Snakes On A Logo

It's the new Snakes On A Plane logo! This will look cool on a t-shirt...

Bic Runga vs. Nerina Pallot

I got all excited at lunchtime when I discovered that Bic Runga will be performing at the Spiegeltent in Brighton. However, she's booked to play on Saturday 27th May - exactly the same date that Nerina Pallot is performing at St Georges Church! What kind of bad planning is that? Two great female singer/songwriters in the same town on the same night! How do I decide who I am going to see?

Secret Machines at the Concorde

On Monday night I decided to check out Secret Machines down at the Concorde. I'd heard very little of their stuff, but their sound had been described as psychedelic, progressive rock so I thought they'd be worth a look. Live on stage I felt they came across more like Muse; they really rocked out, but their songs eschewed the verse / chorus / verse structure in favour of long meandering epics. I did recognise a couple of familiar tracks from Now Here Is Nowehere whilst the rest of the set comprised tracks from their forthcoming Ten Silver Drops album. What was particularly impressive was the light show - the best I've ever seen at the Concorde, which made me feel like I was watching a Brixton Academy show in my own living room. With huge banks of lights back-lighting the band, and a constant supply of dry ice, the effect was stunning. They really deserve to be performing in bigger venues, and on this evidence I'm sure it won't be long before they are.

www.thesecretmachines.com

Movie Haiku - V For Vendetta

www.vforvendettamovie.co.uk


Dir: James McTeigue


Cast: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, John Hurt


He keeps his mask on

wants anarchy in UK

big bang for Big Ben


soulmining rating: ****

Movie Haiku - The World's Fastest Indian

www.theworldsfastestindian.co.uk


Dir: Roger Donaldson


Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Dianne Ladd, Paul Rodriguez, Aaron Murphy


Old man with old bike

can he beat land speed record?

guessed that from title


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest - Hostel Day

The FrightFest drunks ™ (photo by Ian Rattray)

Saturday saw me back in London again for FrightFest's 'Hostel Day', a one-day appetiser for August's main event. The day began bright and early with Ian leading some of us forum regulars to a nearby greasy spoon for a much needed fry up – and the opportunity to chat and finally put some faces to some familiar names. With our bellies full we trooped back to the Prince Charles for the first film of the day, Death Trance, from the action director of Versus – and it showed. Far too many repetitive fight scenes and not enough plot to make it a classic, but it certainly had its moments (the bizarre stop-motion dolls, the pulsating sword that suspiciously resembled a dildo) and happily it didn’t overstay its welcome with its brief ninety minute running time.

As much as I love The Wicker Man, I was planning to have a day socialising as much as I was watching films, so I skipped that screening in favour of a couple of pints in the nearest pub with Steve and the rest of the Eat My Brains guys. I then returned to the PCC where I chatted to Kim Newman (and complimented him on his review of Evil Aliens in Empire) and then dashed off with Ian and the FrightFest drunks ™ for another quick pint before Mortuary began. I’d decided to pass on Tobe Hooper’s latest effort having been unimpressed with the footage we’d been shown last year, so made a swift circuit around Chinatown and then headed back to the cinema where I was greeted with the rather peculiar sight of ex-Eastender Anna Wing sat at the bar, until I realised she was in David McGillivary’s short which had just screened before the film. I’d already warned the FrightFest drunks ™ about the dubious quality of Mortuary and had to smile when they walked out half way through! It was really good catching up with Ian and he was telling me all about Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon, the first film to be confirmed for August, and it seems like they're also keen to secure Art Of The Devil 2 on my recommendation, even though my screener copy is yet to turn up. With Ian, Steve, the drunks, James and a few others filling up the bar area - I even bumped into one of the journalists I'd sat next to at the Oliver Stone Q&A in Bangkok! - there was a very convivial atmosphere in which to discuss movies… and of course, drink more alcohol.

This wasn’t a problem until I took my seat up in the circle to see Reeker. As soon as I’d watched the excellent Silent Hill trailer I could feel the effects of half a dozen beers kicking in, and it wasn’t long before I was drifting in and out of sleep. Which was a real pity as what I saw of Reeker I really liked – a simple idea, well executed and I particularly loved the shimmering effect as the Reeker went about his business. It was only after the film finished and we were discussing its merits outside that I realised just how much I’d missed… String? What string? Who died? When did that happen? [Note to self: Lots of booze followed by a movie is not a good idea… unless it’s a Tobe Hooper film]

Thankfully there was enough time to grab some food in the break, so by the time Hostel began I’d sobered up and was wide awake again. Eli Roth’s film was a real FrightFest pleaser with plenty of gross-out moments to entertain us. Was I the only person shouting “just stick it back in the socket… don’t cut it… oh, too late” during that eyeball scene? And the kids with the rocks, well, that was just hardcore! A suitably nasty film to end the day with – as I had to miss Theatre Of Blood in order to get back to Brighton – and the culmination of yet another enjoyable FrightFest event for me. I'm looking forward to August already!

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Hostel

www.hostelfilm.com


Dir: Eli Roth


Cast: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonnson, Barbara Nedeljakova


The girls are easy

the boys get tortured with tools

wasn't in Rough Guide


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Reeker

www.reekermovie.com


Dir: Dave Payne


Cast: Devon Gummersall, Tina Payne, Derek Richardson, Michael Ironside


Stalks kids at motel

what string? who died? I missed that

six pints, fell asleep


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Death Trance

www.deathtrance.us


Dir: Yuji Shimomura


Cast: Tak Sakaguchi, Takamasa Suga, Kentara Seagal, Yuhki Takeuchi


Fighting for coffin

wakes Goddess of Destruction

sword looks like dildo


soulmining rating: **

Snakes On A Plane! Clips On The Internet!

Oh yes, it's a happy day... the first footage from Snakes On A Plane is now online! According to New Line, this is not the official teaser trailer, rather an assemblage of clips - and the CGI effects shown aren't finished, just work in progress...

"Enough is enough, I've HAD it with those snakes!"

Click here to view those snakes on a plane!!

Movie Haiku - Severance

www.jamesmoran.blogspot.com

Dir: Christopher Smith

Cast: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens

Office trip goes bad

team slaughter not team bonding

where's his severed foot?


soulmining rating: ****

I ought to say a few words about Severance. This is the film that my friend James wrote (you can read my interview with him here), and yesterday was the first screening of the finished film since all the post-production work, picture grading and sound mixing was completed. It's always a little daunting seeing something where you've got a personal connection, but thankfully I really enjoyed the film. It manages to balance its comedic and horrific elements very effectively - a difficult job to pull off successfully - and the casting works surprisingly well. I don't really want to say any more at the moment as the film is still some way from general release; as you'll see from the above, there's no official website or poster images available yet, let alone any publicity stills. Talking to James after the screening it's looking like Pathé are aiming for a 'late Summer' release and they're hoping to get a 15 certificate, although on this evidence I reckon it'll be a borderline decision! Anyway, it deserves to do well when it comes out so keep your eyes open for it later in the year...

In the meantime I spotted an interview with Danny Dyer in this month's Maxim magazine where he mentions Severance:

(Warning - contains minor spoilers)

Maxim: Do the clothes you're wearing affect how you play a role?

Danny Dyer: Oh, definitely. That's quite a major thing for me. You turn up in the morning, you're knackered, got the hump, a bit snappy, might not even be in the mood for working for a while. You go into your trailer, and slowly you start to come round when you're putting your wardrobe and make-up on. The last two films I've done, one was a horror film, so the clothes are soaked in blood and ripped and muddy. It was winter and we were filming at night - it was minus-two and I've got bloodsoaked clothes on - and it's vile, but it helps with the role.

Maxim: What film was this for?

Danny Dyer: One of them's called Severance - that's the horror film. That's about terrorists and was filmed in Hungary. It's really gory and filthy, and I'm the one that survives. I'm the last man standing, you know?

Play It Cool in March

It's weird, most months I'm spoilt for choice when it comes to publishing my list of listening pleasures, but these past few weeks I've hardly been playing any CDs. In Bangkok I was so busy that I rarely spent any time in my hotel room unless I was asleep, and since I've got back I've been spending most of my free time catching up with cool TV shows like Life On Mars, 24 and Shameless. I think I need to discover some exciting new music next month, but for now here's my picks for March:

• Anggun - Luminescence (Sony BMG)
• Madonna - Sorry (Warner Bros) single
• Soulwax - Any Minute Now (PIAS)
• Zero 7 - When It Falls (Ultimate Dilemma)
• Depeche Mode - Precious (Mute) single

Movie Haiku - The Hills Have Eyes

www2.foxsearchlight.com/thehillshaveeyes


Dir: Alexandre Aja


Cast: Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Emile De Ravin


Don't like strangers much

welcome with pick-axe and guns

not tea and biscuits


soulmining rating: ****

Movie Haiku - The Matador

www.miramax.com/matador


Dir: Richard Shepard


Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Philip Baker Hall


Likes booze and hookers

burnt out hitman needs some help

march of the speedos


soulmining rating: ***

Two Jethro fans...

True story:

We had a Joan Baez concert here at the Dome on Monday evening. A couple turned up with tickets for Jethro Tull which happens to be on here next Monday. So they'd got the wrong date, which was a little unfortunate as they'd driven all the way over from Southampton and had also booked a hotel for the night. What made it even more unfortunate was that they'd turned up expecting to see the Cornish comedian Jethro and not the seventies rock band Jethro Tull in the first place...

Genius.

Juliana Hatfield at Bush Hall, London

Any objective, incisive review of this gig went out of the window the moment I met up with Mike and we decided to head to the nearest pub. A couple of hours and four pints of cider later...

I'd never been to the Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush before, but I managed to find the venue easily enough and it's pretty cool - quite ornate and intimate, and the sound wasn't bad either. Juliana Hatfield was playing her first UK show since she toured with Teenage Fanclub back in the mid-nineties and it was just her and her guitar, that's all. She played a good mix of material from her early days in The Blake Babies and The Juliana Hatfield Three through to new songs off last year's Made In China album. She promised to return with her full band again soon - let's just hope it doesn't take her quite so long to come back this time!

The Like at the Komedia

This photo clearly demonstrates the pitfalls of trying to take a picture of a band as they're performing on a low stage when there's a very tall bloke standing directly in front of you.

I like The Like. You can't beat girls with guitars, always works for me. They only played a short set but it made me curious to check out their debut album Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? which is released next week. I still don't know what happened to Giant Drag, the billed support, but The Bright Space filled in admirably - although I really think they ought to reconsider their band name.

Is it a bee? Is it a dog?

Some readers have accused my blog of having a distinct bias in favour of cat related websites which is... well, pretty fair if I'm being honest about it. So, in an attempt to redress the balance here's a website devoted to dogs... Dogs dressed up like bees.

www.beedogs.com

Thanks to Gingerbloke for the link.

Movie Haiku - Final Destination 3

www.fd3movie.com


Dir: James Wong


Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche, Amanda Crew


Rollercoaster ride

death picks them off one by one

airheads get well tanned


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - Lucky Number Slevin

www.luckynumberslevin-themovie.com


Dir: Paul McGuigan


Cast: Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Sir Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis


He's not Nick Fisher

asked to kill and pay back debt

does Kansas shuffle


soulmining rating: ***

Festivals

Brighton Festival

Can it really be that time of the year already? Yes, tickets for the 2006 Brighton Festival are now on sale. This year's event - celebrating its 40th anniversary - runs from 6th to 28th May with hundreds of different performances to choose from including eight world premieres, including the much anticipated Lost and Found Orchestra, the first new show from the creators of Stomp in fifteen years.

Highlights from the literary programme include Chuck Palahniuk & Irvine Welsh, Richard E. Grant, Eric Sykes and a discussion with film director Nicolas Roeg which will take place at the Duke Of York's cinema. Of course there's also a wide range of theatre, music, opera, dance and outdoor events... full details are on the festival website:

www.brighton-festival.org.uk

Hostel Day

Returning to the movies, the FrightFest team have announced a one day event - nicknamed Hostel Day - to be held at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square on Saturday 18th March. The day will centre around a preview screening of Eli Roth's Hostel and will also feature showings of new movies Death Trance, Mortuary and Reeker alongside retro screenings of The Wicker Man and Theatre Of Blood. Tickets go on sale today priced £37.50 for a full day ticket or £9 for individual films.... full details are on the FrightFest website:

www.frightfest.co.uk

Bright Lights, Big City

The bright lights of Soi Cowboy

Brrrrrr! I'm back in the real world again now but here's one last lingering glance back at the place I left behind. My last couple of days in Bangkok were very relaxed after the hustle and bustle of the BKKIFF and it was nice to just unwind, especially as Dave and Sean had come down from Chiang Mai to join me. On the Monday night Dave and I went over to The Londoner pub to meet up with Paul Spurrier which worked out nicely as we got there just in time for happy hour! After sinking a few pints - yes, proper pints - Paul suggested we move on to Rawhide on Soi Cowboy, so we piled in a taxi and had one drink in there before all going our separate ways.

Sean outside Suzi Wong


Me & Daow

Dave was sparked out on Tuesday so declined to partake in another night of alcohol-fuelled mayhem. Instead I went drinking with Daow at the Shark bar before we met up with Sean at Penny Black, and later moved on to Suzi Wong and finally the Black & White bar. A grand last night out!

March Live

Thud! I'm back home in Brighton again now so it's time to turn my attention to the forthcoming weeks ahead and see what's happening around the city this month. Quite a bit as it happens... here's my picks of the best live music and events for March:

02/03 - Tonight there's a not-so-secret gig at the Concorde where Bloc Party will be previewing new songs from their forthcoming second album.

04/03 - Sticking with the Concorde it's a return visit from The Wonderstuff who I saw perform there last year. Miles Hunt is still a great frontman and they played quite a number of old favourites on their last visit!

07/03 - All girl indie band The Like are over from Los Angeles for a UK tour stopping off in Brighton for a date at the Komedia. I haven't heard any of their songs as yet but my friend in LA interviewed them recently and it sounds like they're the kind of band I'd like.

08/03 - I'm up in London to catch a rare live appearance by Juliana Hatfield at the Bush Hall. Meanwhile back in Brighton The Delays are playing a rescheduled date at the Concorde.

14/03 - Paddy McGuinness steps out of Peter Kay's shadow for his first solo tour, appearing at the Dome.

15/03 - Brighton based Oom are playing at the Engine Rooms. Singer Debbie has just contributed vocals for one of the tracks on Massive Attack's special edition Collected album - catch her own band ahead of their debut album release in June.

16/03 - Chumbawamba go acoustic for a gig at the Komedia.

18/03 - Also at the Komedia is Cara Dillon, but I'll be up in London for a one day FrightFest event centering around a preview of Eli Roth's Hostel.

20/03 - I'm looking forward to checking out seeing Secret Machines at the Concorde having heard their latest single release.

24/03 - Rescheduled from December after the singer lost his voice, Feeder return to the Brighton Centre.

27/03 - Another rescheduled gig, this time it's The Pipettes playing at the Concorde, whilst along at the Hanbury Ballroom The Blue Aeroplanes come out of retirement to celebrate the reissue of their seminal album Swagger.

BKKIFF Closing Gala

Thai directors panel - Ekachai Uekrongtham, Leo Kittikorn & Yongyoot Thongkongtoon

With no films scheduled for my final day of the festival (the screening of The World's Fastest Indian had already sold out) I began Sunday morning over at the sumptuous Conrad Hotel for a Thai directors panel moderated by Kong Rithdee, the Bangkok Post film critic. The three directors in attendance to talk about their current projects and Thai cinema in general were Ekachai Uekrongtham (Beautiful Boxer), Leo Kittikorn (Ahimsa: Stop To Run) and Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (The Iron Ladies). Yongyoot talked about his upcoming romantic comedy Metrosexuals, whilst Leo discussed his experience working as 2nd director on King Naresuan, the biggest production in Thailand which has been filming for two years and is still not finished! Meanwhile Ekachai is in pre-production on a horror film entitled The Coffin which should begin shooting in June. It's due to a feature local, Japanese and Chinese cast and - perhaps thinking of the international market - the dialogue will be predominantly in English:

"It's a supernatural thriller inspired by a ritual in Thailand: to get rid of bad luck, extend your lifespan or meet someone who has passed away you sleep in a coffin. It's a very controversial ritual which is gaining popularity. Last year more than 10,000 people in the North East of Thailand went to a ceremony where they could lie in a coffin and be blessed by the monks. Yes, it is a ghost film, there will be quite a number of them, but it won't be a slasher film... it's more like The Sixth Sense. I pick themes I like to address and I wanted to try and deal with issues surrounding death. My father died two years ago and I had a problem dealing with that, so I used that as my creative springboard."

After watching a number of trailers for their respective films the discussion then moved on to the state of the Thai movie industry today and a lively debate on the pros and cons of the BKKIFF - and in particular the disregard for the local audience in that nearly all films screened in competition have had no Thai subtitles, and the poor communication between the festival organisers and local filmmakers. These are just two issues which we all hope will be addressed in time for next year's event.

BKKIFF Closing Ceremony

I'd got chatting to an Aussie actor called Adam at the panel so when that event finished we headed over to the Siam Paragon together and spent much of the afternoon sat in the Jameson's bar. The Closing Gala began at 6pm with guests arriving along the red carpet, but it was a much less lavish affair than the Opening Gala and it seemed to be mainly industry and festival delegates rather than lots of celebrities - although I did spot Willem Dafoe, Roger Donaldson and the ubiquotous Rufus Sewell over the course of the evening.

Tracie Thoms & Wilson Jermaine Heredia

The closing night film was Rent, directed by Christopher Columbus (which I neglected to see) and a couple of the film's stars, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Tracie Thoms, were present to talk about the production - though I was sad to note the non-appearance of Rosario Dawson who'd also been mooted to attend.

Clare & me

After the closing ceremony and speeches Clare and I hung around the reception taking advantage of the free bar until things finally started winding down at around 9pm. Much to our dismay there was no after-show party (or so we'd been told) so instead we headed off to Penny Black on Soi Cowboy and spent the remainder of the evening continuing our drinking and playing a few games of pool in there.

BKKIFF Day 9 - Saturday

Ultrascreen 1

I was determined to get into the morning screening of The Intruder at Ultrascreen 1, despite being told it was sold out, so I just turned up and said I'd wait and see if there were any spare seats once the film had started. As it happened I was allowed to walk into the cinema, help myself to a chair and just sit at the top of the aisle without being asked to leave - cool. The film was a Belgian thriller which held the attention while never quite being quite as riveting as the similarly themed Murk earlier in the festival. I had just enough time before my next film to grab a cocktail in the Jameson's bar with CJ, an American journalist, and then headed back to the cinema ready for Lars Von Trier's Manderlay. As it happened I was sat on the front row next to Claire - ideally placed for the Q&A with Willem Dafoe afterwards, but not so great for actually watching the 140 minute film. Then they announced that the Q&A would take place in the main hall rather than the cinema which rather negated the advantage of having front seats, so in the end Claire and I decided to abandon the film altogether and just attend the Q&A later!

Dianne Ladd & Roger Donaldson

We wandered back through the main hall just as the press conference for The World's Fastest Indian was finishing, with actress Dianne Ladd and director Roger Donaldson in attendance. Back in the Jameson's bar we took full advantage of their hospitality until we were joined by a couple of real 'characters' Jake and Antonio...

Nicholas Snow interviews Willem Dafoe

No-one seemed to know exactly where / when the Willem Dafoe event was going to be (communication to the festival staff has been an issue all week) but when we spotted the actor sat in the main hall we knew we were in the right place and we managed to grab front row seats before the rest of the audience spilled out of the Manderlay screening. The interview chaired by Nicholas Snow was the most entertaining one of this year's special events with Willem Dafoe looking completely relaxed and open to talk about all aspects of his career in films and acting.

Willem Dafoe

Having decided not to struggle through a non-subtitled screening of The Duelist I had a free evening ahead of me, so I ventured to The Londoner bar on Sukhumvit Soi 33 where I met up for a pint with Paul Spurrier. He's been invited to give a private screening of P to the head of Sahamongkol Films (the biggest film company in Thailand) on Monday evening so Paul is going to ask whether he can bring any friends along with him, as I'd love to see the film again.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - The Intruder

www.deindringer.be


Dir: Frank Van Mechelen


Cast: Koen De Bouw, Els Dottermans, Filip Peeters, Alex Daeseleire


Daughter is missing

conspiracy in a small town

hunter has answers


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Day 8 - Friday

Selection of synopses from the BFM

The longer the festival goes on the harder it is getting to obtain tickets for screenings as the Box Office don't seem to be retaining an allocation of seats for members of the press (as they're supposed to), bearing in mind we can only reserve our tickets one day in advance. Very frustrating! I really wanted to catch tomorrow's showing of The Intruder but it looks like I'm just going to have to turn up and hope there's some empty seats. I was also annoyed to discover that the second screening of The Duelist was also going to be a dubbed print without subtitles, so that's tomorrow night's viewing scrapped for me. I spent the remainder of the morning taking my final look around the BFM and I stopped for a chat with Tom Waller from De Warrenne Pictures who produced Ghost Of Mae Nak. There's still no deal for that movie in the UK as yet but Tom is hopeful for a DVD release in the near future. For my first film of the day I decided to relax in the luxurious surroundings of Ultrascreen 2 and take a second look at Art Of The Devil 2 and I enjoyed it just as much the second time round - whilst keeping an eye out for any inconsist plotlines now that I knew how the movie was going to end! The film also picked up the Jameson People's Choice Award later in the evening, further recognition for the film's achievement.

Ultrascreen 2

I then took a break from the Siam Paragon and headed over to the MBK shopping centre in search of a new bag as my FrightFest prize advertising The Devil's Rejects had finally fallen to pieces. In the end I settled for a black The Nightmare Before Christmas design which cost me 450 baht (just under seven pounds). I had just enough time left to grab a cocktail in the Jameson's hospitality area, alas they'd closed early as they were looking after the Kinaree Awards over at the Conrad Hotel that evening. Taking a break from the genre / Thai films I'd selected a double-bill of Oscar nominated films to watch which were both pretty good. The better of the two was Transamerica, a sad, funny and moving drama about a pre-op transexual and her son which ought to earn Felicity Huffman the best actress award next month. George Clooney's Good Night, And Good Luck was another acting showcase and a compelling insight into CBS's stand against Senator McCarthy in the 1950s.

The BKKIFF Kinaree Award winners were announced later in the evening and included:

Best Picture - Water
Best Director - Chan-wook Park (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance)
Best Actor - Presley Chaweneyagae (Tsotsi)
Best Actress - Felicity Huffman (Transamerica)
ASEAN Film - The Bride Of Silence
New Voices - Kept And Dreamless
Best Documentary - Rize
People's Choice Award - Art Of The Devil 2

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Good Night, And Good Luck

www.goodnightandgoodluck.com


Dir: George Clooney


Cast: David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, Jeff Daniels


TV journalist

makes stand against McCarthy

all in black and white


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Transamerica

www.transamerica-movie.com


Dir: Duncan Tucker


Cast: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zagers, Fionnula Flanagan, Elizabeth Pena


Road trip to LA

pre-op tranny and young lad

she is his father


soulmining rating: ****

BKKIFF Day 7 - Thursday

Black Night photo call

I had an amusing start to the day when I decided to take breakfast at the Coffee World stand up in the festival HQ where I ordered a coffee and waffle. I was the sole customer. I took a seat and the girl brought my coffee over, but ten minutes passed and I was still waffle-less. I caught her eye and the penny dropped, so five minutes later she finally appeared with my waffle - "I'm sorry, I am forgetful," she apologised. You gotta wonder how she'll get on if there's ever a queue of people waiting to order...

My first film of the day was a Danish thriller Murk about a journalist who is investigating the apparent suicide of his sister. A slow but engrossing drama, the plot twisted and turned repeatedly, switching the sympathies of each character... very much in the same vein as other European thrillers like Insomnia, Antibodies or The Vanishing, this was a good - if bleak - start to the day. Having met lead actress Siraphun Wattanajinda on Friday I thought it only fair that I check out her movie, Dear Dakanda. It proved to be a welcome contrast from all the dark thrillers I've seen lately, being a really heart-warming romantic drama and perhaps the best Thai film I've seen throughout the festival.

Black Night directors - Patrick Leung, Thanit Jitnukul & Takahiko Akiyama

Black Night cast - Kajonsak Ratananisai, Nutsha Bootsri, Pitchanart Sakhakorn, Annie Liu & Dylan Kuo

Mid-afternoon saw a press conference for the latest pan-Asian horror compendium Black Night which has just finished post-production and will be released across Asia in April. The film comprises three short stories: Next Door (Hong Kong) directed by Patrick Leung (The Twins Effect II), a story about love, betrayal and tragedy during the July lunar ghost festival, starring Annie Liu, Dylan Kuo and Race Wong; Dark Hole (Japan) directed by Takahiko Akiyama (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), a story of a young bride-to-be besieged by nightmares whose childhood memories threaten to sabotage her upcoming marriage, starring Asako Seto, Takashi Kashiwabara and Tomorowo Taguchi; The Lost Memory (Thailand) directed by Thanit Jitnukul (Bang Rajan), a story about a single mother and her son whose happiness is threatened by a mysterious stranger, starring Pitchanart Sakhakorn, Kajonsak Ratananisai and Nutsha Bootsri. The producers and directors talked about the genesis of the project but were completely overshadowed by members of the cast who were beseiged by the local media and fans.

Songyos Sugmakanan, director of Dorm

My final film of the day was Dorm, the latest Thai horror production which is released nationwide this coming weekend. I enjoyed the film but was rather puzzled by the marketing campaign which is clearly aimed at a horror audience, when in actual fact the movie is more a coming-of-age drama about friendship which just happens to feature a ghostly character. The director was on hand for a lively Q&A after the screening in which a number of contentious issues were discussed, but overall I think the film was well received - but just not quite what the audience had been led to expect.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Dorm

www.dekhor.com


Dir: Songyos Sugmakanan


Cast: Jintara Sukapat, Suthipongse Thatphithakkul, Nipawan Taweepornsawan, Charlie Trairat

Goes to boarding school

makes friends with a ghostly boy

not horror movie


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Dear Dakanda

www.dakanda.com


Dir: Khomkrit Treewimol


Cast: Sunny Suwanmethanont, Siraphun Wattanajinda, Maneerat Kamouan, Panisara Phimpru

Painter falls off boat

secretly loves his best friend

also fancies nurse


soulmining rating: ****

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Murk

www.dfi.dk


Dir: Jannik Johansen


Cast: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Nicolas Bro, Laura Drasbaek, Laerke Winther Andersen


Death on wedding night

is fat beardy guy to blame

or just suicide?


soulmining rating: ****

BKKIFF Day 6 - Wednesday

Thai cinema poster exhibition

I shared a lift with Jennifer Stark, the Programme Director, and her colleagues as I made my way up to the cinema to collect my tickets which was quite amusing as they were insistent that I attend a press screening of Deepak Mehta's Water which was about to take place. But no, I had a horror double-bill to attend, starting off with Art Of The Devil 2 starring my new best friend, Napakpapah Nakprasit. Happily the film avoided the all-too-common Asian ghost stories / Thai comedy-horror sub-genres and instead delivered some balls-nasty images in a teens-in-witchcraft plot. I was then straight into Ghost Of Mae Nak, another Thai horror from a British director (Mark Duffield) which is a modern update of the local Mae Nak legend. It's a film I'd been wanting to see for some time and hopefully I'll be running an interview with the director on Eat My Brains very soon.

Five Star Production at BFM

I'm trying to scout for potential FrightFest movies amongst the BKKIFF programme, so with Art Of The Devil 2 seeming like a possible candidate I scheduled a meeting with Amy, from Five Star Production who are handling the film's distribution. The film opened in December here in Thailand and is now being released across Asia (apparently it is the highest grossing Thai movie ever in Malaysia) but at present it lacks a UK distributor. Amy has promised to mail me a screener copy so hopefully I can get that to Ian, Paul & Alan and see what they think. I then left the Siam Paragon for a couple of hours and wandered around Siam Square, picking up a few cheap DVDs including The Tiger Blade, Sars War and the aforementioned Ghost Of Mae Nak all for three quid each. It was then back to the cinema for my personal favourite of the festival so far - Chan-wook Park's Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. Whilst not quite the masterwork that was Oldboy, it is still an outstanding piece of cinema and I urge you to catch it while it's on UK release if you haven't seen it already. My only niggle was dozing off for a couple of minutes during one of the more important plot developments, but thankfully Clare was on hand to fill me in on what I'd missed afterwards! I blew out a late screening of Stoned in favour of a welcome beer with Clare, and then headed back to the bars of Soi Cowboy for the remainder of the evening.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

www.lady-vengeance.com


Dir: Chan-wook Park


Cast: Lee Yeon-ae, Choi Min-sik, Kim Si-hu, Nam Il-woo


Kind-hearted Geum-ja

plans revenge for thirteen years

not so kind-hearted


soulmining rating: *****

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Ghost Of Mae Nak

www.maenak.com


Dir: Mark Duffield


Cast: Pataratida Pacharawirapong, Siwat Chotchaicharin, Pornthip Papanai, Jaran Ngamdee

Boyfriend in coma

thief gets a splitting headache

must return ghost's brooch


soulmining rating: ***

Read my full review of the film on Eat My Brains here.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Art Of The Devil 2

www.longkhong.com


Dir: Ronin Team


Cast: Napakpapah Nakprasit, Namo Tongkamnerd, Hataiwan Ngamsukonpusit, Akarin Siwanponpitak

Fish hooks rip his flesh

teacher gets mean with blow-torch

granny eats the cat


soulmining rating: ****

Read my full review of the film on Eat My Brains here.