Best of Thai cinema to grace screen at TUK

This weekend, Teater Utan Kayu is presenting an exciting selection of films from Thailand, one of Indonesia's neighbors, which has begun attracting the attention of cinemaphiles all over the world.

Among the films to be screened at Jl. Utan Kayu 68-H, East Jakarta is Last Life in the Universe, which has received praise from film critics and festival audiences all over the world, most notably at the Sundance Festival in the United States.

The Legend of Suriyothai, the Francis Ford Coppola cut of the film epic by Chatrichalerm Yukol, with its sweeping cinematography, will also be shown.

In the past few years, Thai filmmakers, both male and female, young and old, and those working with studios or as independents, have been earning greater recognition than ever before in international forums like the Berlin, Cannes and Venice festivals.

Like the Malaysian films screened at TUK in March, the Thai offerings exhibit an understanding of the core essence of good filmmaking, which is a simple, yet solid storyline married to exciting visuals.

On Saturday, the screening begins at 3 p.m. with One Night Husband (2003) from director Pimpaka Towira. This film is an intriguing -- albeit typically Asian in pacing -- mystery that tells the tale of a young woman whose husband disappears on their wedding night.

Her search for him yields a friend in need who does not necessarily turn out to be a friend indeed. Although the pacing is sometimes molasses-like, the multiple-layered, complex yet plausible storyline is definitely worth sticking with to the very end.

Screening at 5 p.m. the same day is director Wisit Sasanatieng's homage to classic extravagant Western melodramas, Tears of the Black Tiger (2000).

The film tells of Dum, a handsome gunfighter and reluctant bandit who is desperate to reunite with Rumpoey, his lover who has been forced into marriage to a policeman by her father. Loud, filled with bright colors and grand (if not slightly campy) sets, Tears of the Black Tiger is definitely a unique movie-going experience not to be missed.

Ending the offerings on Saturday is The Iron Ladies (2000) by director Youngyooth Thongknothun, the true story of the Thai male volleyball team comprised mostly of gays, transvestites and transsexuals that competed in the 1996 national championships.

Mon and Jung are two highly talented players who find their homosexuality has kept them from being selected by various volleyball teams, until Coach Bee chooses them to be part of a championship team.

Their inclusion in the team causes some of the more closed- minded players to resign. This forces the coach to ask Mon to try and assemble a new team, which would eventually consist of a gay army sergeant, a transsexual cabaret star and a young gay man still deep in the closet.

At 3 p.m. on Sunday is director Penek Ratanaruang's internationally acclaimed Last Life in the Universe, the story of Kenji, a quiet obsessive-compulsive, suicidal Japanese library clerk living in Bangkok, who through tragic twists of fate is thrown together with a Thai woman that is his antithesis in almost every way.

As the story unfolds subtly and entertainingly, more is revealed about our suicidal hero and his reasons for being the person he is.

Following this wonderful film at 5:30 p.m. is a sure to be engaging discussion on the subject of Thai cinema with film researcher and critic Anchalee Chaiworaporn, a correspondent for the respected entertainment news publication Variety who in 2000 was honored with the best film critic award in Thailand.

Closing the weekend at 7 p.m. is The Legend of Suryothai: The Francis Ford Coppola Cut (2002), director Chatrichalerm Yukol's epic telling of the life of Thailand's Queen Suriyothai from the age of 15 to the height of her rule alongside King Mahachakrapat and the ordeals she was forced to survive. The film was reedited by legendary director Francis Ford Coppola for it's American release. -- Paul F. Agusta