PRINCE
Prince Gomolvilas is a Thai American playwright and performer, who co-stars in JUKEBOX STORIES—a storytelling, song-singing, bingo-playing, theatrical extravaganza—that will be performed on June 24 and 26 as part of the National Asian American Theater Festival in L.A. He also wrote the stage adaptation of the Scott Heim novel, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, which launched East West Players’ 2010-11 season, and he runs BAMBOO NATION, an arts and entertainment blog. He recently started taking Muay Thai lessons, so he is confident that he can kick your ass. (If you’re six years old.)
During the summer of 2003, I was taking a stroll through Old Town Pasadena, a quaint neighborhood that happens to have a touch of street cred because of the porn store that’s crammed between the upscale restaurants and clothing boutiques. I passed by the now-gone United Artists movie theater and saw a poster for a foreign horror flick called The Eye (2002). I remembered reading somewhere that the filmmakers, identical twins Danny & Oxide Pang, were born in Hong Kong but frequently worked in Thailand. This didn’t quite make them Siamese twins (ha!), but since they were somewhat connected to “my people” I decided to saunter into the cinema for a fun and delightful afternoon matinee.
The movie scared the living shit out of me.
A blind woman receives a cornea transplant, but, along with her new vision, she is also able to see dead people. Sure, the seeing dead people thing has been done to death, but the Pang Brothers are clever visual stylists who expertly alternate between quick genuine “jump” moments and unbearably long scenes of utter dread. Read more...
