Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
"The True Thai Ritual"
Writer/Director Ekachai Uekrongtham was inspired to make The Coffin after hearing about a mass funeral for the living where thousands of people turned up at a North Eastern temple in Thailand to lie in coffins and went through the ritual.
Referred to in Thailand as "Non Loeng Sadorcro" which literally means Lie in Coffin, Rid of Bad Luck, this controversial ritual has been around for decades but in the last few years, it has become increasingly popular.
The ritual involves participants lying in coffins while a group of monks perform death rites on them as if the participants are already dead. This is then followed by a chant of new life.
Many participants had said they felt as if they were reborn after the ritual - with all their bad karma buried behind them. Some reported that they felt the ritual helped fool the spirits that they're already dead so they could start their new lives afresh like newborns. There are also others who claimed they've met spirits of their dead loved ones while lying in the coffins.
However, this "death rite for the living' is not without its detractor. Some brand it as an occult practice while many feel it's a bad omen to lie in coffins when they're still alive. Some went as far as saying that this ritual is nothing but a case of commercialism entering the sacred religious domain.
The criticisms, however, have not stopped more and more Thai people to voluntarily go through this "death ritual for the living'.
In Thailand, one may request for the ritual to be performed on him or her at a number of Buddhist temples across the country. Some temples publicize and conduct 'Non Loeng Sadorcro' regularly. Several others also organize 'mass funerals for the living' on a periodical basis.
Usually, no fee is charged but participants normally make donations towards the temples in return for having the ritual performed on them.
How did this ritual come about? It's speculated that the ritual in its current form is an evolved version of what stared out as a simple act of donating coffins to the poor and those who died without relatives.
THE COFFIN exemplifies the beauty of horror (UCLA's Asia Pacific Arts Magazine)
From Asia Pacific Arts Magazine (Sep 5th, 2008 issue)
Published by: UCLA Asia Institute, USA
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/080905/article.asp?parentID=96759
The Coffin exemplifies the beauty of horror Supernatural horror film Long Dtor Dtai (The Coffin) premiered on August 21 in Bangkok and immediately topped the box office, beating Jason Statham's Death Race which opened in Thailand on the same day. Its theme song "Yeu / Free You" by the band Potato, which combines church organ music and upbeat emo rock music, has also been rocking the local charts.
Director Ekachai Uekrongtham, also the director of the Beautiful Boxer, collaborates with actor Ananda Everingham and actress Karen Mok to tell a story inspired by a true Thai ritual. A Thai architect and a Hong Kong dietician decide to go through the Thai ritual of lying in coffins in order to get rid of bad luck and to prolong life. However, after partaking in the ritual, they face a series of strange and terrifying incidents.
The Coffin has won critical acclaim due its delicate use of the most beautiful cinematic effects to convey horror, and the frightened audiences rave about scenes showing the symmetry of hundreds of coffins, arranged in concentric circles around a giant sitting Buddha. A cross-boundary production between Thailand, HK, and Singapore, The Coffin's cast also has cross-cultural tint to it: Mok of Shaolin Soccer is a Hong Kong-based actress of Persian-German-Chinese descent, and Everingham is a Thailand-based actor of Australian-Laotian descent. This English-language, cross-national product will be in theatres cross Asia in the upcoming months.
--Cathryn Chen
