District 9

Now officially open in wide release after a sneak preview run last week, is this year's break-out hit District 9.

Shot largely documentary style on a shoestring, 30-year-old first-time director Neill Blomkamp wrung every last drop of goodness from his budget of US$30 million. In Hollywood, that's the kind of money they spend on snacks for the likes of Transformers or GI Joe, or on the salary for just one marquee-name star.

But with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson behind him as producer, and with the aid of such studios as New Zealand's WETA Workshop, Blomkamp is able to insert state-of-the-art computer effects, including a flying saucer that fills the entire sky over Johannesburg, as well as the imposing 7-foot-tall aliens that are derogatorily referred to as prawns and an impressive array of high-tech extraterrestrial weaponry.

The story, about an alien species stranded on Earth and herded into a deplorable shantytown, works on many levels. There are observations on the class system in South Africa, with shades of the apartheid system still very much in place. There's also the role of humanitarian relief organizations, with their fleets of white four-wheel-drive vehicles. In District 9, the NGOs are gun-toting mercenaries, supported by helicopter gunships.

While it's a science-fiction action-thriller with spaceships, laser beams, strange creatures and robots, it's also a very humanistic story. Keeping things rooted in the humanity of it all is South African actor Sharlto Copley, who plays a nerdy guy put in charge of his shadowy corporation's operation to move the aliens out of District 9 to a new camp. Accidently dosed with a mysterious spray, Sharlto's character undergoes a transformation that makes him much sought after by the corporate heavies as well as another group of bad guys -- the Nigerian crime kingpins in the alien slum.

Also opening

Fun Kote Kote (Dreamaholic) -- Comedian Ping Lumprapleung (พิง ลำพระเพลิง), who directed the 2006 romantic comedy-drama Loveaholic (โคตรรักเอ็งเลย) is back with another sentimental yarn with Dreamaholic (ฝันโคตรโคตร, Fun Koht Koht). This time, instead of letting comedian "Nose" Udom Taepanich stand in for him, as he did in Loveaholic, Ping has, perhaps unwisely, gone ahead and played the lead role himself. The story is about the romance between the mismatched pair of a crinkly-eyed street performer and a popular actress (Pawinee Wiriyachaiyakit) who is perhaps half his age.

The Proposal -- Finally, it's open. The trailer has been playing in Bangkok cinemas for months and I'm sick of it. Sandra Bullock portrays a shrill, overbearing boss in a New York City book publishing company. Threatened with deportation back to her native Canada, she proposes a marriage of convenience to her younger, whiny assistant (Ryan Reynolds). Throw in the wacky grandmother and an awkwardly forced marriage, and you have the typical romance comedy.

Whiteout -- Kate Beckinsale portrays a US marshal sent to Antarctica just before the onset of winter and six months of frozen darkness to unravel a mystery and solve the South Pole's first murder case. I think the penguins did it.

Miao Miao -- A shy Japanese exchange student in Taiwan is befriended by a  female classmate, and for the two women, there are feelings of love, and confusion. In Mandarin with English and Thai subtitles at House on RCA.

Under the Sea 3D -- I was given the wrong information a couple of weeks back and have been listing this on the Daily Xpress movie page all the while not realizing it did not in fact open until today. Apologies for the mistake. This IMAX 3D feature, narrated by Jim Carrey, goes into the depths of the Coral Triangle around Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the wild waters off Papua New Guinea for encounters with mysterious and stunning creatures. At Krungsri IMAX.

Dil Bole Hadippa! -- Rani Mukerji and Shahid Kapoor star in this song-and-dance-filled comedy about a young woman who poses as a man to join her local cricket team. It's in Hindi with English subtitles at SFW CentralWorld on Friday and Saturday at 8 and 4 and 7.15 on Sunday. Visit www.BollywoodThai.com or call (089) 488 2620 or (02) 225 7500.

Also showing

13th Thai Short Film and Video Festival encore -- At 5 on Friday there will be the White Elephant university-student films, including the hard-hitting Passion of the Freshy, and the hilarious Red Man, about a guy who shows up to work wearing red and everyone else is in yellow. Saturday at 2.30 is the R.D. Pestonji Awards competition films, including the runner-up Man and Gravity: Plateau by Jakrawal Nilthamrong. And on Monday at 5 is All About Rhythm, featuring an international line-up of shorts about music and dance. That's all at the Sri Sala Theatre at the Film Archive in Salaya, Nakon Pathom.

Puen Pang -- Cherd Songsri's classic tale of conflicted love in the countryside, 1983's Puen Pang screens at 4 on Sunday at the Sri Sala Theatre at the Film Archive in Salaya. Show up early, because beforehand, plucky Pang (Chanutporn Wisitthasopon) will be on hand to have her prints immortalized in cement. There will also be a dedication of the Cherd Songsri Library and Mediatech -- a book collection and audio-visual equipment housed in a converted shipping container behind the cinema. Visit www.FAPOT.org.

Take note

The schedule for the Bangkok International Film Festival and the Bangkok International Animation Festival is online. Download it and study it. Go see the movies! Tickets will be available at the respective theater box offices -- Paragon Cineplex and SFW CentralWorld -- on Thursday, September 24, and the BKKIFF opens that night with Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, starring a wacky Nicolas Cage.