Best In Show

Michael Dickinson's collage Best In Show has been seized by Turkish police, and the artist faces charges of insulting the Turkish Prime Minister. The collage portrays PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a dog being petted by George W Bush. Last Year, another Turkish cartoonist was fined for depicting Erdoğan as a cat.

Old School

I saw Wedding Crashers in February, but that's more of a romantic comedy than a true Frat Pack film. No such luck with Old School - this is pure Frat, and its plot (in which a group of almost-middle-aged men form a fraternity group) actually gave the Frat Pack its name.

Some people think that Will Ferrell is a comedy genius. I am not one of those people. Luke Wilson, like his brother Owen in Wedding Crashers, outshines the other leads. I didn't actually laugh at anything, though.

The film (by Todd Phillips) seems like Fight Club lite, with Vaughn as Brad Pitt and Wilson as Edward Norton. The director says this was a conscious decision, and the similarities between the two films are extensive. There's also a reference to The Graduate, when The Sound Of Silence is played as Ferrell falls into a swimming pool.

Old School is tamer than key frathouse films National Lampoon's Animal House and Porky's, though really there's not much point in making a tame frathouse film. (I saw the unrated version; the theatrical version is even tamer.)

Bangkok Inside Out

Bangkok Inside Out, an A-Z guide to the city by Daniel Ziv and Guy Sharett published in 2004, has been banned because it focused too much on the city’s drawbacks, including counterfeiting, gambling, and sex-tourism, according to Ladda Tangsuphachai at the Ministry of Culture. The book provides an irreverent and honest account of contemporary Bangkok life, though clearly it’s too honest for the Ministry of Culture. In particular, they objected to the chapter about the Patpong nightlife district and a photograph of a topless bar-girl sitting on a man’s lap.

Ladda told Kom Chad Luek (คมชัดลึก) newspaper on 22nd November last year: “According to the constitution, the press has freedom to publish, so all we can do is to take the problematic books off the shelf.” So, she has no power to prevent the publication, but instead she can remove the books after publication. Fortunately, some copies are still on sale, at Bookazine (Silom Complex) in Bangkok.

Harper's

The June issue of American magazine Harper's features a cover story analysing the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoons. It also includes an anti-Semitic version of Kurt Westergaard's Mohammed caricature, in which Doron Nissimi has covered the bomb/turban with a Hassidic hat.

Iran-E-Jomee

A cartoonist and newspaper editor have been arrested in Iran after cartoons sparked riots in the country last month. The drawings, aimed at children, were published on 12th May in Iran-E-Jomee, a weekly supplement to the state newspaper Iran.

One cartoon depicts a cockroach saying the Azerbaijani word "Namana?" ('what?'), leading to riots by Iranian Azerbaijanis who felt insulted by a cockroach speaking in their language. Cartoonist Mana Neyestani and editor Mehrdad Ghasemfar have been arrested, and the newspaper has been closed down.

The Devil's Discus

A Thai translation of Rayne Kruger's book The Devil's Discus, an analysis of the circumstances surrounding the death of King Rama VIII, has been banned. The book was published in English in 1964, and that edition was banned in Thailand upon publication. (Sulak Sivaraksa was investigated for lèse-majesté last year, after publishing an article on Rama VIII's death.)

A Thai translation of The Devil's Discus was submitted by former Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong as evidence to support his defamation lawsuit against the newspaper Siam Rath in 1970. (Pridi, who served as Rama VIII's regent, was one of several people scapegoated for the King's unexplained shooting.) The translation was published anonymously by two Thammasat University students in 1974, and has since been distributed in various samizdat editions. It was officially banned yesterday, after more than thirty years.

Confessions Tour

Madonna's Confessions Tour has begun. The headline-grabber this time is her performance of Live To Tell, during which she wears a crown of thorns and appears crucified on a giant cross. Confessions concentrates primarily on her latest album; it doesn't even include the once-traditional Madonna tour encore, Holiday.

The tour set list is: Future Lovers, Get Together, Like A Virgin, Jump, Live To Tell, Forbidden Love, Isaac, Sorry, I Love New York, Ray Of Light, Let It Will Be, Drowned World/Substitute For Love, Paradise (Not For Me), Music, Erotica, La Isla Bonita, Lucky Star, and Hung Up.

South Park: Cartoon Wars I-II

An episode from the current season of South Park has been censored by Comedy Central in the US. The episode - Cartoon Wars II, broadcast on 12th April - was a comment on the American media's refusal to reproduce the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed caricatures. The short sequence featuring Mohammed was replaced by a black screen. Both this episode and the one preceding it (Cartoon Wars I, 5th April) also include parodic censorship of other Mohammed images.

Ironically, however, Mohammed can be seen at the start of every episode in the 2006 season, as he appears in the opening titles sequence. Also, he appeared prominently in the 2002 season's opening titles and the episode Super Best Friends (4th July 2001), and these appearances are not censored when the episodes are repeated or syndicated. Also, last year the FX series 30 Days included a cartoon depiction of Mohammed, in its Muslims & America episode broadcast on 29th June 2005.

The Film Snob*s Dictionary

This little book (titled The Film Snob*s Dictionary, written with an asterisk instead of an apostrophe) is a crib-sheet for wannabe cineastes. But, while you could flick through this book and gain a basic knowledge of cult cinema, it's always better to actually watch the films themselves.

The entries (by David Kamp and Lawrence Levi) are all slightly critical: mainstream films are derided as populist, and intellectual films are derided as elitist. It seems that there's an agenda to everything, with passion for cinema replaced by reservation and sometimes cynicism. The list of differences between 'films' and 'movies' is very funny, though.

“A one-party election is not normal...”

The Constitutional Court today announced that the 2nd April general election, won by Thai Rak Thai, was invalid. They determined that the Election Commission of Thailand was biased in favour of TRT, and that new ECT regulations regarding polling booths were illegal. For the general election, polling booths were repositioned, so that ECT staff could watch people as they voted; the court has declared this a gross invasion of privacy, and scheduled a new general election for 15th October. Thaksin Shinawatra will remain caretaker Prime Minister until the election, but will resign once a new PM is chosen by the winning party.

The court’s decision comes after the King made a rare public intervention in the political situation. In a speech to Constitutional Court judges, he directly criticised the election, saying: “A one-party election is not normal”. For the past few months, anti-Thaksin protesters, who wear yellow to signify loyalty to the King, have called for a royally-appointed prime minister, citing article seven of the constitution. However, in his speech the King unequivocally dismissed any such proposal: “Article seven does not empower the King to make a unilateral decision. It talks about constitutional monarchy but does not give the King power to do anything he wants. If the King made a decision, he would overstep his duty and it would be undemocratic”.

Same Sky

The October-December 2005 issue of Same Sky (volume 3, number 4), a radical left-wing Thai journal, has been banned. The editor has been contacted by the police, who claim that the magazine (specifically its interview with Sulak Sivaraksa, publisher of Seeds Of Peace) constitutes lèse-majesté.

Last year, Same Sky distributed a VCD containing footage of the Tak Bai incident (volume 2, number 4). Seventy-eight Muslim protesters suffocated when they were packed into trucks by the military in Tak Bai, and VCDs featuring footage of the incident were banned by the government.

Misselijke Grappen

Pseudonymous Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot has published a book of his cartoons titled Misselijke Grappen. The book includes gratuitously offensive images of Mohammed having sex with his bride Aisha and the writer Anne Frank.

Ash Red

Late last month, Chinese authorities raided the Ash Red exhibition in Beijing and ordered the removal of more than twenty artworks, including a painting of Mao Zedong by Gao Qiang. Other Mao images were also removed from the exhibition, which had opened a week before the works were confiscated.

The Lumiere Brothers' First Films

The documentary The Lumiere Brothers' First Films presents eighty-five of Auguste and Louis Lumiere's earliest works, dated 1895-1897. Their most famous films are all included, such as Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory (the first film they ever made, thus the first film to be projected), Train Arriving At A Station (especially shocking to its original audience, as it depicts a train heading towards the camera), and The Sprinkler Sprinkled (the very first fictional narrative in cinema).

The films are presented impeccably: windowboxed to prevent cropping, restored from their original negatives, and with no modern graphics obscuring the image. We can see their unusual diagonal perspectives and multi-layered compositions, and the surprising depth of focus the Lumieres achieved. The commentary, by Bernard Tavernier, is passionate and witty.

The films are grouped thematically (children, work, travel, etc.), though this makes it difficult to ascertain their chronological order. It would be useful to have an accompanying list of the French titles and their release dates, though this is certainly a fascinating and priceless documentary compilation nonetheless.

The Aristocrats

The Aristocrats (by Paul Provenza) is a documentary about the world's most offensive joke, supposedly an old Vaudeville tradition recited backstage amongst comedians as a furtive rite of passage. The joke is as follows: a man walks into a talent-agent's office and says, "I have a great act for you". The act consists of multitudinous defilements. After he finishes describing it, the talent-agent asks him what it's called. He replies: "The Aristocrats!". The set-up and punch-line are always the same, with the body of the joke providing an opportunity for extended improvisation.

In this documentary, 100 comedians give their own interpretations of the joke and its significance, with the film effectively representing a barometer of contemporary taboos. Gilbert Gottfried, who was performing in New York a few weeks after the Twin Towers were destroyed, made a 9/11 joke and was heckled by the audience. To recover, he told them The Aristocrats instead, one of the first times it had been performed in public. In the documentary, Gottfried is praised as a fearless pioneer for daring to make The Aristocrats public, however it seems to me that he would have been more daring if he had continued with the 9/11 material.

Our true contemporary taboos are race, sexuality, disability, religion, and terrorism - one comedian not involved in the documentary, Jerry Sadowitz, would have surely contributed the most truly fearless, shocking version of the joke. Having said that, my favourite version of the joke is Howie Mandel's, because he claimed that the only English word his Polish grandmother knew was...

Inside Deep Throat

Inside Deep Throat, by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, is a documentary about the film Deep Throat. It discusses the making of the film, the backgrounds of its stars and director, the film's distribution, convictions, and cultural impact.

The central argument of this rather polemical film is that Deep Throat represents a triumph of art, pioneering spirit, independent filmmaking, and enlightenment, suppressed by feminists, courts, and governments. The fact is, though, that the independent film movement began in the 1940s and 50s, the sexual revolution happened in the 1960s (both predating Deep Throat), and exploitation films have always been about money rather than art.

Some heavyweight names are interviewed, including Camille Paglia, Linda Williams, and Annie Sprinkle, though they aren't given enough time to develop their arguments. (The DVD commentary track, however, does include extra interview material.) Deep Throat's director (Gerard Damiano) and male star (Harry Reems) also contribute, though Linda Lovelace died shortly before the documentary was filmed.

The most notable omission is Chuck Traynor, Lovelace's husband, who beat her and (perhaps) forced her into making Deep Throat amongst other less savory films. Lovelace's contention that, when we watch Deep Throat, we are watching her being raped, is neither supported nor rejected, though the extent of her consent is an issue that requires the sort of balanced, in-depth analysis missing from this documentary.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity is one of the archetypal examples of film noir. It has a despondent voice-over, an amoral male anti-hero, chiaroscuro light and shadow from Venetian blinds, and a femme (tres) fatale. It also tackles classic noir themes: murder, sex, and betrayal.

Barbara Stanwyck in an icy blonde wig is excellent as the sleazy wife plotting to kill her husband for his insurance money, and Fred MacMurray is great as the Mr Nobody insurance salesman who requires little persuasion to formulate a lucrative and murderous plan. The highlights are Stanwyck's lingering stares, straight into the camera, clearly revealing that she is about to double-cross MacMurray. But best of all is Edward G Robinson as MacMurray's boss, whose fast-paced and complex speech about suicide statistics is a key set-piece.

This being the 1940s, crime cannot pay, so Stanwyck's fate is doomed - but not, of course, before she admits that she is a tramp. MacMurray must pay, too, though in the unexpectedly tender conclusion he is shown genuine compassion by Robinson.

Yet another masterpiece from Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity's dying male protagonist's voiceover seems to prefigure one of his later films, Sunset Boulevard. The script was co-written by Wilder and pulp noir novelist Raymond Chandler.

“If His Majesty whispers in my ear...”

Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai party won the election held two days ago. The result was hardly unexpected, as the Democrats and other opposition parties boycotted the poll. In fact, TRT was unopposed in many northern constituencies (TRT’s heartland), and many voters in Bangkok and the south (the Democrat’s stronghold) abstained as there were no Democrat candidates.

There have been street protests by monarchists in Bangkok for the past few months, eventually leading Thaksin to dissolve parliament in February. The protests started after Thaksin sold a 48% stake in his Shin Corp. business to Singaporean company Temasek. Thaksin’s government had increased the legal limit on foreign ownership of telecom firms to enable the Shin sale, and changed the tax code to avoid paying any tax on the deal, a blatant manipulation of the law for personal gain.

Thaksin has announced that despite winning a majority, he will not accept the position of Prime Minister. He had earlier joked that he would quit—“If His Majesty whispers in my ear”—further angering his opponents, who accused him of showing a lack of reverence towards the King.

Kom Chad Luek

Korkhet Chantalertluk, editor of Kom Chad Luek (คมชัดลึก) has resigned after his newspaper published a misleading story about Sondhi Limthongkul, the leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy. The article, published on 24th March (p. 18) included extracts from an interview with Sondhi, and ended with the following quote about Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra: “ถ้าไม่ยอมลาออก ต้องบอกประชาชนทั้งประเทศว่าให้ในหลวงลาออก” (‘if he refuses to quit, he has to tell the whole country that the King should resign’).

Sondhi complained that his quote had been edited, and that it was highly misleading to suggest that he had called for the King to abdicate. (He issued a press release with a transcript of the interview, to prove his point.) The newspaper printed a front-page apology on 29th March, the editor tendered his resignation, and publication was voluntarily suspended for five days. The article led to both Sondhi and Korkhet being charged with lèse-majesté, though the charges were ultimately withdrawn.

The Insurgent

The Insurgent, a magazine published by University of Oregon students, has printed twelve cartoons of Jesus, in reaction to the dozen Mohammed cartoons printed last year. The two most controversial of the Jesus cartoons both feature Christ with an erection. Distribution of the magazine's current issue has been suspended by the University.

Tumescent Christs have caused artistic controversies before, including a Belgian sculptor's prosecution for blasphemy in 1988. Also, Danish artist Jens Jorgen Thorsen painted a tumescent Christ on the wall of a railway station in 1984. JAM Montoya's 1997 photograph El Ultimo Deseo depicts Christ with an erection. A series of three paintings (Man Of Sorrows, circa 1530) by Maaten van Heemskerck depict Christ in a similar state, as discussed in Leo Steinberg's book The Sexuality Of Christ In Renaissance Art & In Modern Oblivion.

The Sheaf

Will Robbins, editor-in-chief of the University of Saskatchewan's newspaper The Sheaf, has resigned following publication of a cartoon featuring Jesus and a pig. The cartoon, titled Capitalist Piglet, was published on 2nd March. The University has censured the newspaper and demanded an apology.

Balderdash & Piffle

Balderdash & Piffle, a BBC2 TV series about the etymologies of unusual words from the Oxford English Dictionary, accompanied by appeals for evidence of antedating, was broadcast in January. Although the whole series was quirky and interesting, most fascinating for me was Germaine Greer's exploration of one word in particular (The C-Words, 30th January), in which she unfortunately reversed her earlier calls for the word to be normalised.

Nana

This month, the Israeli magazine Nana printed this provocative cartoon featuring a post-coital Mohammed in bed with Jesus, Moses, and Buddha, in a reference to the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed caricatures.

2006 Bangkok International Film Festival

Last week, we saw two films at the Bangkok International Film Festival 2006: a prize-winner (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, which won Best Director for Park Chan-Wook) and an out-of-competition screening (Woody Allen's Match Point). The Festival opened on 17th February with Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Invisible Waves, and closed today. Screenings took place at two cinemas: Grand EGV Discovery and Paragon Cineplex.

Match Point has been called Woody Allen's return to form, but even though he's one of my favourite directors it seems merely a rather average thriller to me. It's not a comedy, though much of the dialogue is unintentionally hilarious. Allen has no ear for how Londoners speak so each character, from the wide-boy estate-agent ("That's Laahndan, mate") to the Hooray Henry-ish Tom ("La bloody Traviata") is equally exaggerated. The central plot point, when a tennis coach kills the mistress who hinders his serendipitous social climbing, happens very late into the film, though despite the protracted build-up there is no attempt to portray the formulation of the murder plan. Allen has tackled a very similar subject before, in Crimes & Misdemeanors, which also revolves around a man plotting the murder of his mistress and is a much more profound examination of moral culpability.

Sympathy For Lady Vengeance stars Korean TV actress Lee Young-Ae, who gives a superb against-type performance as a freed convict seeking revenge against a child-killer who committed the crime she herself was imprisoned for. It is the third in a trilogy of vengeance films, preceded by Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and the sensational Oldboy. While Oldboy was brutal and aggressive throughout, Lady Vengeance is less consistent. Its first half is structured somewhat confusingly, with extensive flashbacks and several attempts at comic relief that seem jarring after Oldboy's emotional intensity. In its second half, the tone changes dramatically: the narrative becomes more focused, linear, and disturbing. It's hard not to think of the Bride in Kill Bill, another assassin on a mission of revenge with her young daughter in tow, and, as with Kill Bill, the second half of Lady Vengeance is more satisfying than the flashier first half.

"With Best Wishes...Stanley Kubrick"

A genuine Stanley Kubrick signature (on a Christmas card, circa 1978), of which I'm now the very proud owner.

Nang Nak

Nang Nak was a huge success in Thailand when it was originally released. Ring, from Japan, sparked the current pan-Asian horror obsession, though Nang Nak specifically launched a Thai horror revival - ever since, the most popular Thai films have been horror titles, usually with ghosts as central themes.

Nang Nak is not especially scary, though it is highly emotional. It does have some brief horrific moments, however its main purpose is to show the depth of Nak's love for her husband. The script (by Wisit Sasanatieng, who has since become a great director in his own right) has rather simplistic dialogue: much of the film is taken up by Nak repeatedly crying her husband's name, perhaps in tribute to the classic TV version of the story.

The director of Nang Nak, Nonzee Nimibutr, is practically single-handedly responsible for the international attention Thai cinema is now receiving, as director of Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters [sic] and Nang Nak and producer of Bangkok Dangerous, Tears Of The Black Tiger, Monrak Transistor, and Last Life In The Universe. Nonzee could justifiably be called the godfather of the Thai New Wave.

Gorodskiye Vesti

The Russian newspaper Gorodskiye Vesti has been closed down after it published a pacifist cartoon featuring Mohammed, Buddha, Jesus, and Moses yesterday, in a reference to the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed caricatures.

Les Diaboliques

In Les Diaboliques, a sadistic headmaster, Michel, runs a dilapidated school alongside his (literally) weak-hearted wife, Nicole, and his butch mistress, Christina. The two women take solace in each other, and there are hints that they are lovers themselves. Michel seems to mistreat both women, though he reserves most of his cruelty for Nicole, forcing her to eat the rotten fish he serves as a school dinner.

Christina convinces Nicole that they should murder Michel, though she is initially reluctant. She pours him a glass of spiked whiskey, then has second thoughts and tries to stop him drinking it, spilling it on his shirt in the process. He slaps her because of her clumsiness, and this is the final straw: she gladly pours him another large measure. (As in Psycho, the audience's sympathies are drawn to quasi-murderous characters.) Christina drowns the sedated Michel, and they dump his corpse in the school swimming pool, though when the pool is drained his body has vanished...

Les Diaboliques is extremely Hitchcockian, with its convoluted murder plot, a naturally suspicious policeman, and high suspense. In fact, Alfred Hitchcock was reportedly concerned that director Henri-Georges Clouzot had stolen his thunder. The novelists Boileau-Narcejac, who wrote Celle Qui N'Etait Pas (the basis for the film), followed it with From Among The Dead, written specifically to appeal to Hitchcock's sensibilities; he took the bait, and based Vertigo on their novel. His film Psycho was perhaps an attempt to up the ante and confirm/reassert his position as 'master of suspense'.

Les Diaboliques climaxes with one of the most famous suspense sequences in horror cinema. At the end of the film, a caption-card urges the audience not to spoil it for future viewers by revealing the final twist (just as lobby posters later implored audiences not to reveal the ending to Psycho). Suffice to say that contact lenses are utilised to disturbing effect, and anyone who has seen the lurid bathroom scene in schlock classic The Tingler will recognise identical character motivations and a similar modus operandi.

International Herald Tribune

Today's International Herald Tribune newspaper includes a cartoon by Patrick Chappatte which features a drawing of Mohammed. Chappatte's cartoon is a commentary on the protests resulting from the twelve Jyllands-Posten Mohammed caricatures.

The Strand

Today, The Strand, a magazine published by Victoria University in Canada, printed a provocative cartoon featuring Jesus kissing Mohammed, in a reference to the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed caricatures.