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 began on 21st May, and will run for exactly four months. 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; 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.

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.

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 Lumière Brothers’ First Films

The documentary The Lumière Brothers’ First Films presents eighty-five of Auguste and Louis Lumière’s earliest works, dated 1895–1897. Their most famous films are all included, and presented impeccably: windowboxed to prevent cropping, restored from their original negatives, and with no graphics obscuring the image. This reveals the films’ unusual diagonal perspectives and multi-layered compositions, and the surprising depth of focus the Lumières achieved. The commentary, by Bernard Tavernier, is passionate and witty.

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 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.