Thursday, February 6, 2003
ADA APA DENGAN CINTA? (Indonesia, 2001)
Directed by Rudy Soedjarwo, 112 minutes/color (Indonesian with English subtitles)
   It all begins when Cinta loses the poetry competition, the winner was a lonely boy called Rangga. Cinta is a very popular, pretty and rich school girl. Rangga is more the loner, without friends and doesn't like to chill with other people. The director tried to create an atmosphere with two students who were totally different, but despite of their differences they fall in love together.  One of the main themes in the movie is 'being friends' and how this conflicts with love. Rudy Soedjarwo combines action, drama, romance and comedy in the movie. On the whole, this movie is enjoyable to watch. Not too dramatic, picturing in a very ordinary way, but yet, it touches the soul of the story. And the most endearing of this movie is the ending: an ending that makes people want to see it again and again.

Thursday, February 13, 2003
THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA (Vietnam, 1993)
Directed by Tran Anh Hung, 103 minutes/color (Vietnamese with English Subtitles)
   Here is a film so placid and filled with sweetness that watching it is like listening to soothing music. "The Scent of Green Papaya" takes place in Vietnam between the late 1940s and early 1960s, and is seen through the eyes of a poor young woman who is taken as a servant into the household of a merchant family. She observes everything around her in minute detail, and gradually, as she flowers into a beautiful woman, her simple goodness impresses her more hurried and cynical employers. The woman, named Mui, is an orphan - a child, when she first comes to work for the family. She learns her tasks quickly and well, and performs them so unobtrusively that sometimes she seems almost like a spirit. But she is a very real person, uncomplaining, all-seeing, and the film watches her world through her eyes. For her, there is beauty in the smallest details: A drop of water trembling on a leaf, a line of busy ants, a self-important frog in a puddle left by the rain, the sunlight through the green leaves outside the window, the scent of green papaya. 

Thursday, February 20, 2003
SUNSET AT CHAOPRAYA (Thailand, 1996)
Directed by Euthana Mukdasanit, 135 minutes/color (Thai and Japanese with English subtitles)
   Sunset at Chaopraya was one of 1995's top five box office hits in Thailand and is the 13th remake of this epic story, which has been called Thailand's Gone with the Wind. It begins on the eve of World War II. Two young lovers, Angsumalin and Vanus, meet one last time. Vanus is on his way to England and hopes that Angsumalin will marry him when he returns. Shortly thereafter, Thailand is occupied by the Japanese and Angsumalin meets Kobori, an idealistic, young Japanese Navy captain who falls in love with her, and she--eventually--with him. The tragic love triangle is played out against the backdrop of the underground "Free Thai Movement."

Thursday, February 27, 2003
A SMART LADY (Burma/Myanmar, 1998)
Directed by Khin Maung Oo 114 minutes/Color (Burmese with English subtitles)
   One of the very few films from Burma/Myanmar to be related abroad since 1994, A Smart Lady is an interesting reflection of the taste of the Myanmar people, as it is one of their most popular films.  It provides an intriguing glimpse into the way of life of this little-known nation, from country settings to city nightlife, and features lively traditional music and celebrations such as the “Water Festival.”  The story follows a young woman living with her aunt in a remote village where she sells fish for a living. Several men vie for the beautiful girl's attention, including a bodyguard who is hired when her business starts to do well. 

*All movies are shown at Branford College TV room 
  Light Refreshments served.