European Union Film Festival begins!
Chiang Mai movies beginning Thursday, November 4, 2010
… through Wednesday, November 10
by Thomas Ohlson
Best Bets: Definitely, EU Film Fest.
Loft,
Opening film
This is Issue Number 1 of Volume 6 of these listings, the first issue of our sixth year! Back issues are available on the blog.
EU Film Festival in Chiang Mai: Nov 5 to 14. On the grounds of the “140-years Old Lanna Ancient House” on Charoen Prathet Road, between the Chedi Hotel and the small Iron Bridge. Open air, free.
World Film Festival in Bangkok: Nov 5 to 14.
Luang Prabang Film Festival in Luang Prabang: Dec 4 to 11. Open air, free, 30 films. www.lpfilmfest.org
You will notice the sudden absence of the Bangkok International Film Festival in the above listings. That’s because this week it was announced that the festival is cancelled for this year. No comment for the moment . . .
1st Doi Saket International Film Festival – Winners!
Here’s an updated list of winners for the highly successful local festival, which had its closing ceremonies last Saturday night. For further details on the closing ceremonies see my blog, and for further details on the awards given out, visit the festival’s website at http://dsiff.tumblr.com/.
· Best Film – House of Roses, directed by Kuba Czekay (Poland)
· Best Thai Film – Four Seasons, directed by Chaisiri Jiwaragsan, and Whispering Ghost, directed by Taiki Sakpisit (Thailand)
· Best Director – Love Suicides, directed by Edmund Yeo (Malaysia)
· Best Cinematography – Hawker, directed by Dustin Feneley (Australia_
· Best Production Design – House of Roses, directed by Kuba Czekay (Poland)
· Best Editing – Kingyo, directed (and edited) by Edmund Yeo (Malaysia-Japan)
· Best Actor – Main actor from Tailang (Thailand)
· Best Actress – Main actress in Hand Painted Feathers (Philippines)
· Jury Prize – This Prison Where I Live, directed by Rex Bloomstein (UK), about Burmese comedian Zarganar
· Best Youth Film – No (Thailand)
· Special Mention – To be announced
· Lifetime Achievement – Dome Sukwong, Thai Film Archive
· Lifetime Achievement – Sam Kalayanee (Thailand)
European Union Film Festival
Attached you will find an invitation to tonight’s opening night ceremonies of the European Union Film Festival. In case you have not yet received your invitation in the mail, you may print out this invitation and use it. Dress is casual, and gets underway at 6:30 at the “140-years Old Lanna Ancient House” on Charoen Prathet Road, between the Chedi Hotel and the small Iron Bridge. Sceduled to participate in the opening are Ambassador David Lipman of the European Union, and Ambassador Rudi Veestraeten of the Belgian Embassy, representing the EU Presidency. The festival is open-air this year, and all showings are free.
The complete schedule of films is given further on in this newssheet, and you should also be getting by email details on the films every two days in advance.
Here is information on tonight’s film, Loft, from Belgium, one of the highest grossing Flemish films in Belgian history.
Loft (2008): Belgium, Crime/ Drama/ Mystery/ Romance – 1 hr 58 mins – A Belgian thriller directed by Erik Van Looy, starring an ensemble cast of notable Flemish actors. The script was written by Bart De Pauw. “Five married men share a secret: a spacious loft, in which they can quietly receive and entertain their lovers and latest conquests. It’s a great deal until, one winter morning, they discover the body of a young woman. No one knows who she is or how she got there. When the men try to find out what happened and why, they soon begin to suspect one another. It also becomes clear that they know far less about each other than they initially thought.” (EU description)
Variety, Boyd van Hoeij: The secret hideout of a group of Flemish horndogs comes under threat of exposure in Loft, a tightly drawn, atmospheric thriller that has one false bottom too many to qualify as great. High-concept suspenser, from the team behind 2003's The Memory of a Killer (aka The Alzheimer Affair), has racked up north of 500,000 admissions in three weeks (in a language-area of only 6 million).
At the wedding of loose cannon Filip silver-fox architect Vincent distributes keys to a loft in a swanky riverside apartment building he's designed. Besides Vincent and the groom, keys are also offered to three of their friends: Marnix, who loves a drink and anything in a dress; Luc, a silent-waters-run-deep type; and Filip's elder half-brother, Chris, a psychiatrist.
All are married and need little convincing that a centrally located getaway unknown to their spouses could come in handy. Even Chris, the most principled of the bunch, says yes after meeting mysterious beauty Ann at the wedding.
A year later, with the chums carelessly sharing the loft, things turn ugly when a female corpse turns up chained to the bed. The quintet is afraid to go to the police because it would reveal the existence of the loft to their better halves, though early interrogation scenes -- the film is narrated in flashback -- show that's exactly where they'll end up.
The film is well-plotted, if not always well-written, and the flashback structure puts the protagonists under pressure from scene one and never lets up. Actor-turned-screenwriter Bart De Pauw, aided by Erik Van Looy's able direction of his cast, sketches a large number of characters in shorthand without resorting to cliché. Even the five wives and other family members feel real, and ensemble acting is strong.
While the murder plot is always front and center, themes such as the hollowness of friendship, and the destructive force of sex and the male libido, brew just beneath the surface. Film convincingly paints self-sanctioned infidelity as the ultimate illness of our egocentric age.
At the Cineplexes!
Now playing in Chiang Mai * = new this week
* Due Date: US, Comedy – 1 hr 40 mins – A high-strung father-to-be, played by Robert Downey Jr., is forced to hitch a ride with a college slacker (and aspiring actor) on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time. With Jamie Foxx. Rated R in the US for language, drug use, and sexual content. Generally favorable reviews: 64/60 out of 100.
* Brown Sugar 2 / Nam Tan Daeng 2 / น้ำตาลแดง 2: Thai, Drama/ Erotic – An omnibus film of three erotic stories of love, completing the six-story Brown Sugar film whose first half ran here in August. Here, in addition to sex, we deal with “greed, wrath, and obsession – presented in the style of Surrealism.” Showcases the work of three new young filmmakers. Rated 18+ in Thailand.
* Water / Nam / น้ำ ผีนองสยองขวัญ: Thai, Comedy/ Horror – Looks like the usual Thai slapstick.
Eat Pray Love: US, Drama/ Romance – 2 hrs 13 mins – Written and directed by Ryan Murphy, and starring Julia Roberts with James Franco. A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself.” Based on the memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert. Mixed or average reviews: 50/52 out of 100. At Airport Plaza only.
Studio synopsis: Liz Gilbert (Roberts) had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having - a husband, a house, a successful career - yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali.
Rotten Tomatoes consensus: The scenery is nice to look at, and Julia Roberts is as luminous as ever, but without the spiritual and emotional weight of the book that inspired it, Eat Pray Love is too shallow to resonate.
San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle: It is 140 minutes long and repetitious beyond belief. Yet for all its weaknesses - unconscious contradictions, travelogue simplicity and mix-and-match spirituality - Eat Pray Love is, like its central character, on a genuine quest. It's about something important, the search for meaning and happiness, about finding one's inner life amid the clutter and confusion of modern existence.
Fan Mai / แฟนใหม่: Thai, Action/ Horror/ Thriller – 1 hr 35 mins – Really lots of rain and blood. A girl calls it off with her boyfriend when she finds he’s been seeing someone else – who’s dead. Looks kind of intriguing as well as spooky.
Confession of the Winners, AF1-AF6 / Lah Fah Fun 3D / ล่า ฝ่า ฝัน (in 3D): Thai, Musical – 2 hrs 20 mins – A musical concert movie featuring the winners of Academy Fantasia’s first six seasons. Really lots of music by young stars of varying talent. Thailand’s first 3D movie, and it comes not from a studio but from our main cable broadcaster, TrueVisions. At Airport Plaza only; no English subtitles.
Wise Kwai: Has footage from the Victory of the Winners concert that was filmed back in August at Bangkok's Huamark Indoor Stadium, using 3D technology and expertise from Ocean Mango of South Korea, and actually involved the audience having to wear 3D glasses to experience the effects.
According to a Bangkok Post story, the 90 minutes of stereoscopic concert footage is padded out with 30 minutes of background interviews with each of the AF winners, which was filmed in 2D and converted to 3D.
The Dog / Ching Mah Terd / ชิงหมาเถิด: Thai, Action/ Comedy – 1 hr 40 min – Three would-be hoodlums set out to kidnap a dog famous in their land as a Friendship Mascot, and a rogue gunman sets out after them. Starring heartthrob Mario Maurer, semi-heartthrob “B” Pakorn Chatborirak, and funnyman Kohtee Aramboy. Rated 18+ in Thailand. In Thai only, no English subtitles.
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2D): US/ Australia, Action/ Comedy/ Family – 1 hr 22 mins – The age-old battle between cats and dogs, in live-action with animated mouths that spout talk that’s meant to be cute, in 3D in most places but not here. Only at Airport Plaza, and only in a Thai-dubbed version. Generally unfavorable reviews: 30/36 out of 100.
Rotten Tomatoes: Dull and unfunny, this inexplicable sequel offers little more than the spectacle of digitally rendered talking animals with celebrity voices.
Scheduled for November 11
Skyline: US, Sci-Fi/ Thriller – 1 hr 40 mins – After a late night party, a group of friends are awakened in the dead of night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside where they suddenly vanish into the air. It’s soon discovered that an otherworldly force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth. With a cast of relative unknowns and shot independently of any major studio, this film is very much the vision of its two creators, the Brothers Strause (Colin and Greg) whose company Hydraulx has provided visual effects for Avatar, Iron Man 2, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 300, and who have worked as FX designers/supervisors on seemingly every other big-budget production to be released over the past decade or so. There are over 800 VFX shots in the film, more than most of the big-budget effects-laden epics of late. It looks at first glance like an exceedingly well-crafted movie with a new level of special-effects work.
... and looking forward
Nov 18: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I: UK/ US, Adventure/ Fantasy/ Mystery – Voldemort's power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore's work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for the trio, and the rest of the Wizarding World, so everything they do must go exactly as planned. The first of the two-part conclusion to the series; Part II due in July of 2011 – both directed by David Yates, who has directed the last two Harry Potter films. Both of the concluding movies (Part I and Part II) will be shown completely in 3D and in IMAX 3D.
Nov 18: Fair Game: US, Action/ Biography/ Drama/ Thriller – 1 hr 44 mins – Director Doug Liman’s fact-based drama of former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson; his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson; and the events of 2003, when her identity as a CIA operative was leaked after her husband wrote an op-ed piece criticizing the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Nov 25: Let Me In: UK/ US, Drama/ Fantasy/ Horror/ Romance/ Thriller – A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian. Chloë Grace Moretz (one of the nice things about the movie Kick-Ass; she played Hit Girl) stars as Abby, a mysterious 12-year-old who moves next door to Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a social outcast who is viciously bullied at school. In his loneliness, Owen forms a profound bond with his new neighbor, but he can't help noticing that Abby is decidedly weird! I’m really looking forward to this.
The original – Let the Right One In – is a terrific 2008 award-winning Swedish film, and just played here at Film Space last Saturday evening. I love the original, and they’re saying the remake is terrific too! For sure, it’s got an exciting and intriguing trailer, which you can see here. Rated R in the US for strong bloody horror violence, language, and a brief sexual situation. Generally favorable reviews: 79/78 out of 100.
Rotten Tomatoes: Similar to the original in all the right ways -- but with enough changes to stand on its own -- Let Me In is the rare Hollywood remake that doesn't add insult to inspiration.
Nov 25: The Social Network: US, Drama/ History – By David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Panic Room). A story about the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook. Studio synopsis: “On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history... but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.”
* = Coming soon
AF = Alliance Française; FS = Film Space; GF = Gay Film Series
European Union Film Festival
On the grounds of the “140-years Old Lanna Ancient House.”
The European Union Film Festival this year will be held outside, admission will be free, and will run from November 4 to 14 (the 4th by invitation only). The “140-years Old Lanna Ancient House” is on Charoen Prathet Road, between the Chedi Hotel and the small Iron Bridge. This edition of the annual event will showcase 19 recent, highly anticipated, and award-winning films from 16 EU member nations.
The first film each evening will start at 6 pm; there usually will be three films shown each night.
As I have for several years now, I will – hopefully – be sending you a 2-day detailed schedule every two days. (As long as energy holds out!) (No printed programs from me this year.)
This will be the 19th time the European Union Film Festival will be bringing a selection of the best of European films to Chiang Mai, offering audiences here a world-class selection of drama, comedy, romance, suspense, and documentary.
Schedule of the EU Film Festival, November 4 to 14, 2010
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Date | Feature title | Time | Country | Length |
Thursday 4 Nov | Opening Reception | 18:30 |
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| Loft (2008) | 20:00 | Belgium | 118 (1.58) |
Friday 5 Nov | Storm Bound (2007) | 18:00 | Netherlands | 135 (2.15) |
| The Killer of Montmartre (2007) | 20:30 | France | 50 (0.50) |
| Little Girl Blue (2007) | 21:40 | Czech Republic | 93 (1.33) |
Saturday 6 Nov | Ho Ho Ho (2009) | 18:00 | Romania | 101 (1.41) |
| Kickoff (2010) | 20:00 | Austria | 94 (1.34) |
| The Girl on the Train (2008) | 21:50 | France | 105 (1.45) |
Sunday 7 Nov | Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) | 18:00 | UK | 90 (1.30) |
| Heaven's Heart (2008) | 19:50 | Sweden | 95 (1.35) |
| Prank (2009) | 21:40 | Hungary | 94 (1.34) |
Monday 8 Nov | Storm Bound (2007) | 18:30 | Netherlands | 135 (2.15) |
| Venice (2010) | 21:00 | Poland | 110 (1.50) |
Tuesday 9 Nov | Prank (2009) | 18:00 | Hungary | 94 (1.34) |
| Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (2009) | 19:50 | Portugal | 64 (1.04) |
| Draft Dodgers / Réfractaire (2009) | 21:15 | Luxembourg | 100 (1.40) |
Wednesday 10 Nov | Heaven’s Heart (2008) | 18:00 | Sweden | 95 (1.35) |
| Lisbon Story (1994) | 19:50 | Germany | 105 (1.45) |
| Little Girl Blue (2007) | 21:50 | Czech Republic | 93 (1.33) |
Thursday 11 Nov | Poker (2010) | 18:00 | Romania | 112 (1.52) |
| Kickoff (2010) | 20:10 | Austria | 94 (1.34) |
| The Heretic (2005) | 22:00 | Italy | 105 (1.45) |
Friday 12 Nov | Draft Dodgers / Réfractaire (2009) | 18:00 | Luxembourg | 100 (1.40) |
| Lisbon Story (1994) | 20:00 | Germany | 105 (1.45) |
| Under the Stars (2007) | 22:00 | Spain | 108 (1.48) |
Saturday 13 Nov | Letters to Father Jacob (2009) | 18:00 | Finland | 75 (1.15) |
| Venice (2010) | 19:30 | Poland | 110 (1.50) |
| Thesis (1996) | 21:35 | Spain | 125 (2.05) |
Sunday 14 Nov | Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (2009) | 18:00 | Portugal | 64 (1.04) |
| The Heretic (2005) | 19:20 | Italy | 105 (1.45) |
| Loft (2008) | 21:20 | Belgium | 118 (1.58) |
At Alliance Française on Fridays at 8 pm
The Alliance Française shows its series of French films in a small room in their building at 138 Charoen Prathet Road. The building is directly opposite Wat Chaimongkhon, near the Chedi Hotel. Tell your taxi "Samakhom Frangset" and/or "Wat Chaimongkhon." A contribution of 30 baht is requested; you pay outside at the information desk of the Alliance Française proper.
On Friday, November 5, 8 pm: Coup de torchon / Clean Up / Clean Slate (1981) by Bertrand Tavernier – 2 hours 8 mins – France, Comedy/ Crime/ Drama. English subtitles. Generally favorable reviews: 72 out of 100.
With Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Guy Marchand, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Stéphane Audran.
“A bid for survival” located in Bourkassa, a small village in French Eastern Africa, Lucien is a policeman embroiled in a series of murders. Ridiculed by his fellow whites, he is going to take revenge… in his own way...
– Alliance Française description
Roger Ebert / April 6, 1983: Bertrand Tavernier's Coup de Torchon is a cruel intellectual joke played on its characters -- who endure boredom, self-contempt, hate, dust, flies, and sometimes even death without being allowed to know they're only part of an existential parable. Tavernier's film is about poor white trash in Africa in 1938, and there are times when they seem almost real -- but they're never allowed the pulse or the stubborn indomitability of their slovenly cousins, William Faulkner's Snopes family.
The movie is set in a small Senegalese village, on the eve of World War II. Tavernier shot on the actual location, and he achieves an absolutely convincing reality, right down to the reddish mud that has been splashed by the rain onto the yellowing stucco walls of the village sheds. His village is populated by lazy, corrupt French colonials, and by a supporting cast of Africans who drift through the background, unconcerned with the lives of the whites except when they have the misfortune to incur their wrath.
On Friday, November 12, 8 pm: Les Mauvais joueurs / Gamblers (2005) by Frédéric Balekdjian – 85 mins – France, Crime/ Drama. English subtitles.
With Pascal Elbé, Simon Abkarian, Isaac Sharry.
Vahé, Sahak, and Toros run a bonneteau game on the streets of Paris. They're Lebanese French. Vahé also works with his father, a cloth merchant, and is in love with Lu Ann, Chinese French, who's broken off their affair. Vahé wants to make things right: with Lu Ann, with his father's business, and with Yuen, Lu Ann's younger brother, who's on the edge of delinquency and owes money to the gang who arranged his passage from China. Vahé tries to be like a father to Yuen, teaching him a work ethic. When Yuen impetuosity puts his own life in jeopardy, Vahé tries to save him. Are Vahé's impulses and hopes to die on the streets of Paris?
– Alliance description
efilmcritic: The setting is the Paris garment district, where low-end French criminals rub elbows with the teeming masses of illegal Chinese immigrants. One such "illegal," a snot-nosed and lazy kid called Yuen, wants nothing to do with his French "protectors," and will stop at nothing to escape their influence. Unfortunately, those thugs have a financial interest in Yuen remaining complacent, so it's only a matter of time before someone gets shot. Vahé is the one kindhearted crook who tries to keep the peace between his French colleagues and the Chinese youth, but his influence is minimal.
Angus Wolfe Murray, Eye For Film: The last time a French film exploded with such raw energy was when Mathieu Kassovitz debuted with La Haine in 1995. This is writer/director Frederic Balekdijan's first feature, also, and it uses the same neo-realistic style, with handheld cameras close in and on the streets. There isn't a whiff of falsehood, or evidence of a set designer's duster. Even the script has the rough-cut unpredictability of real life.
It deals with card sharks, street scams, petty crime, backed by an uglier, darker crowd of Armenian thugs. This is the Paris of immigrants, sweatshops, cafes, and illegals. Chinese, North Africans, Eastern European gangsters coexist in a barely sustainable truce. Sooner or later a spark will ignite the tinderbox and someone will be killed. Followed by revenge attacks. Followed by God knows what else. In this no-go, gendarmes are noticeable by their absence.
Stories and characters move swiftly. There is no conventional plot, only the time it takes to rip the lid off the powder keg and somehow survive. Or not.
At Film Space on Saturdays at 7 pm
November is “The Month of Mathematics” at Film Space.
Film Space is to the right and in the back of the CMU Art Museum, in the Media Arts and Design building across from the ballet school. Showings are in a classroom on the second floor or on the roof, weather permitting. A contribution is requested in the donation box at the entrance – you should leave at least 20 baht. Well worth supporting. All films not in English are shown with English subtitles.
At Film Space Saturday, November 6, 7 pm: Pi / 3.14159265358 [working title] (1998) by Darren Aronofsky – 1 hr 24 mins – US, Drama/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – In English and a little Hebrew. Yes, π. The story: Max is a genius mathematician who's built a supercomputer at home that provides something that can be understood as a key for understanding all existence. Representatives both from a Hasidic cabalistic sect and high-powered Wall Street firm hear of that secret and attempt to seduce him. Rated R in the US for language and some disturbing images. Generally favorable reviews: 72 out of 100.
ReelViews, James Berardinelli: For anyone who wants a movie to feed their intelligence and imagination more than their eyes and ears, Pi is a solid choice.
Slate, David Edelstein: This is very much a first feature, with all the hyperbolic, sometimes indiscriminate cinematic energy of a student film. But it's also sensational, a febrile meditation on the mathematics of existence. The hero (Gullette) is a scurvy genius obsessed with finding a 216 digit number that's somehow at the root of all life. Tortured by headaches and nosebleeds, he lives a life of fractions and spinning tangents, and the metaphors are right there in the filmmaking, captured in the furious montage and in flurries of talismanic signs--the swirls of milk dissolving in a coffee cup, the smoke spiraling off a cigarette. Pi is in genuine black-and-white--all the grays have been cooked out of the images. With its echoes of Jorge Luis Borges, Stanley Kubrick, even Frank Henenlotter's great splatter flick Brain Damage (1988), the whole movie is so hyperalert that it seems pitched on the verge of a stroke. I'm glad I'm not as smart as its hero, because it looks really painful.
Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert: The seductive thing about Aronofsky's film is that it is halfway plausible in terms of modern physics and math.
Austin Chronicle, Marc Savlov: Brilliant, surreal, and emotionally draining, this first feature from American Film Institute grad Aronofsky recalls such low-budget sci-fi epics as Tetsuo: The Iron Man and more traditional paranoiac suspense films (Adrian Lyne's Jacob's Ladder in particular, but also Polanski's Rosemary's Baby) and yet manages to be a wholly original animal. Gullette plays Max Cohen, a twentysomething theoretical mathematics genius, who spends his days cloistered away in his New York City Chinatown apartment searching for a connection between the numerical construct (the division of a circle's circumference by its diameter, i.e., 3.14 ad infinitum) and the stock market. Convinced that there is a deliberate correlation between the patterns inherent in mathematics and the patterns found in all other aspects of life, Max delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, barricading himself inside his tiny apartment amidst a humming warren of computer equipment and intelligence (nicknamed Euclid). A chance meeting with a Hasidic math whiz named Lenny Meyer (Shenkman) puts him in touch with a bizarre Jewish religious underground cult that seeks to reveal the true name of God via mathematical computations, while on the other end of Max's dwindling social circle, shady representatives of a monomaniacal Wall Street consortium persistently hound Max to share his discoveries or face unspoken consequences. All of this is played out against Max's frequent bouts of hallucinatory, crippling migraines, and against the better judgment of his former mentor, the aged Sol (Margolis), who realizes that caution is the better part of wisdom. The mathematics background in Pi is essentially a construct for Aronofsky to explore the limits of creativity and, finally, breakdown. Pi asks big questions of its audience, but can also be viewed as a simple (if non-simplistic) suspense film, replete with dizzying chases, heated battles, and shady underworld figures. Director of photography Matthew Libatique invests the film with a heady, disorienting black-and-white palette; as in Max's figures, there is precious little gray to be found here, and the cinematography reflects the stark ideas and shaky desperation behind Max's quest. Gullette plays Max as a closeted cipher; he's the physical manifestation of too much time spent breaking reality down into algorithmic patterns. Gangly, pale, and with a high, receding forehead, he'd be creepy enough without all the mystical, revelatory goings-on, but amid the steadily mounting chaos around him, he imparts a kind of feverish, terrifying intensity -- he practically sweats barely contained anxiety. That's a good description of Aronofsky's film as well: the cinematic equivalent of a full-bore panic attack, sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat, and all.
At Film Space Saturday, November 13, 7 pm: A Beautiful Mind (2001) by Ron Howard – 2 hrs 15 mins – US, Biography/ Drama – After a brilliant but asocial mathematician accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn to the nightmarish. With Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, and Jennifer Connelly. Generally favorable reviews: 72/82 out of 100.
Rotten Tomatoes consensus: The well-acted A Beautiful Mind is both a moving love story and a revealing look at mental illness.
IMDb synopsis: Biopic of the famed mathematician John Nash and his lifelong struggles with his mental health. Nash enrolled as a graduate student at Princeton in 1948 and almost immediately stood out as an odd duck. He devoted himself to finding something unique, a mathematical theorem that would be completely original. He kept to himself for the most part and while he went out for drinks with other students, he spends a lot of time with his roommate, Charles, who eventually becomes his best friend. John is soon a professor at MIT where he meets and eventually married a graduate student, Alicia. Over time however John begins to lose his grip on reality, eventually being institutionalized diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the depths of his imaginary world are revealed, Nash withdraws from society and it's not until the 1970s that he makes his first foray back into the world of academics, gradually returning to research and teaching. In 1994, John Nash was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics.
Rotten Tomatoes synopsis: From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash, Jr. experiences it all. A mathematical genius, he made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery once he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After many years of struggle, he eventually triumphed over this tragedy, and finally, late in life, received the Nobel Prize..
At the Gay Film Series
Films with a gay theme shown every two weeks, with very limited seating, in a private home. Reservations a must to attend films in this series. To reserve: send email to: Chiangmai.triangle@gmail.com, mark in subject area “reserve” with the number in your party. For example, “Re: reserve 2.” A confirmation will be sent. To be placed on the mailing list for advance notice of movies just put in the subject line: “mailing list.”
Sunday, November 7, 7 pm: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell – 1 hr 35 mins – US, Comedy/ Drama/ Music – A transexual punk rock girl from East Berlin tours the US with her rock band as she tells her life story and follows the ex-boyfriend/bandmate who stole her songs. Rated R in the US for sexual content and language. Reviews: Universal acclaim: 85/78 out of 100. Reservations a must.
“There will be a discussion about the film after, with tea, coffee, or soft drinks. Please bring munchies such as cookies, cake, etc. to share. There will only be 8 people and you must reserve. This is on a first come first serve basis.”
Rotten Tomatoes consensus: Hedwig and the Angry Inch may very well be the next Rocky Horror midnight movie. It not only knows how to rock, but Hedwig's story has an emotional poignancy.
Rotten Tomatoes synopsis: Hedwig was born a boy named Hansel in Communist East Berlin who dreamed of finding his other half and becoming a big American rock star. When a handsome American GI promises love and liberation, it seems like a dream come true. But there's a catch – in order to marry and emigrate Hansel must "leave a little something behind." Hedwig survives a botched sex change operation that leaves her with an "angry inch" only to be stranded in a Kansas trailer park the very day the Berlin Wall comes down. Undeterred, Hedwig dons immaculate makeup and a Farrah Fawcett wig and forms a rock band – The Angry Inch. While supporting herself with babysitting gigs, she falls for a 16-year-old Jesus freak she renames Tommy Gnosis. Tommy steals her songs and becomes the rock star Hedwig always dreamed she'd be. Refusing to be defeated, she fiercely performs in crumbling theme restaurants seeking recognition, retribution, and reconciliation with her other half.
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