Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

*mild spoilers ahead*

As a gay Thai man living in Thailand, I can't help but think that Apichatpong Weerasethakul has a rather unique voice in cinema. His identity and artistic skills mean that he has things to say, and ways to say them, that no one else in the world might have previously considered. With this in mind, I urge you to check out this unique film. Perhaps even calling this a 'film' is to do it a disservice, as it's more like a piece of art to experience. The narrative doesn't fit into the conventions of Western cinema, and perhaps the idea that it even has a narrative is counter-productive to the film's purpose. Suffice to say, it's a beautiful and mysterious cinematic accomplishment.

It's hard to describe the 'plot' of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Boonmee (Thanapat Saisaymar) is a fruit farmer who is getting closer to the end of his life. He has poor kidneys and needs to use a dialysis machine regularly, and believes that this illness is a result of bad karma due to his role in killing communists back in 1965. His sister-in-law Jen (Jenjira Pongpas) comes to visit him, and at dinner one night they are visited by supernatural beings from their past - the ghost of Boonmee's wife (Natthakarn Aphaiwong), and his son Boonsong (Jeerasak Kulhon), a man who has transformed into an otherworldy ape-like creature after obsessively tracking monkey ghosts in the forest for many years. It's like the tragedies of their past have been brought back to them by Boonmee's imminent death and his closeness to the 'next world'. At certain points in this story the film shifts to other stories that seem to have no direct connection to the main narrative, such as a scene set far into the past where a woman meets a talking catfish.



Despite the elements of fantasy this is a rather sombre and thoughtful film, evoking a funereal tone of regret and strange mystery as it explores the otherwordliness of Thailand's Isan district and its distinct culture. There are things in this film that you will see only here and nowhere else, such as a deformed woman having sex with a talking catfish, but these things aren't put across in a shocking or illicit way. It pushes the boundaries of film narrative in order to give a literal representation of Thai folk beliefs in the modern world; communion with animals and communion with the dead are taken for granted and depicted as such. It's very much a Thai film about Thailand that has been made for an international audience, but it can't all be understood and I sense that trying to fit it all together is probably to miss the point - it's a piece of art that should be experienced more than once, open to multiple interpretations, and passing comment on ideas relating to the power of memory and the ending of a life.

In a way the film is about humanity and the things and relationships we build in order to lighten our burdens. Weerasethakul has also said that his film is also about the death of cinema itself in the wake of the digital age, and he utilises different styles of filmmaking to create something that approaches a 21st century multimedia experience - mixing static tableuxs with documentary-style camera work, and genre-hopping from realism to fantasy to historical costume drama. There's a brilliant scene a little way into the film where Boonmee and Jen are sitting at the dinner table on their outdoor verandah and the spirit of his wife just slowly melts into existence next to them. It's a genuinely shocking moment, gently executed but absolutely heartstopping, and Weerasethakul uses these slow double exposures on several occasions to give the film an etherel, dreamlike elegance. It's all very strange and enigmatic, but Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives contains some of the most unshowy yet visually striking imagery I've ever seen put to screen. It's truly memorable, and left me thinking about the film for a long time afterwards.


DIRECTOR: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
WRITER/SOURCE: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
KEY ACTORS: Thanapat Saisaymar, Jenjiri Pongpas, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Jeerasak Kulhong, Kanokporn Thongparan, Natthakarn Aphaiwong

RELATED TEXTS
- The film started out as a pair of short films, A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and Phantoms of Nabua.
- Very loosely based (0r inspired) by the 1983 memoir of a real life man named Boonmee, called A Man Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
- Other films by Weerasethakul: Syndromes and a Century, Tropical Malady, The Adventures of Iron Pussy, Blissfully Yours and Mysterious Object at Noon.

AWARDS
Cannes Film Festival - won Palme d'Or.
Independent Spirit Awards - nominated for Best Foreign Film.