EIGHTEENTH POLL: URBAN LANDSCAPES

This is about a poll in my bilingual blog: http://celinejulie.blogspot.com

My eighteenth poll is inspired by a very interesting article – CINEMATIC LITERATURE, LITERARY CINEMA, AND THE ASSEMBLY OF CITIES: BANGKOK INSCRIBED, written by Noah Viernes. The article also talks about some films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. You can read this article from the link below:
http://www.pannalawka.org/paper/thaistudies/full%20paper%202%20PDF/noahviernes.pdf

The article above inspires me to think about urban landscapes in many films. So I think I should make a list of my favorite films which present interesting houses, buildings, alleys or urban landscapes.

I LIKE THE PRESENTATION OF HOUSES, BUILDINGS, ALLEYS, OR URBAN LANDSCAPES IN THESE FILMS. WHICH FILM DO YOU LIKE?

1.ANAT(T)A (2006, Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, Koichi Shimizu, Thailand)

2.BANGKOK AT 21.42 HRS (2001, Thanes Maneejak, Thailand)

I googled Thanes Maneejak’s Thai name and found that he directed some music videos. But I don’t know the names of his music videos. The information on the internet also says that he was meant to directed THE GIG (2006), but I don’t know why the person who ended up directed THE GIG (2006, A/A-) is Tharatorn Siriphunvaraporn.

3.BANGKOK: CITY OF ANGELS (2007, Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa, Thailand)
You can watch the film here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbpfFT6qA0Q

4.THE BEST OF TIMES (2002, Chang Tso-chi, Taiwan)

5.THE BET COLLECTOR (2006, Jeffrey Jeturian, Philippines)

6.ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1958, Louis Malle, France)
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews21/elevator_to_the_gallows_dvd_review.htm

7.FRONTIER (2003, Jun Miyazaki, Japan)

8.GHOSTTRANSMISSIONS (2005, Building Transmission, Thailand)

You can read about this video installation here:
http://www.bangkokrecorder.com/magazine/bangkok-life/ghost-storeys-abandoned-buildings-483.html

This video installation is mentioned in an article on Bangkok written by Patrick Barta:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=2990280

9.ISABELLA (2006, Pang Ho-cheung, Hong Kong)

10.MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES (2007, Jennifer Baichwal, Canada/China)
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/

11.LA NOTTE (1961, Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy)
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews8/lanotte.htm

12.OBRAS (2004, Hendrick Dusollier, France)
You can watch this animation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNbYEwfAxj4

13.LE PONT DU NORD (1981, Jacques Rivette, France)

14.RETRIBUTION (2006, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan)
http://outnow.ch/Media/Img/2006/Sakebi/

15.ROUGH NIGHT (2001, Samart Imkham, Thailand)

16.SHADOWS (1959, John Cassavetes, USA)
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare5/shadows.htm

17.SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY (2005, Sydney Pollack, USA)

18.SOMETHING MORE THAN NIGHT (2003, Daniel Eisenberg, USA)

19.VACANCY (1998, Matthias Mueller, Germany/Brazil)

20.WONDERLAND (1999, Michael Winterbottom, UK)
http://www.trailerfan.com/movie/wonderland-1999/pictures

You can cast multiple votes.

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Some related topics on urban landscapes (PART 1):

1.Highly recommended blog about beautiful architecture:
http://archidose.blogspot.com/

2.Heinz Emigholz, who directed SCHINDLER’S HOUSES (2007), is interviewed by Maya in his blog:
http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/2008/04/pfa-heinz-emigholzarchitecture-as.html
http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/2008/04/complicated-spaces-evening-class.html
http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/2008/04/complicated-spaces-evening-class_18.html

I knew about this interview from Girish Shambu’s blog:
http://www.girishshambu.com/blog/2008/04/film-of-month-club.html

3.Talking about Bangkok reminds me that I once wrote in Thai in 2006 about an imaginary film called BANGKOK I LOVE YOU. I wrote about it in the old Bioscope webboard after we saw PARIS I LOVE YOU (2006, A) in a film festival. I wrote about this idea before Robert Altman passed away. Some Thai cinephiles also shared their ideas about this imaginary film project in the discussion on the webboard. Unfortunately, the Bioscope webboard has deleted all the old information. So what I’m still keeping here in my blog is only my idea about this imaginary project. I should have kept other cinephiles’ ideas, too.

I think I should translate what I wrote about this project into English, just for fun.

My original post in Thai is here:
http://celinejulie.blogspot.com/2006/11/bangkok-i-love-you.html

The omnibus film BANGKOK I LOVE YOU should consist of these areas of Bangkok. The name of the director who should make a film about each area in Bangkok is given here:

1.WONG WIAN YAI—BELA TARR

2.PIN KLAO—KIM KI-DUK

3.PHRA ARTHIT ROAD—JUN ICHIKAWA

4.SANAM LUANG—ULRIKE OTTINGER

5.DEMOCRACY MONUMENT—PETER WATKINS

6.VIMANMEK PALACE—ALEXANDER SOKUROV

http://www.vimanmek.com/

7.SAO CHING CHA—DAVID LYNCH

8.SARANROM PALACE—BRUNO DUMONT

9.GOLDEN MOUNTAIN—ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY

10.MEMORIAL BRIDGE—DARIO ARGENTO

11.BOBAE—ERIC KHOO

12.YAOWARAJ—GUY MADDIN

13.SEE PHRAYA—OTAR IOSSELIANI

14.KLONG TOEI—KHAVN DE LA CRUZ

15.LUMPINI PARK—ERIC ROHMER

16.SATHORN—FRANCOIS OZON

17.SILOM—CLAIRE DENIS

18.PATPONG—CATHERINE BREILLAT

19.SAM YAAN—GASPAR NOE

20.SIAM SQUARE—GREGG ARAKI

21.LUNG SUAN—JOAO PEDRO RODRIGUES

22.WATERGATE–PEDRO ALMODAVAR

23.DIN DAENG FLAT—SHARUNAS BARTAS

24.HUA MARK—ABEL FERRARA

25.RAM INDRA—DAREZHAN OMIRBAEV

26.PHLOEN CHIT—JACQUES RIVETTE

27.SUKHUMVIT—MICHAEL HANEKE

28.THONGLOR—CLAUDE CHABROL

29.VICTORY MONUMENT—ROBERT ALTMAN

30.SAPAN KWAI—TAKASHI MIIKE

31.JATUJAK—ILYA KHRZHANOVSKY

32.LAD PRAO—KIYOSHI KUROSAWA