Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2011
*****
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is very personal film for writer/director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It is the mixture of a lot of ideas and broken memories that he has acquired over the years and after the success of his previous films I guess he thought the time was right, whether people like it or not. It divided critics on its release, I think a lot was lost in translation and the story's simplicity overlooked. Not many films have astonished me as much as this has. From the outset, Uncle Boonmee challenges your perceptions and haunts your soul. It may seem like it's a very free film (and it is to some level), maybe even improvisational at times but it's not, it's very structured. It is constructed of several contrasting reels that each have their own agendas. It goes from documentary style, to sitcom, to classic Hollywood, to fantasy without the audience really knowing what has hit them. It's part day-dream, part folk-tale and part philosophical commentary (is time linear?) but it is never pretentious or boring. I dismiss the idea that people have been hypnotized into thinking there is something profound here and have therefore heaped it with undeserved accolades. Credit is given where credit is due and it is certainly due here as Weerasethakul has broken through cinematic boundaries. Yes it is self-indulgent to a point but it is also a work of art, an often over used statement but a very true depiction of this film. Original, thought-provoking and a real breath of fresh air. I do hope the majority of you will enjoy it as much as I did, I found it to be an experience to behold.