Thursday, September 25, 2014

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening September 25-October 1, 2014

Fin Sugoi


Showing her arty side on Bangkok big screens in the indie drama Concrete Clouds released last week, actress "Saipan" Apinya Sakuljaroensuk goes commercial in Fin Sugoi (ฟินสุโค่ย), heading the cast of young Thai heartthrobs in this release by Sahamongkol Film International.

In the romantic comedy, directed the popular indie helmer "Golf" Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, Saipan is a groupie of a Japanese idol rocker (Makota Koshinaka), and over the objections of her jealous judo-practicing boyfriend (Tao Settapong), she keeps trying to get close to the singer, with help from her friends Moo Ham (Tina Suppanart) and Kai Tong (Guy Nawapol). Rated 15+



Also opening



God Help the Girl – Born out of an album by Stuart Murdoch of the Scottish indie-pop group Belle and Sebastian, this musical follows a girl who escapes from a mental facility and heads to Glasgow in hopes of making it big in the city's music scene. Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray and Pierre Boulanger star. A hit at Sundance this year, critical reception is generally positive. Rated G


Premature – The time-loop absurdities of Groundhog Day meets the teen-sex raunch of American Pie in this coming-of-age comedy about a high-school kid who has to relive the loss of his virginity over and over again until he gets it right. John Karna, Craig Roberts, Katie Findlay and Alan Tudyk star. Directed by Dan Beers, the indie comedy premiered at the South by Southwest Festival. Critical reception is mixed. Rated 15+


A Walk Among the Tombstones – Liam Neeson brings his particular set of skills to an adaptation of a 1992 crime novel by Lawrence Block. The Taken and Non-Stop star is a private investigator, recovering alcoholic and former New York City cop who reluctantly takes a case from a heroin trafficker to find the man's wife's killer. Critical reception is mixed. Rated 18+



The Purge: Anarchy – A new batch of hapless ordinary citizens struggle to survive the annual night of mayhem and lawlessness. Frank Grillo heads the cast as a vigilante former lawman who comes to the rescue of a kidnapped waitress and her daughter. Meanwhile, a couple who survives a carjacking try to hitch a ride. Critical reception is mixed, leaning to favorable. This opened in sneak previews last week and now moves to a wide release. Rated 18+


Viy – Jason Flemying (Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) stars in this Russian-made supernatural thriller, which is loosely based on a story by Nikolai Gogol. Flemyng is a cartographer mapping out the wilderness of Eastern Europe who gets lost and turns up in a Transylvanian town that is beset by demons. It's at SF cinemas. Rated 13+


Mystic Blade – Bangkok's merry band of hard-working foreigner stuntmen teamed up to make this martial-arts thriller. Don Ferguson stars as a former member of the Shadow Syndicate, a group of hitmen. Having turned his back on his old ways, fallen in love and started a family, he finds he can't escape his past. He forges a supernaturally endowed blade and sets off on a path of vengeance. Conan Stevens, Jawed El Berni, Tim Man and Julaluck Ismalone also star along with David "Mad Dog" Ismalone, who also directs. For more, check out the trailer. It's at Major Cineplex, and unfortunately, it is apparently Thai-dubbed only. Rated 15+



Also showing


The Friese-Greene Club – Tonight, family dysfunction freezes over in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. Tomorrow, British writer-director Chris Morris skewers jihadists in Four Lions, a comedy about bumbling suicide bombers. Saturday's "so bad it's good" entry is 1959's A Bucket of Blood, which set the template for infamous low-budget producer-director Roger Corman. And Sunday's tribute is Lauren Bacall is How to Marry a Millionaire, also starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. Shows are at 8pm. The FGC is down an alley next to the Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. There's just nine seats, so book them. Also, check the Facebook page for updates and program changes.


Wildtype Masterclass 001: Fuck AlligatorChulayarnnon Siriphol is a perennial award winner at the Thai Short Film and Video Festival, where his films, usually satiric views on Thai society, are a highlight. They include documentaries, spoof documentaries and experimental films. This Saturday, Filmvirus and the Reading Room offer a chance to see a bunch of them all at once. The selection goes back as far as 2005 with Golden Sand House, and includes his 2008 winning student film Danger (Director's Cut), 2011's award winners Mrs. Nuan Who Can Recall Her Past Lives and A Brief History of Memory and this year's award-winner Myth of Modernity. There are two programs, at 1 and 3.30pm, followed at 6 by a masterclass and talk by Chulayarnnon. The venue is the Reading Room, a fourth-floor walk-up gallery on Silom Soi 19, opposite Silom Center.


Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand – The Contemporary World Film Series heads to Denmark for The Hunt. The critically acclaimed drama stars Mads Mikkelsen, winner of the Cannes Best Actor Award for his portrayal of a former schoolteacher who has been forced to start over after a tough divorce and the loss of his job. Just as things start to go his way, an untruthful rumor throws his life into disarray. Thomas Vinterberg directs. Screening, at 7pm on Monday, is presented by the Embassy of Denmark, which will serve Carlsberg beer and Danish snacks. Admission for non-members is 150 baht and 100 baht for the food and drink.


Alliance Française – Classic French films are on offer in October with the theme of "eternal thrillers". The series kicks off with 1963's Les tontons flingueurs, in which a dying mobster makes a deathbed plea to former cohort (Lino Ventura) to look after his soon-to-be-married daughter. It's in French with English subtitles at 7pm on Wednesday, October 1.

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