Pen-Ek Ratanaruang Tagged Articles at Cinematical

As much as I enjoy reading Top 10 lists -- and wondering if anyone actually saw all 600+ films released in the US during the past year -- I'm always looking for more, especially those from other countries. WiseKwai's Thai Film Journal has selected the "Top 5 Thai films of 2007." WiseKwai's top selection from Thailand has also found its way onto a number of US "best of the year" lists: Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century.

Here's the local twist: WiseKwai says that the film screened once for the press and then was pulled from release because censors objected to four scenes, which he details in his post. He feels that "far more lurid and violent films got a pass. Thai authorities had no good reason to pick on this gentle ode to the director's parents." The action galvanized the Free Thai Cinema Movement, which campaigned for a change in how the government treats films. Unfortunately, recent legislation to create a new film ratings system "still contains provisions for authorities to censor and ban films, which filmmakers had fought against." Syndromes and a Century will be released on DVD in the US on January 15, 2008.

In happier news, WiseKwai lists his other selections: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's "good kind of weird" Ploy, Pimpaka Towira's political doc The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong, Kongkiat Khomsiri's period Thai boxing crime drama Muay Thai Chaiya, and Chukiat Sakweerakul's gay teen romance The Love of Siam. Thailand's Academy Award submission for Best Foreign Language Film, The Legend of Naresuan: Declaration in Independence, got an Honorable Mention along with sci-fi comedy The Sperm. That's a poster I'd love to see!

Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang has had an interesting life in film. After spending the late 70's and early 80's studying and working in New York, he went back to Bangkok and began to work at the Film Factory. Over a decade later, he wrapped up his debut feature film in 1997, the karaoke mob story Fun Bar Karaoke. Since then, he's had a myriad of nominations and wins at film festivals, including a Don Quixote win in 2000 for crime comedy 6IXTYNIN9 and a Golden Bear nomination last year for Invisible Waves, which is about a murdering chef. With that wrapped, indieWIRE has shared news of his latest project, Ploy.

Thailand's Five Star Production is teaming with Fortissimo Films for the new feature which is described as an "erotic film (that) attempts to explore jealousy and its origins in a serious, exotic yet playful way, evaluating the theme by employing three characters and one location." In other words, a threesome movie where some or all of the players get jealous while all of them are, I don't know, living together? Sounds like the Thai version of Greg Araki's Splendor to me. The movie will re-team the director with Lalita Panyopas, who was also in 6IXTYNIN9, and have her starring with Ananda Everingham. There is no word on the third erotic participant. Considering the mobishness and murder of his previous films, I don't think this three-way is going to end with just jealousy.