• Nymph -- Pen-ek Ratanaruang's "hallucinating film ... set in a forest inhabited by female ghosts ... about a marriage that has cooled and then is shaken up when the man disappears into the forest for a brief period", is showing in the Spectrum section.

There is also Unreal Forest by Jakrawal Nilthamrong, which was made as part of IFFR's "Forget Africa" program.

The complete program goes online on January 21, with the festival running January 27 to February 7.

In memoriam: MC Tippayachat Chatchai

Filmmaker MC Tippayachat Chatchai died yesterday. He was 75, according to The Nation.

Prince Tippayachat (also Dhibbayachat) was best known for a string of romance films he made in the 1980s. The Bangkok Post has more:

He made his first film, Jao Mae, in 1976. In the 1980s, he wrote and directed romantic dramas and created a signature style that relied on the presence of pop stars, location shooting in Europe and sweetly sentimental soundtracks.

Some of his well-known films include Kor Kae Kid Tueng in 1984 starring Thongchai McIntyre and Mai Charoenpura; Laew Rao Kor Rak Kan in 1984 starring Jarunee Suksawasde; and Jong Rak in 1988 starring Marsha Watanapanich.

He directed his last film, Pieng Rao Mee Rao, in 1992.

According to Thanr and Thai101 on Twitter, Prince Tippayachat was well-known in recent years for translating subtitles for foreign films. Thanr reports last seeing Tippayachat's name on Sherlock Holmes, which is currently in cinemas.

He had suffered from Parkinson's disease for 15 years. He died at his home in Nonthaburi.

Funeral rites for Tippayachat are at Sri Mahathat Temple in Bang Khen.

On the same day Tippayachat died, Thailand also lost National Artist Krisda Arunvongse na Ayudhya, an architect and former governor of Bangkok. He was 78.