A Letter to Uncle Boonmee

03 Temmuz 2011 & issiz bir koyde bile yasamin tum hallerinin cevremizi sarmasinin cok sakin, cok duru bir ton ile anlatimi. bir dongunun mevcudiyetine, yasam enerjisinin bu dongu icerisindeki konumuna ovgu.

That dark, thunderstorm green of the tropics is just so beautiful.

A lovely short. It was hypnotic with the brilliant and brilliantly simple tracking shots as the camera roams through corridors, the sheer beauty of nature, the mysterious air to the whole thing, and Joe's wonderful usage of light. The whole thing is just completely relaxing and gorgeous even if I don't have a clue what it is all about (the spaceship? huh?).

Quietly haunting and dignified. Not quite as engaging or mesmerizing as Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives but more focused on the issue of the area's violent past (although just as indirect with it's approach).

It does seem that something is going on in this meditative reflection on home, place, memory, violence, etc. The sound and image are both of an extremely high quality, and if there is something obscure about the meaning of what we are seeing and hearing, the viewer nevertheless has the feeling that the filmmaker's intention is genuine. May deserve a higher score.

A precursor to Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Like the film that follows it, I found it perhaps too oblique, but entrancing nonetheless. As in the later film, there seems to be a connection and yet a disconnection between the worlds of man, nature and film. Also a tribute to the villagers forced out of Nabua, emphasized by the empty shacks, with lingering totems of a former presence.

apichatpong weerasethakul sure knows how to craft beautiful films. subliminal.