Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 4-10, 2008
Prolific cult director Takeshi Miike loosely remakes the classic spaghetti western, with two warring clans in a remote mountain village facing off over rumours of hidden gold. Watch for a cameo by Quentin Tarantino. The original soundtrack is in phonetic English -- which is part of the fun -- and there are hopefully also English and Thai subtitles.
Says Twitchfilm.net's Todd Brown:
Bright, brash, violent, and intentionally camp Sukiyaki Western Django is that rarest of things: an intentional cult film that succeeds on all fronts.
Miike begins by tearing a page out of another brilliant Asian western - Wisit Sasanatieng’s Tears of the Black Tiger - giving us a prologue placed on a hyper-stylized sound stage. The painted backdrops are obvious, and intentionally so, designed to play up the extremities of what is to follow. It’s as though Miike’s letting us know that he’s in on the joke. Yes, it’s all very fake and very silly, he’s saying, but by god we’re going to have a good time with it.
Sukiyaki Western Django debuted at last year's Venice Film Festival, where it was in competition for the Golden Lion. Other festival appearances include Montreal's recent Fantasia Film Festival, where it won the second place Public's Prize for Best Asian Film, behind Tokyo Gore Police and ahead of Thailand's 4bia.
See it at the Lido cinemas in Siam Square and at Paragon Cineplex.
This acclaimed crime comedy has two Irish hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson), who are sent by their boss (Ralph Fiennes) into hiding after a difficult job. They are ordered to stay in a quiet Belgian town, where, with nothing else to do, they start to debate their views on life and death and become used to the local customs.
The movie is the debut feature by playwright Martin McDonagh. It's at the Siam.
Two years ago, Bangkok Dangerous was being filmed in Bangkok and there was a coup. Now the movie is opening, the government is once again in crisis.
What is it about this movie?
From the look of the previews, it seems to be a typical Hollywood movie, with plenty of explosions, lots of guns and Nicolas Cage with ridiculous hair. The difference is it's directed by the Pang Brothers, and is a remake of their own 1999 debut. Cage is a hitman on assignment in Bangkok, where he bonds with his local helper (Shakrit Yamnarm) and falls in love with the deaf clerk of a drugstore (Charlie Young). Panward Hemmanee, Nirattisai Kaljareuk and Dom Hetrakul also star.
Young's character is a combination of two leading roles from the original, in which the protagonist gunman was a deaf-mute, whose romantic interest was a drugstore clerk. The Pangs couldn't very well have wacky Nicolas Cage in their movie without him speaking any lines, so they changed some things around.
A review by Variety critic Jordan Mintzer praises the performances by Shahkrit and Hong Kong singer-actress Young, and says the boat chase through the floating market is a highlight. The rest is ho-hum. Here's more from Mintzer's review:
Heavy on the spice and cheap on the meat, Bangkok Dangerous adds plenty of Thai seasoning to the Hollywood lone-assassin recipe, but the result is only mildly pungent. Rehashing certain elements -- including striking location shooting -- that marked their much grittier 1999 feature of the same title, Hong Kong's Pang brothers increase the decibel level of the gunshots and the schmaltz level of the scenario, but such embellishments, not to mention a Nicolas Cage doused with Clairol, make this hefty remake seem less dangerous than incongruous.
Also opening
- Tevada Tok Mun - Some of the best-known comedians of the 1980s, among them Den Dokpradoo, Der Doksadao and Thep Pho-ngam, reunite for this movie about dharma, with Thep playing the guardian angel of an abbot (Sreenoom Chernyim), and steering him towards the truths of everyday life. With English subtitles at some cinemas.
- The Fox and The Child - This fairytale-like documentary about a girl and her pet fox is the latest work of Oscar-winning March of the Penguins maker Luc Jacquet. In French with English and Thai subtitles at House.
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