Okay, after three four posts on unknown indy stuff it's time to go to the opposite end of the spectrum. If I've been talking about the nobility of the film world--good-taste but possibly snooty and inaccessible stuff--then it's time to talk about the loud, mainstream crowd. Here is the Summer Blockbuster edition. Reviewed in order of worst--> best.
What the crap is this?
Transformers 3: Even Worse Than the Last One
The only reason I paid money and took time to watch this was because we were at the theatre and there was nothing else to watch. This movie was playing every 10 minutes, seriously. So for convenience's sake, we went in.
I went into the theatre in a good, forgiving mood. There's no way it could be worse than the second one! Megan Fox's super-realistic acting is gone! Maybe the robots got new sound effects! Maybe there will be some improvements--
WRONG.
Three hours of ear-eye-brain torture.
NEEDS A MUTE BUTTON
First of all, call me traditional but the hot girl is about a foot taller than Shia LeDouche. By the way, he got even douchier than he was in the last movie. The garbage script attempts to deal with the "I'm a hero, what are my responsibilities?" issue, but it completely fails and I end up laughing. I feel bad that Leonard Nimoy has to stoop so low to work on a film like this.
And then there was that action scene climax that was over an hour long. Is it really necessary for the other building to fall on top of the glass building so the railings will connect and the two kids can escape only to run into an ugly robot blah blah blah. The fact that the girl was running around in stilettos for hours was more impressive than all of the robot-building smashing. I leaned back and tried to sleep but it was too loud. Then I thought that I should've taken some sort of sedative. I closed my eyes and I swear, there were tears.
By the third hour of the film I'd lost my mind, and so had my friends. We'd taken to laughing out loud at "serious" parts of the film, like when that paper hits Patrick Dempsey's face, when the robots say a sentimental goodbye to LeDouche, and especially that line that goes something like
The audience: About 20~50% Thai. They range from teenage all the way to 80+. I wasn't really there for the kid movies, so didn't see any kids. (I came late to The Magic Tree.)The rest of the people were probably European/American expats. One nice thing about this winnowed-out audience is that at the end of the movie you can lean over to a neighbor and ask, "Wait, so...they're dead?" which is what the person next to me did. So I tried asking when I got confused too, and guess what? People who go to film fests are nice enough to explain the artsy-fartsy stuff.
The venue:
A bunch of photos of Bangkok in the 50s
Vintage ads.
A Mona Lisa done by a kid. There was a whole section of these.
There's a spiraling ramp on the upper floors with an unbroken line of graffiti on the walls. That sentence didn't make sense. So go see it for yourself.
There's a little library on the underground floor. Full of thick art books. Dead silent. But "No Sleeping" allowed, lol.
All in all, I'd say that I had a great time at the festival. Sure, five indy movies in one day is hardcore, but Mika and I did it because we are HARDCORE ARTSY PEOPLE. Looking forward to next year's. Or even better, a film/art/etc. festival sooner than that. Tell me if you know anything about one!
On a completely unrelated note, I must say that the best Bubble Tea is the one by Miss Mamon (sold at Central Rama 3 and Central Pinklao). And I'm not just copying BK Magazine either. I went and bought and tasted. For once, the pearls weren't all tough and rubbery like Dakasi's. And the tea was a perfect blend of milk, tea, and sweetness. Mmm. T_T
Look, even the cup is cute. One con would be that the CUP IS NOT BIG ENOUGH
I'll post about more well-known movies right after. Get ready for rants, both bad and good.
(Didn't catch the first movie, Kooky, because I was busy recharging my iPhone in an Apple store. Shamelessly. Lol)
The Wedding Photographer (Sweden, 2009)
This was the only romantic comedy in the whole festival. For me, rom-coms have a higher bar to reach than other films because it's so easy for one to be cheesy and trite. With most rom-coms, I forget the characters' name before I'm even out of the theatre.
But this one was the best rom-com I've watched in a long time. It had the rom. It had the com. And it also dealt with other issues (ie. social class, friendship, changing yourself, urban-vs.-rural, rich-vs.-poor, etc.) All the while making the whole audience laugh like hell. I need to get a DVD of this, seriously. Also, Astrid's clothes and hair were really pretty. How Robyn shot photos like a machine gun was also hilarious. I didn't mind the fact that I was laughing hysterically while sitting between complete strangers. Trailer here:
When We Leave (Germany, 2010)
Completely different from the last one. By the end, I was clutching my hair into two fists and the woman behind me was sobbing.
Umay moves to Germany with her son to get away from her abusive husband. Her conservative Turkish family and husband don't believe that women should live alone because it is shameful to the family. They make life really hard for her. Reminded me a lot of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Example:
Umay: Please don't desert us! (etc. sad speech with tears)
Older brother drags her out and dashes her head against the pavement.
Trailer here.
Forbidden Fruit (Finland, 2009)
Last film of the festival. The theatre was fully packed.
Forbidden Fruit is about two girls who belong to a extremely conservative Christian group (Conservative Laestadians) in Finland . In their community, things like TV and dancing to rhythm music are forbidden. You don't say "Hello," but "God's greetings" instead.
The brunette, Maria, runs away to Helsinki because she wants to see the world. Her blonde friend Raakel has been instructed to "bring the lost sheep" safely back to the community. They experience a lot of firsts in the city, like dancing (gasp), boys (gasp!), and alcohol (GASP!).
Maria: Kissing felt really good.
Raakel: REMEMBER THAT FEELING WHEN YOU BURN IN HELL!
The movie was really funny at times; the whole audience was laughing at the teen-girl antics. But you also learn whats un/necessary in faith. (Is a bunch of clergymen constantly checking on the status of your sins necessary or not?) Anyway, I'd recommend this to anyone who has experienced--or even more importantly, is being encased in--any sort of restrictive society.
Oh, and one more thing. Those Scandinavian films: it took me a second to understand when they say "I'm going to bed, it's late" and it's still light out. 8D
A family movie about a magic chair that is made from the wood of a magic tree. The chair grants wishes to whoever sits on it. The movie was enjoyable, sure. But you know how there's a trio of kids, and the littlest one always has this catchphrase that makes adults laugh? Yeah. For this one, it was "I smell trouble."
I didn't laugh, but a lot of other people did. But I liked how the chair granted wishes. When the kids needed to get on a ship that was sailing away from shore, the chair conjured up a huge waterslide that connected the shore to the boat. Creativity!
Dust (Luxembourg, 2009)
This film definitely isn't for everyone, but I can imagine that it would mean a lot to someone if it was for them. For starters, the cinamatography is brilliant. Every second of the film could be on a postcard. I took this in the theatre:
Anyway, the film takes place in a post-apocalyptic time, when virtually all of the human population has been wiped out. Twins Elias and Elodie live by themselves in an old mansion: growing their own food, swimming together, etc. Their relationship is freakishly close. You get a kind of an Adam-and-Eve vibe from them. Things get complicated when a wandering guy arrives at their mansion.
the twins
Minimal dialogue, but everything is mostly conveyed visually. You can tell during the first minute that they're too close, and not one word needed to be said, nothing explicit needed to be shown. Long stretches of silence, shots of landscapes, and piano music complete the haunting-ness. Trailer here:
An Ordinary Execution (France, 2010)
Not much to say about this one, because compared to Dust it wasn't that memorable. There's only a 10-min break between films, so I was still thinking about the last one while watching this one. Let's see, what was it about? Oh, yeah. A young woman doctor has to treat Stalin, who's a fat jerk.
Run If You Can (Germany, 2009)
A love triangle between a wheelchair-bound man, his assistant, and a cello girl. Wheelchair guy is all cynical and dryly humorous about his disability, garnering lots of laughs from the audience. Great acting by all, especially when the girl thinks there's been a suicide and she's screaming hysterically. Very fitting music editing.
Then a quick, relaxing sax+guitar performance.
Exit Through the Gift Shop (UK, 2010)
Easily the best film of Day 2. Exit is an art documentary about Thierry Guetta's abrupt rise to fame in the world of street art. Thierry's friend, the street art legend Banksy, features in the film and also directs. Google Banksy if you don't know him.
Banksy is kept anonymous with voice change, too
One Banksy work on the Israeli West Bank Wall
Exit is made so well that you don't even feel that you're watching a documentary, because you're laughing so hard. How can a documentary be so funny?!
(The Bangkok Art and Culture Center is beautiful, by the way. And so convienient, too! Right across from MBK. More on that later.)
Day 1 for me was actually July 15, the third-to-last day of the festival. Here's the schedule of what we watched. An Italian film, a Spanish one, and two Romanian ones.
The Last Pulcinella(2009)
Michelangelo and his family move to France. He and the old French lady who owns a run-down theatre try to stage an Italian play with the help of Italian immigrants and local French youths. Problem: The immigrants aren't liked, and they're illegal, too. Mean French police. ._.
The songs (it was sort of like a musical)--the African drums and operaish singing-- was so powerful. I got chills during the last song, seriously.
After a 10-minute break, the next movie started--
The Paper Will Be Blue (2006)
Erm.
Uh.
What? I-
To be honest, I'm not sure what this movie was about. Movies like this are why these fairs are not usually a huge hit with the regular mainstream public. I'll try to summarize in my own words. Let's see. Uh.
Some sort of Romanian political turmoil, and soldiers have to patrol the streets in groups. Costi abandons his group to go defend the TV station against the communists. Lots of shooting and dark color schemes later, the movie title of the word is said. "The paper is blue" is a soldier code word. Yeah. Uhm.
"Shut up or I'll shoot both of you!"
Mika said the movie was about was wasting time. Slow scenes and mundane conversation make you feel like you're wasting time. The best I can come up is that political turmoil, like this film, wastes your time.
Overall, the film wasn't that enjoyable, but I did learn something.
Also, I remembered some quotes that I (weakly) laughed at.
"Down with communism!" (revolutionaries on truck cheer)
"He's not an Arab, he's a gypsy!"
Boss guy: "Eat pickles to cure your hangover." Guard: "I haven't slept in 17 hours."
Celda 211 (2009)
OMGOMGOMGOMGOM THIS MOVIE THIS MOVIE. SPAZ SPAZ SPAZ. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT. Mindblowing.
Juan Oliver, a noob prison guard, is stuck inside a prison when the inmates stage a violent riot. So to survive, he has to pretend to be a convict. You know what, just watch this trailer.
Imagine Prison Break with 10x the intensity.
Anyway, the film does a great job with, well, everything, but especially with character portrayal and development. How do you make the audience root for a murderer-convict with a name like "Malamadre?" I don't know, but Celda 211 totally did it.
You know what, I won't say any more in case I spoil something. Just go watch it already.
Weekend With My Mother (2009)
Ai-yah. :( Ahhh, this movie. If you feel pain on behalf of the characters, then that's usually a sign of a good movie, yeah?
Luiza comes back from Spain to Romania to visit her daughter Cristina, whom she abandoned. Cristina is a teenage drug addict with a bad boyfriend and a daughter in an orphanage. Luiza has one weekend to get her daughter to change her ways.
One remarkable thing about this film that I remember very clearly was how good the mother was with the daughter. There was no overbearing overprotectiveness or meddling that the stereotypical "American Mom" has. Example:
Luiza: Is it heroin?
(Cristina starts to get upset)
Luiza: Okay, okay, we won't talk about it.
And she managed to get her daughter off drugs with that kind of speech and action. It's a little hard to explain. Sort of like a subtle, tough-love, treat-you-like-an-adult kinda relationship, I guess. I definitely recommend this.
(And because this was the second Romanian film of the day, I think it's safe for me to assume that Romanians smoke a lot!)
So I thought, huh, what do I know that is worth blogging about? The music I listen to is either too mainstream or too weird to make a music blog about. Not indy/cool enough, haha. And I can't really draw, lol, so no art blog. (But the picture on the header is called "ความหวัง" by ฉันทิมา something. Yay for art galleries!)
But! I watch foreign films and read classic books for fun. I'm thinking my geeky hobbies will provide enough fodder to rant about. Yep! A blog about movies and books! (And miscellaneous stuff I want to spam people about.)
Still setting the blog up. After I'm done I'll blog about the 2011 European Union Film Festival that I went to. Which, for me, meant watching 12 movies in 3 days, at an art gallery. YEAH! GEEKY HOBBIES.
Dust (Luxembourg, 2009)
An Ordinary Execution (France, 2010)
