Documentary, drama and sad songs blend in "Karaoke Girl"
THE GRIM LIFE of a bar hostess is depicted in "Karaoke Girl" ("Sao Karaoke"), the debut feature of young independent filmmaker Visra Vichet-Vadakan.
An experimental blend of documentary and drama, it’s the story of Sa, a country girl who was sent to Bangkok when she was just 15. After three years in a factory, she entered the sex trade in order to support her family.
Four years later the filmmaker met her, documented her life in the city and in the country and also wrote a fictional script for her to act in.
“Karaoke Girl” premiered in the main competition at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam, and was featured at other fests, including Helsinki and London’s Terracotta Far East Film Festival as well as Karlovy Vary, Vancouver, Jeonju, Hamburg and Luxembourg City.
In limited release, shows are at 6 nightly at Apex Siam Square and and 7pm at Esplanade Cineplex Ratchada. Next week, it opens at Chiang’s Mai’s Major Cineplex Airport Plaza and on October 17 it begins at run at Bangkok’s House on RCA.
Also opening
l “Ilo Ilo” – The first Singaporean feature to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival is also the city-state’s submission for next year’s Academy Awards. Directed by Anthony Chen, it’s a family drama set against the backdrop of the 1997 financial crisis. By coincidence, “Ilo Ilo” has a Bangkok connection, thanks to one of its producers, Wahyuni A Hadi, wife of Thai filmmaker Aditya Assarat and herself one of the driving forces behind the promotion of Singaporean independent cinema. It’s at House on RCA.
l “Gravity” – The Oscars are months away, but Academy Award buzz already surrounds this astronauts-in-peril drama directed by Alfonso Cuaron, headlined by the stellar Oscar-winning pair of George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Read more about it at left.
l “Prisoners” – Denis Villeneuve (“Incendies”) directs this taut missing-kid thriller starring Hugh Jackman as a desperate dad.
l “The Smurfs 2” – Here’s more smurfing around by the little blue folks. It features the late comedian Jonathan Winters in one of his last performances as Papa Smurf.
l “Mor 6/5 Pak Maa Taa Pee” – B-movie studio Phranakorn and schlock filmmaker Poj Arnon make their first stab at 3D with this teen horror comedy.
l “Besharam” – Ranbir Kapoor is a car thief who breaks his girl’s heart. Pallavi Sharda also stars. It’s at SF Cinema City Terminal 21 as well as SF cinemas in Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai.
Also showing
l The Friese-Greene Club – October brings a new schedule at the private cinema club, with Wednesdays featuring precocious girls, Thursdays about “men in crisis”, Fridays devoted to behind-the-scenes filmmaking documentaries, the late great John Hughes on Saturdays and Bette Davis on Sundays. With just nine seats, it fills up fast, so please check FCG.in.th to make bookings.
l “The Act of Killing” –Indonesia’s death squads of the 1960s are examined in this much-acclaimed documentary by Joshua Oppenheimer, screening at 7pm on Monday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, with a phone-in Q&A by the director. Entry for non-members is Bt350. For details, check www.FCCThai.com. The Bangkok Experimental Film Festival will screen it again on October 19 at the Lido. For details, see BeffBeff.com.
l “Complices” – The Alliance Francaise Bangkok, now in its new home on the corner of Rama IV and Wireless roads, sadly no longer projects film but they are still showing free movies. Next week’s offering is a 2009 drama about a murder case that’s taking a toll on a pair of detectives. Meanwhile, the story tracks back on the love life of the 18-year-old victim and his missing girlfriend.
