March 12th: UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)

A man dying of kidney failure is visited by spirits and reflects on previous incarnations.



In the new millennium, the boom in Southeast Asian cinema has drawn the attention of many critics and film lovers. Perhaps its most acclaimed figure is Thai writer-director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, an openly-gay man whose works have had constant success at various film festivals, beginning with his sophomore effort Blissfully Yours. In 2004, his film Tropical Malady won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and its follow-up Syndromes And A Century increased his popularity internationally, but met with fierce censorship in his home country and forced a stand-off between an organization of filmmakers and the government ratings board.



Boonmee represents Weerasethakul's most ambitious work to date, fitting as a part of a larger, heavily-researched multimedia project called Primitive that explores a lesser-known region of Thailand. Other influences include a non-fiction book by a man who actually claimed to remember his past lives, the director's own ruminations about cultural extinction and transformation, and the political upheaval of the mid 1960's, which resulted in violence against suspected Communists by the national army.



Structurally, the film is divided into segments that each represent different styles of storytelling, including the cheap monster films of Weerasethakul's childhood, fantastical costume drama, documentary-style reportage, and his own typical meditative, poetic approach. This cataloguing is an effort by the director to capture his impressions of his country and its history before they change or disappear altogether, as opposed to the more personal stories he had previously depicted.



In opposition to the conversion of many filmmakers to digital video, Weerasethakul chose to work with 16mm film for its retro aesthetic as well as its low cost. With a minimum of dialogue, the experience is overall sensory but not didactic or difficult like many art house works, each viewer invited to reflect on the film in his/her own way.



The film won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival from a jury headed by director Tim Burton, and subsequently received rave reviews from critics in various countries. It also won Best Picture at the Asian Film Awards.



Running time is approximately 2 hours.