BANGKOK — An indie cinema is screening masterpieces from cult directors every weekend this Sept.
Bangkok Screening Room’s event, “Director’s Focus,” will show 14 films from seven famed directors across September. Each weekend this month will be dedicated to four different films selected from the directors’ filmographies.
Coming up this Saturday is American director Quentin Tarantino, who is known for blood-spurting scenes and twisty storylines. Held up by many critics as one of the greatest films ever made, “Pulp Fiction” (1994) follows the seemingly unrelated stories of a pair of low-rent hitmen, their boss’ sexy wife, and a desperate boxer in Los Angeles. But their lives are woven together in a series of bizarre coincidences.
On Sunday, Paul Thomas Anderson will shake up your day of rest with his flawed and ambitious characters. “Boogie Nights” (1997) circles around a gullible teenager who gives up his gloves as a dishwasher to take on fame in pornography. Rising to stardom in the Golden Age of Porn during the 70s, his life reached its climax before drugs and egotism bring him down.
Dive even deeper into lust with “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” (1989) from arthouse director Steven Soderbergh. The film follows the successful lawyer, John, who becomes intimate with his sister-in-law, Cynthia, after his wife Ann turns against him. The underlying tensions in their marriage and sex lives rise to the surface when John’s friend videotapes Ann and Cynthia taking about their sexual desires.
Whirl through a rivalry between two ballerinas in Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” (2010). Set in a prestigious dance troupe, Nina is chosen to take the leading role of the weak and innocent White Swan. But she has to compete with the newcomer Lilly, who takes on the opposite role of a dark and sensual Black Swan. The competition intensifies, until Nina’s dark side begins to emerge.
Or be inspired by Taiwanese directors in “Life of Pi” (2012). Based on the novel by Yann Martel, an Indian man survives a shipwreck and is adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. While a human and a predator are unlikely to coexist together, the two eventually forge a bond amidst their hardship and hunger.
The details of the other films and screening times can be found online.
“Director’s Focus” is running on weekends from Sept. 7-29 at Bangkok Screening Room in Soi Sala Daeng 1. Screenings will include Thai subtitles. Tickets can be obtained online for 300 baht each for adults and 250 baht each for students. The venue is reachable by a walk from BTS Sala Daeng exit No. 4 or MRT Lumphini exit No. 2.
