and 1 more to go!
So far, the films we choose to watch at the Bangkok International Film Fest hasn’t been a disappointment at all. So far so good as far as quality and storyline are concerned that it’s hard to choose a favourite one.
Here’s just a brief overview of what we caught:
1. Antichrist
Highly disturbing mainly due to its extremely graphic and vivid visual that haunted me well into the night as I closed my eyes to slumber land. The “most debated and notoriously divisive” quote from the synopsis was the only reason why we chose to watch this movie. This is one movie that would spark off a lot of debate if you are to study the plot in an English literature class. Just rivetingly brilliant, yet frightening at the same time.
2. Mental (documentary)
This started off really slow and at one point, I wondered if the director is just experimenting with filming technique as it was rather amateurish. Turns out that this Japanese director was merely documenting real life mental patients as an observer, and did not want to interrupt any moment with comments or sound effects throughout the entire time, and keeping the entire film at that observation level for viewers to form their own opinions to spark off a discussion.
The Q&A session after the screening shed some light into how real mental disorders can affect the lives of ordinary people…and how the director was inspired to document this. The one character which captured me was this guy who seems to have been a fallen intellect…I really love how he kept the entire movie pure so to speak…all dialogues coming off naturally from the speakers; unscripted.
3. Fixer
Another documentary worth watching. Sad, sad, sad…it makes you wonder if life is so cheap to these people in “power”. May his soul rest in peace.
4. The Queen & I
I am genuinely surprise at how this turned out. I love it, I love it, I love it! In truth, I have absolutely no knowledge of the Queen of Iran and The Shah prior to the revolution. My first impression of the Queen initially is that of a spoilt person with too much power and riches. I changed my mind at the end of the film and I truly found her to be rather intelligent, compassionate..not to mention, still looking like a real beauty at her age. Like them, I wish for Iran to be a better place for the sakes of their own people.
One other thing I noticed too about this movie is that the Iranian girls featured here are absolutely gorgeous!
All in all, this year movie fest has been really promising. I hope the last movie we’ll be catching next week is a good one too.
