Friday, June 03, 2011

RATCHAPOOM BOONBUNCHACHOKE'S RETROSPECTIVE THIS SATURDAY

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's retrospective will be held this Saturday, June 4, at 1500-1800 hrs, on the 9th floor of BACC. The event is held by Bodin Theparat. The poster is designed by Akira Kangwanpat.

The details are in the link below
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=194731583900668

How to financially support a new film by Ratchapoom
http://dominofilm.blogspot.com/2011/04/supporters.html

My comment on BODILY FLUID IS SO REVOLUTIONARY (2009, Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke)
http://celinejulie.blogspot.com/2009/06/transcend-boundaries.html

This is what I wrote in Indian Auteur's website about Ratchapoom:
http://www.indianauteur.com/?p=976

"I have seen only three films by Ratchapoom, but I'm sure this director, who is also an avid cinephile, will go very far. His films include Unpronoucable in the Linguistic Imperialism of Yours (2008, 3 min), which is a mockumentary about a Thai female artist who opens her house to let people come in and watch her masturbating. This film makes the viewers realize that we rarely see a heroine expressing some sexual satisfaction in Thai films or Thai TV series. We more often see Thai villainesses expressing this kind of feelings. This film touches on some taboos in Thai media which we may not have noticed before. Ratchapoom tackles taboo subjects again in Mermaid Wearing Pants (2009, 7 min), which is composed of found footage from many banned films, including Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini). This film also reminds us of some political taboos in Thailand. Ratchapoom's masterpiece is Bodily Fluid Is So Revolutionary (2009, 41 min), which tells a story of a gay couple who encounter a serious relationship problem when one of them becomes allergic to any bodily fluid coming out of his lover. The allergic one seeks help from a female doctor, who eagerly volunteers to have sex with her own patient, while his lover resorts to masturbation. What makes this film special is its self-reflexiveness. The images in this film are strangely disrupted from time to time, as if the film is shown via a scratched or damaged DVD, but the characters also realize that they exist in a scratched DVD and try to escape from it. Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa observes that this film does not only tackle some sexual taboos, but is also about the relationship between film viewers who become allergic to arthouse films, critics who provide the cure, and filmmakers who are accused of masturbating themselves by making incomprehensible films."

I also saw another two films by Ratchapoom in September 2010. They are CHUTIMA (2007, A+++) and MA VIE INCOMPLET ET INACHEVEEE' (2007, A+). I like CHUTIMA very much, though I can't remember the details of the film now. If I remember it correctly, what I like the most in this film is that it presents a sexually daring heroine via a non-judgmental light. MA VIE INCOMPLET ET INACHEVEEE' is about a family of incest. The story and the comedic/satirical tone of this film reminds me of ABNORMAL FAMILY (1984, Masayuki Suo) and SITCOM (1998, François Ozon), while the technique of this film, which tells its story by focusing the camera on different parts of a still drawing, reminds me of BAND OF NINJA (1967, Nagisa Ôshima).

Ratchapoom not only directs films but also writes some screenplays. If I remember it correctly, he co-wrote YURIEM EST TE MARI D'UN ÉTRANGÉRE (ยุเรียมเป็นผัวฝรั่ง) (2006, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, 30 min), LONGAN-EYED PRINCESS (เจ้าหญิงตาลำไย) (2009, Chanokporn Chutikamoltham, 6 min, animation, A+++++) and AWKWARD ANCIENT TALE (ปราปรัมปุเลี่ยนปุเลี่ยน) (2009, Pawara Chatchawanprecha, 16 min, A+++++++++).


If I have to screen Ratchapoom's films with other films, I may choose the films in the list below:

1.AT THE HEART OF A SPARROW (2006, Barry Doupé, animation)
This film is structurally interesting, like Ratchapoom's films, and presents some bizarre nuns, which reminds me of the nun in BODILY FLUID IS SO REVOLUTIONARY.

2.THE DEATH OF MARIA MALIBRAN (1972, Werner Schroeter)
Because Ratchapoom likes Schroeter, and uses a poster of MALINA (1991, Werner Schroeter) in BODILY FLUID IS SO REVOLUTIONARY.

3.DIVINE (1998, Arturo Ripstein, Mexico)
The heroine of this film is a young girl who is the leader of a cult. She orders the men in her cult to have sex with her. She seems like a distant cousin of the female characters in Ratchapoom's films.

4.I-BE AREA (2007, Ryan Trecartin, USA)
The bizarreness and queerness of this film reminds me of Ratchapoom's films.
You can watch this film at:
http://www.ubu.com/film/trecartin_area.html

5.KITTYPORN (1999, Angela Christlieb, Germany, 3 min)
If I remember it correctly, this film is about a woman who breastfeeds a cat. The heroine of this film seems like a distant cousin of the female characters in Ratchapoom's films.

6.LOOK OF LOVE (2006, Yoshiharu Ueoka, Japan)
The bizarreness of this film reminds me of Ratchapoom's films.

7.MITTELWERK EXPRESS (Jean-Baptiste Alazard, France)
This film plays with its narrative structure like Ratchapoom's films.

8.THE NINE-DAY PREGNANCY OF A SINGLE, MIDDLE-AGED ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (2006, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Thailand)
This film questions women's status in Thai society, which reminds me of CHUTIMA and UNPRONOUNCABLE IN THE LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM OF YOURS.

9.OUR LADY OF THE TURKS (1968, Carmelo Bene, Italy)
Ratchapoom likes Carmelo Bene.

10.PRASART (ประสาท) (1975, Peak Poster)
Ratchapoom's films present interesting female characters, so they remind me of PRASART, which deal with three female characters who may have psychological problems.

11.PSYCHIC TEQUILA TAROT (1998, Isabell Spengler, Germany, 24 min)
This film is about a fictional daughter of John Waters and Annie Sprinkle. The sexually daring heroine of this film seems like a distant cousin of the female characters in Ratchapoom's films.

12.SITA? (2004, Santiphap Inkong-ngam, Thailand, 30 min)
This film questions women's status in society, which reminds me of CHUTIMA and UNPRONOUNCABLE IN THE LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM OF YOURS.

13.THE SLEEP OF REASON (1984, Ula Stöckl, West Germany)
This film stuns me with its focus on the troubled mind of a female character.

This is the review of THE SLEEP OF REASON from Die Zeit:
http://www.ula-stoeckl.com/Film-Seiten/17_Der_Schlaf_E.html
"Is there not another beautiful murderess? She is called Dea, is Italian and lives like Medea in a foreign country, which we call our own. Her Jason leaves her for Johanna, who is related to him. She is also estranged from her daughters, who like Medea's, are her stepdaughters. This woman (Ida di Benedetto) kills them all: the daughters, the rival, her own mother, herself. And yet that is only a dream of a myth, which she must fulfill, because her break-up didn't succeed. Not even feminism helps, as that just defines the problem and makes it harder to bear. By dreaming of death, Dea is striving for a life, which can find its justification in peace rather than destruction."

14.TO HAVE AND TO HOLD (2003, Emily Mantell, UK, animation, 4 min)
This film presents women who keep penises as their pets. The sexually bizarre world in this film reminds me of the feelings I get from Ratchapoom's films.

You can watch this film here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1_xFtZhUh4

15.A WOMAN LIKE NO OTHER (2008, Abdoulaye Dao, Burkina Faso)
This film is about a woman who decides to have two husbands at the same time. The heroine of this film reminds me of some female characters in Ratchapoom's films.




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