In grand style

CROWD-PLEASING COMEDIES, biographical dramas and documentaries, all with a sense of style, will be shown in next week’s Elle Fashion Film Festival in Bangkok.
Among the highlights is the latest opus by detail-obsessed filmmaker Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, a sweeping screwball comedy set in a fading European resort hotel. Other entries include the biopics “Yves Saint Laurent”, “My Way” and “The Look of Love”, the French comedies “Populaire” and “Me, Myself and Mum” and the documentaries “Advanced Style”, “Notebook on Cities and Clothes” and “The Day Before: Fendi and Jean Paul Gaultier”.
The opener at 7pm next Friday is “Yves Saint Laurent”, who in 1957, at age 21, was unexpectedly called upon to oversee the great fashion house established by the recently deceased Christian Dior. During the ground-breaking show, Saint Laurent meets the love of his life Pierre Berge, and together they create the YSL fashion label. Jalil Lespert directs this brand-new French biopic, with Pierre Niney as Saint Laurent and Guillaume Gallienne as Berge. It screens twice more, at 7.10pm on August 3 and 8.40pm on August 5.
Much-anticipated by his Bangkok fans, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” covers several decades in the life of a legendary concierge (Ralph Fiennes) who finds himself framed for the murder of one of his wealthy guests. Full of colourful and quirky characters, the cast also includes F Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Mathieu Amalric, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, La Seydoux, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel and Tilda Swinton. Anderson regulars Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson also appear. It screens three times: at 7.30pm on August 2, 9.20pm on August 4 and 8.40pm on August 7.
The life of a trendsetting singer and the origins of a famous song are covered in “My Way”. It’s the story of French showman Claude Francois whose big hit “Comme d’habitude” eventually became the signature tune of Frank Sinatra. Jeremie Renier stars. It screens at 9.20pm next Friday and closes the fest at 7.30pm on August 9.
Typewriter keys click fast and furiously in the 1950s-set French comedy “Populaire”, about a terrible young secretary (Deborah Francois) who is trained by her boss (Romain Duris) to be the fastest typist in the world. It screens at 3pm on August 2 and 5pm on August 9.
Famed German director Wim Wenders interviews Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto in the 1989 documentary “Notebook and Cities and Clothes”, which offers ponderings on the relationship between cities, identity and the cinema in the digital age. It screens at 5.30pm on August 2 and 7pm on August 8.
English comedic actor Steve Coogan portrays 1950s British soft-porn publisher, club owner and impresario Paul Raymond in “The Look of Love”, which reunites Coogan with Michael Winterbottom, who previously guided the him through such films as “24 Hour Party People”, “Tristram Shandy” and “The Trip”. Their latest effort has Raymond reflecting on his playboy lifestyle and his troubled relationshp with his daughter. Imogen Poots, Anna Friel and Tamsin Egerton also star. It screens at 3pm on August 3 and 8.40pm on August 8.
The French comedy “Me, Myself and Mum” won the Art Cinema Prize during the Directors’ Fortnight at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Adapted by Guillaume Gallienne from his own stage show, the autobiographical romp revisits his sexually confused youth and his love-hate relationship with his domineering mother, who raised him more like a daughter than a son. It screens at 5.10pm on August 3 and 9.20pm on August 6.
Iconic haute couture designers Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier take centrestage in the documentary “The Day Before: Fendi and Jean Paul Gaultier”, capturing the flurry of activity in the hours before a major fashion showcase. It screens at 7pm on August 4 and August 6.
And, showing that style never really grows old, the documentary “Advanced Style” looks at the lives seven unique New Yorker women, aged 62 to 95, who are challenging conventional ideas about beauty, ageing and society’s obsession with youth. It shows at 7pm on August 5 and August 7.

CHECKING IN
The Elle Fashion Film Festival runs from next Friday until August 9 at SFX the Emporium in Bangkok.
Tickets are Bt200 and can be reseved by calling (02) 268 8888. For more details, see SFCinemaCity.com.