Ray Pride

Most of the short films put out by SAIC grad, 36-year-old Apichatpong ("Call Me Joe") Weerasethakul, are on a shorts program at Chicago Filmmakers this weekend: many of his ideas about duration (with intermittent surprises) and binary narratives or bifurcation of storytelling are well in evidence, later refined in dazzling, dawdling movies like "Tropical Malady," (2004) "Blissfully Yours," (2002) and this year's "Syndromes and a Century." The highlight is 1999's "Malee and the Boy and His Microphone and a Hungry Satan," in which "Joe" sent a 10-year-old boy out with a microphone to wander the streets of Bangkok, then added his own images of a similar path taken; an added layer is text drawn from a Thai comic book bought near the locations of both sound and image. A tour of his hometown boasts the best title of the seven-film selection: "Like the Relentless Fury of the Pounding Waves," which is modestly ironic, considering the leisurely pace of the 23-minute piece. Also: "0116643225059," (1994) shot after moving to a new apartment and realizing his mother, whom he was calling less and less often, sounded older and older; images of the apartment alternate with a childhood black-and-whtie picture of his mother.

"Apichatpong Weerasethakul Selected Shorts" plays 8pm Saturday at Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St., 2nd Floor.

(2007-01-16)

Also by Ray Pride

Teenage Wasteland
While promos for "Alpha Dog" may suggest a drive-by mashup of white gangsta wannabes and the seamier predilections of Larry Clark, it's actually pretty terrific: a loopy, loping Altmanesque picaresque about a terrible crime committed by clueless teenagers
(2007-01-09)

Tip of the Week
Spare, melancholy, steely, fearful, Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" is the first great release of 2007
(2007-01-09)

Tip of the Week
Tom Tykwer's epic, ambitious adaptation--he directed, co-wrote and co-scored--of Patrick Suskind's world-best-selling novel, "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" has moments that show how close his intense, inventive visual style can come to the intuitive inventiveness of a director he resembles, Steven Spielberg
(2007-01-02)

Potter's Field
When you do what I do, sweet, modest surprises at the movies are few, as is a movie as unexpectedly delightful as "Miss Potter"
(2007-01-02)

What Screams May Come
(2006-12-22)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-22)

The Same Sidewalk Twice
(2006-12-22)

HOLIDAY MOVIE PREVIEW
(2006-12-19)

The Materiel World
(2006-12-19)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-19)

Black & White and Red All Over
(2006-12-19)

The Prisoner of Narrative
(2006-12-19)

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