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October 31, 2005
Tsunami follies: a baker's dozen of Thai digital shorts
Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee reports on a program of Tsunami Digital Short Films, "shown in two programmes last week at the World Film Festival of Bangkok, glaringly lack is this ability to connect with the audience in any meaningful way. They feel detached, even removed from the real event.
"Each filmmaker - most of them young and upcoming, and not a single one from the tsunami-struck areas - had total freedom to do whatever they wanted in their under-20 minute piece. Each was welcome to make a personal movie from personal memories. But in light of such devastating tragedy, does that mean they can blithely bypass the collective memory of the rest of the nation? ... For example, a short called After Shock plunges headlong into the ecstasy of post-December 26 sensation, ending with a scene of a man masturbating in a boat, his body caked with mud and blood and maybe something else. Thunska Pansittiworakul, who directed the part, is Thailand's most radical provocateur; but I doubt if his brand of raw, risk-taking, politically incorrect movies is a jarring note here. Likewise with Santi Taepanich's Tits and Bums, the most enjoyable slice in the cake. The movie, also outstanding because it's the only one that doesn't include a single shot of the sea, is a hilarious spoof of a karaoke video featuring a sexy model in a cleavage-friendly costume." In an effort to find drama through fictitious, even experimental means, some filmmakers in this ensemble, talented as they surely are, have forgotten that reality, naked as it is, is the endless source of true, touching and relevant stories. [More frivolity at the link.]
Posted by pride at October 31, 2005 04:17 PM
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