Soak ชุ่ม

Soak is a new short film by Thunska Pansittivorakul, who has made a series of controversial short films for the past eight years. Of course, you can't watch Thunska's films in mainstream cinema as they are mainly shown in film festivals. Soak features in the 5th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival (BEFF 5) at Esplanade only once and it's this evening.

I don't know how to define it -- it can be considered a long short film or a short long film, dependent on from which perspective one prefers to judge. It's highly autobiographical as it's based on Thunska's personal past with his ex-lover. On the surface, it may resemble a home video showing two men going to the beach and enjoying their time together. But on a deeper level, Soak effectively conveys such feelings as impossible desire, anxious anticipation, and uncertainty. What's interesting about all this is that Thunska doesn't use much dialogue to directly convey these feelings, but let the action and the interaction, at times very subtle and complex, between the two actors (one of which is the director himself) tell the story.

The scene that I like is the one whereby the two of them are on the motorbike at night time going out. It's not clear at first where they're heading but we could sense the quiet longing in this scene where the director doesn't want to end. Thunska deliberately uses real-time narration in this scene so some people may feel puzzled watching these two guys on the motorbike for like twenty minutes barely talking together. They end up not knowing where to go either, but decide just to go to a Seven-Eleven. The journey here is more important than the destination. In the same way, whether love is requited or not in this film is not as important as the process -- the tumultous feelings of anxiety and anticipation. Most people who have been in love must've known these, especially when they're guessing whether their loved one will reciprocate or not.

However, as in most Thunska's films you are likely to find that "happy ending" is impossible. Contemporary lifestyle makes intimacy embarrassing and impossible, if not already obsolete. Even though the two actors in Soak spend time together, their relationship seems strained and fragile. One is always on the wait for the other's mercy. One is always more sensitive than the other. The fact that the two protagonists are men complicates the matter as it is widely known that gay people generally are more sophisticated and skeptical of "true love", thereby establishing a thick layer of reservation for fear of heartbreak. Taking this line of thought, I think Soak is a very sad film, another manifestation that we humans are born to be individual and can never be truely related to others around us. Alienation thus stays close and love (in the sense of spiritual intimacy) just flips away.

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The Mist มฤตยูหมอกกินมนุษย์

I didn't know much about this film but I heard that there were people talking about it in the Pantip webboard, especially about its ending. So today we headed to Esplanade to watch it, hoping to see what all the fuss was all about and I was not disappointed.

A lot of people would've thought that it's a plain monster film, but halfway through I started to feel that there's definitely something more to it than that. For me, The Mist is a cross between H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Beneath the surface of the monster thriller lies Stephen King's exploration of human nature and anxiety especially when they are scared of the unknown.

Because of this reason, I found myself deeply engrossed with the film, but the feeling was more of depression than excitement. I don't mean that I was saddened because King didn't do justice to what he promised to deliver. Far from that, the dialogue and the plot were so well-crafted that I was led to believe that we humans are capable of a lot of atrocious acts that can turn us against one another or even make us kill one another without any trace of remorse. In the film, King touches on such sensitive issues as religion, faith, and human frailty in the face of the unknown. The mist functions like darkness, serving as an apt setting that contributes to uneasiness and fear. In this atmosphere of uncertainty, we humans are capable of everything, both good and bad, only for the sake of self-preservation.

I won't give away the ending. Suffice to say that it's also an important turn that drives home the existential questions of the film -- whether God exists and whether we are so infinitesimal compared to Him.

Bangkok Love Story เพื่อนกูรักมึงว่ะ

I believe that there isn't a better way to finish off a weekend than watching a romantic film. Hearing mixed reviews, I entrust upon myself that it's time to watch Bangkok Love Story which happened to be on the shelf for a while. I didn't buy it and Madge didn't either, so there's only one culprit ...

However, expecting the worst, I found the film not as bad as some people said. Well, it'd be a lot better if you press the mute button on your remote control and just sit back and watch the beautiful landscapes and skylines of Bangkok. Cinematography was great and I thought that the whole film was like a long music video with some really beautiful shots of unseen Bangkok. The soundtrack was also good and I liked the sad melody that accompanied the tragic love between the main two men.

However, the film would've been perfect if these flaws had not occurred.

(1) Bad script. The film suffered from bad script, especially the dialogue on Ith's part -- how he uses 'khun' all the time. It just seemed too unnatural and fake. Some dialogues are too sweet; it's more like from a mouth of a teenager, than a mature cop.

(2) Bad acting. Ith's cute face couldn't hide his acting flaw, especially his voice. When he sees Mek in a glass room and tries to give him a ring, he doesn't seem to plead. His voice lacks emotion and the whole scene looks like Ith is chanting a Pali scripture to Mek. No wonder Mek tries to run away. Also, when Ith is waiting in front of the house of Mek's mother, he seems more like a ghost from behind wanting to strangle Mek?

(3) Bad plot.

3.1 Is this just me? I just don't believe in Mek's killing policy, i.e. his intention to kill only bad people. I just don't believe that Ith would desperately want to help Mek so much after all that has happened, even helping bathe his own assassin. Come on. It's Bangkok, for God's sake! Ith even talks to his own assassin using 'khun' all the time. What a polite man.

3.2 What's this hi-so wooden bathtub on top of the building? Why does Mek suddenly decide to splash his cash on this expensive item? Maybe Mek's a hi-so after all but likes to pretend he's poor. And what's more incredible is Ith's scrubbing Mek's body with a loofah. A LOOFAH? Yes, a loofah. Of all the things in the world, it's a loofah. Don't ask me why such a poor assassin who doesn't care much about appearance needs to properly scrub himself. I laughed so hysterically watching this scene that my partner closed his eyes with annoyance.

3.3 What's this thing with underwear? There seems to be underwear sale next to where Mek lives, because both Ith and Mek seem to love wearing underwear a lot, both during daytime and nighttime. What's weird is when Mek kicks Ith out of his place, Ith comes home wearing only underwear to see his wife after disappearing with his new lover for three days. Imagine that -- walking all over Bangkok in underwear. The weather must've been terribly hot! His wife would probably think that Ith's a nutcase.

3.4 What's this thing with the face of Mek's mother? Why's it always dirty? I know they're poor but do they need to be dirty?

3.5 Why does it rain too often in Bangkok? In the film, it rains whenever they make love. Maybe if Isan suffers a draught, we will ask them to perform this sacred ritual to help Thai farmers.

3.6 Who kills Mek at the end? Is it one of the bad people who survive Mek's killing spree and who wait twenty five years to serve Mek just desserts? Is it the doctor who couldn't cure Mek's brother? Is it the ghost of Mek's mother? Is it Ith's wife? We never know and the filmmakers don't seem to care to give us a clue either.

(4) Excessive melodrama.

The scene where Ith tries to touch Mek's hand though there's a window in between is one of my favourite. I remembered laughing my brain out. Also, the scene in the jail when Mek puts Ith's hand next to his heart almost sent me to heaven. The film also pays too much time and attention to those scenes where Ith tries to look for Mek. What they should've done is to elaborate on how love actually occurs, not how both become lovelorn.

The point is ... it's such a romantic film, but Bangkok Love Story seems to be a bit late in the Thai cinema history. Had it been made twenty years ago, surely the audience would've loved it, a lot too. But not nowadays when people are more corrupt and too cynical to buy this sentimental melodrama. Wisit Sasanatieng also directed a melodrama once, but at least he parodied himself by narrating the film in a touch-in-cheek manner. I'm talking about Tears of the Black Tiger here where he uses excessive, bold colours to express extreme sentimentalism.

Don't take me wrong but the film in general is not that bad. I still like its cinematography. I think it's one of the best that I've seen. They took particular care in choosing where the actors need to stand and what position to film them. Bangkok has never looked so cool.

OK I admit that I'm a bit too sarcastic today. But I've read a bad thesis that needs a considerable amount of revision. Don't even get me start talking about this ...

Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios | Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

I can't recall how much I'd been fascinated by Mediterrenean culture until I watched an old film by Pedro Almodovar the other day. Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios is its title and I was not disappointed. The bright colours of the actresses' dresses and their excessively stylised acting are probably Almodovar's intention to highlight the melodramatic overtone. For some reason, I was not appalled by his use of melodrama as it's self-reflexive, parodying its own appearance while managing to get their points across -- unlike those dramas on Thai television which are not wary of their powerful effect in dumbing down the audience.

My first impression is how these actresses have lives, how their emotion and passion make them human. They have fears, desires, and other powerful feelings such as arrogance and rage -- all of these are incurred by their tendency to fall in love with wrong men. Coincidences abound; needless to say that Almodovar probably takes less care in making the whole plot believable than in creating a masterpiece of violent yet totally human emotion. One of the characters, I believe it's Lucia, brilliantly played by Julieta Serrano, reminds me of Iron Pussy in the eponymous film by Apichatpong. Like Iron Pussy, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios is a film that glorifies the marginalised gender and how they need to cope with the omnipotent system of patriarchy. They shine, nonetheless, even though they know that they are losing the battle, as most of the female characters are lovelorn or heartbroken. Yet, there's something beautiful in their choice to confront these uphill struggles of gender politics.

Compared with Almodovar's later films, this one may not have brilliant, perfect plots like Hable con ella or La mala educacion, but there's certainly something electrifying there.

There's an overly melodramatic song in this film -- 'Soy infeliz' is its title.

SOY INFELIZ
Lola Beltran

Soy infeliz porque se que no me quieres para que mas insistir
vive feliz si el amor que tu me diste para siempre resenti
soy infeliz porque se que no me quieres, piensas que ____ morir

que me sirvan otra trago, cantinero, yo los pago
pa' calmar este sufrir
vive feliz en tu mundo de ilusiones
no pienses mas en tu amor y tus traiciones
soy infeliz porque se que no me quieres, piensas que ____ morir

que me sirvan 4 tragos, cantinero, yo los pago
pa' calmar este sufrir
vive feliz en tu mundo de ilusiones
no pienses mas en tu amor y tus traiciones
soy infeliz porque se que no me quieres, piensas que ____ morir

que me sirvan otra trago, cantinero, yo los pago
pa' calmar este sufrir

Atonement ตราบาปลิขิตรัก

Again, this blog entry contains spoilers, as I'd like to comment on the whole film. The surprise ending of course is crucial to my interpretation. Those who haven't watched the film but wish to do so are advised not to read this just yet.

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I've heard about the film for a long time and the novel has been sitting somewhere on the shelf since time immemorial. But it's only Friday that I had a chance to see Atonement. While others may like it because of the tragedy that befalls the relationship between the upper-class Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner, a man who comes from a different class but tries to move socially upwards through his medical study at Cambridge. But of course this film is set during the World War so the class structure was then pretty volatile.

But I don't like the film because of the romance as much as its beautiful storytelling. Everything is so stylised and I think it's aimed to be that way, as the whole film borders on the thin line between fiction and reality. The whole thing might just as well have come from Briony's own imagination from the start. The attempt to stay away from the realist mode of narrative can be seen from the repetition of two crucial scenes that lead to Briony's own renditions that in turn lead to catastrophic results. The repetition is superbly done: one is the scene whereby Cecilia and Robbie has a row in front of the fountain, and the other is their sexual scene. Briony also witnesses these incidents and interprets them in her own way, influenced by her childish fantasy.

The repetition of these two scenes, significantly from two different perspectives, shows how the whole film is self-consciously aware of its own imaginary potential and that's perhaps why it 'unashamedly' flaunts its surreal side. Notice the scenes when Briony visits Cecilia again or when Robbie is at war in France. Of course part of the fantasy is to shed light on how Briony 'rewrites' the whole narrative from her own point of view and it's her story that is aimed to be her atonement. I think this is a pretty smart twist, albeit one wonders whether she actually feels guilty, considering the fact that she probably earns a lot of money from this 'last' novel of hers. Cynical as I am and have always been, I think Briony exploits her own atonement by turning it into a business that earns her both plaudit and money. Even though some people may sympathise with her thinking that it's the best she could've done, I wonder whether perhaps it'd have been better if she had decided to apologise and to remedy the whole situation when there's still time -- not when it's too late and you only see her victoriously voicing her own guilt on air with her eyes brimful of tears. She's a wicked girl, indeed, from the beginning to the end.

But another reason why fantasy is portrayed in the film is the war. War is ludicrous and the whole thing looks terribly absurd in the time of war. Soldiers have bad memories and terrible nightmares, simply because the reality is so harsh and brutal. Imagine you walk into the woods like Robbie and see twenty innocent people killed for apparently no other reasons than they're on the opposite side. Personally the scene that touched me the most is when Briony needs to be by the side of a dying soldier whose skull is split open. His brain is injured, causing him to imagine and mix up scenes from the past. Briony is there with him trying to play a part in his own imagination so that the soldier can die happily. Sadly to say, Briony should've learnt from this incident and at least gone to see her sister Cecilia and Robbie and help construct or at least remedy past memories before it's too late.

The film does make me wonder: what's the point of writing a novel to atone for those who don't have the chance to read your work? Is it fair that Briony confesses to her crime just before she loses her memory due to dementia and in the process gains acceptance and forgiveness from those who actually are not the victims? I think not. She's at least not forgiven by me.