Apichatpong Weerasethakul

ty!

"Phantoms of Nabua" is showing in the gallery at the bfi southbank for you london folk.

Anyone been lucky enough to see Uncle Boonmee?

i can't wait!

just watched "a letter to uncle boonmee" kind of couldn't really see what i was watching though (e.g. the bugs) on this screen.

OK, have just seen Uncle Boonmee. And I think dude has lost me with this one. There's no way to explain why but I just wasn't into it like I was with Tropical Malady, Blissfully Yours or Syndromes and a Century. Whereas for all his other films I can still very clearly remember some beautiful images/scenes, I feel like that won't be the case with this one (ok maybe that strange strange scene involving the princess and the catfish).
I will admit that Apichatpong Weerasethakul is still on a roll with his movie titles with this one though.

Short film about the censorship of Syndromes And A Century in Thailand by Apichatpong's assistant director:
http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/2008/08/12th-thai-short-film-video-festival_30.html

Warning: this post has spoilers regarding "Uncle Boonmee" (though I don't know if you can actually spoil a movie like this)!

Those of you who have seen Uncle Boonmee, can anyone explain what's the deal with this movie? I haven't seen any other movies by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, so maybe this one makes more sense when viewed in light of his previous output, but I just don't think I got it. I've nothing against slow, arty films, weird narrative structures, nor evocative nature scenes, so it was not like I was predisposed against a movie like this, but I just didn't see what was so special about Uncle Boonmee. Here's some questions/thoughts that went through my mind while watching it...

Why did the movie end with scene with Tong and Jen living two parallel lifes, one in the restaurant and one in the hotel room? Did that have something to do with the reincarnation theme? And why did the Weerasethakul spend so much time with the dullness and lifelessness of the hotel room, or with Tong's shower routine? Was the point of that to show how gray city life is compared to the life in the jungle? (I felt like the scene where Tong the monk checked his mobile phone in the mosquito cage was trying to do something like that.) But in order for that to to work, the jungle scenes should've been colourful and full of life, and IMO most of them weren't. There was a few nice compositions of the forest, but mostly it was just lifeless, stationary shots of trees, with no particular sense of mystery or vitality. The only times the movie felt vibrant was with the ghost scenes in the beginning, but in the end it got kinda boring just seeing the ghost woman and the ghost monkeys, and nothing else. Other than that, everyone in the movie was acting laconically and speaking in monotone regardless of what happened, and I just didn't understand why it was like that.

And what in the name of god was the point of Uncle Boonmee's dream of the future with still images of soldiers and monkey men? Seriously, wtf was the deal with that? Was it supposed to be a allegory of Thailand's politics? Who were the monkey men supposed to be?

I doubt anyone can answer these questions, but I just wanted to get them out of my head, because Uncle Boonmee was seriously one of the most confusing and seemingly pointless movies I've ever seen, and I was wondering if anyone else got something out of it. I agree with Jibe that the scene with the princess and the catfish was pretty much the only memorable part of the movie, but it didn't feel like it was connected in to the rest of it, except for the vague reincarnation theme. (I guess the princess was supposed to be one of Boonmee's former incarnations?)

I haven't read your post because I haven't seen the film, but going on his other films, it's probably a little fruitless to try and make sense of everything.

Yes, AW movies are far more intuitive than cognitive.

http://www.animateprojects.org/films/by_date/2009/phantoms

but going on his other films, it's probably a little fruitless to try and make sense of everything.

I get this, and I would've been fine with the movie if it there'd been some gut-level beauty or sense of wonder in the movie, but except for a few isolated scenes (involving the ghosts and the princess), there wasn't. It felt like the movie was intentionally laconic and monotone, and I didn't understand why. Also, with all the talk of (illegal) immigrants and the still images of soldiers, it felt like there was a political angle to the movie as well, but it remained equally obscure.

i get an experience from Joe's films that i've never had from any others. i'm not entirely sure why i'm so moved by them.

Not to be a total apologist, but he might have some good reasons for making gestures towards the political rather than outright statements. I do think that there are political motivations in a lot of his films, but they're just part of the soup along with everything else. It's a strange tendency given recent events in Thailand, but I get the vague sense that this is how a lot of Thai artists roll.

There's one comment Uncle Boonmee makes about his past that might be key to the political themes of the movie, but I'm not familiar enough with Thai political history to know whether that comment explains things, or whether it's more of a throwaway line that's only meant to illustrate what kind of a person Boonmee is.

Have you seen A Letter From Uncle Boonmee? Wondering how the two films work with each other.

that comment explains everything.

Really? How do you think it connects to the still images of soldiers? Are the soldiers doing what Boonmee said he used to do in his past? With the ape men standing in for (SPOILER)? But in one of the images the ape man seems to be quite friendly with the soldiers.

i dont think the movie is as plainly symbolic as you'd like it to be. like the whole "country bad, city good" thing - apichatpong doesnt go for such literal metaphors. he's basically a surrealist.

Ok, but for a surrealist he seems to be quite interested in very mundane activities - like Tong washing himself with soap, Boonmee going through dialysis, etc. And I don't think the images of soldiers hold much surreal power: they're not impressive as such, they mostly just serve to illustrate Boonmee's story. So if there's no symbolism in the story + images, I don't see why they are in the movie, as the whole scene is audiovisually rather boring.

saw blissfully yours a few weeks ago and it's stuck with me. who doesn't want to pick wild berries and make out in a jungle?

I'm not reading this til I see it at NYFF, but G Kenny's take:

http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/09/nyff-2010-some-brief-notes-toward-constructing-a-users-manual-for-uncle-boonmee-who-can-recall-his-p.html

I gotta disagree with his point #4: to me the "clunky handheld camerawork" didn't translate into a "breathtaking, [...] head-spinning sequence". It just felt clunky and amateurish. I'm sure that was a deliberate choice on Weerasethakul's part, but there would've been many ways one could've shot a breathtaking sequence in an environment like that (the shot with the fireflies in the dark hinted at those possibilities), so why he chose not to, I simply don't understand. If it was, as he suggests, to emphasize Boonmee's mortality, I don't think it was very effective in that. The scenes with the dialysis tubes worked much better to that effect.

Just surfaced:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kemr-3n_Hcs

that yours adam

No! It's Apichatpong's trailer for the festival my movie is showing in. He didn't get in, he's not good enough.

sad

saw him speak and present clips from all his movies (and anthem) at tiff

pretty awesome

I like the way he talks, it relaxes me

saw Unc, still absorbing the aftertaste, esp after it goes into the cave. Looked and sounded great.

He took a pic of the audience at the start of the Q&A and was wearing a t-shirt they made to raise funds for flying the crew to the NYFF.

apichatpalme?

and now I know it's a-PICH-at-pong

the t-shirts i mean, were they the apichtpalme ones with the monkeys on em?

I didn't get a close look. I think they shoulda made a catfish vibrator.

haha

a roundup of reactions:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/2345

fuckin need to see it again tbh

I saw Uncle Boonmee last night...I'm reluctant to say anything negative, because I know people will jump all over me. There are many slow, contemplative films I like and love; I didn't love this one. Music often helps me get into such films (e.g., the Arvo Part opening to Gerry). Uncle Boonmee has none, unless I drifted for a minute or two and missed it. (The quiet nature sounds were nice, and reminded me of the park scenes in Blow-Up.) I giggled at the still shot of the futuristic monkey-creature surrounded by all those people in fatigues, like it was some kind of vacation photo--I think it was meant to be funny, but no one else in the theatre seemed to think so. Some nice cinematography. I saw it at Toronto's new Lightbox theatre, so unlike Syndromes and a Century last year, I was allowed to drink coffee and eat a chocolate bar. That was good.

its ok to say u didnt like it if u didnt like it, don't worry, we're not going to beat u up.

Yeah – I have a blind spot for Tsai films.

I will not be able to see this until November, unless I get a chance to see it in Vienna.

Trying to avoid "spoilers"

don't worry, we're not going to beat u up

Still recovering from my traumatic defense of Up in the Air.

Haha

around here that's like admitting you ate babies ;)

this film didn't blow me away, but I like his stuff more on second viewings.

but he's never really reached "great" level in my head.

Mysterious Object is definitely "great" for me but it is sort of a perfect storm of "elements adam would like"

the monk in this was same one as in Syndromes and a Century, yes? and he was in Tropical Malady? I recognized his teeth.

I hate those critics who "luxuriate" in a film's imagery, but I opened my shirt and luxuriated in Tropical Malady.

I giggled at the still shot of the futuristic monkey-creature surrounded by all those people in fatigues, like it was some kind of vacation photo--I think it was meant to be funny, but no one else in the theatre seemed to think so.

The same thing happened when I saw the movie. Me and my friend and a handful of other people laughed, but most of the theatre was dead silent.

watched Tropical Malady a few hours ago. was really into it through the first half, started fading during the second. paused it and took a half hour nap (was operating on little sleep). woke up a bit out of sorts and finished it.

basically FUCKING WOW. it's one that will haunt me. dude's onto something. i'm sure the groggy sleep state helped, but still...