Review: Syndromes and a Century
Apichatpong Weerasethakul is flirting with us. How else to explain the lush landscapes, languid pace, and gentle camerawork of his films? Or the endless come-ons among his characters, from sexual to platonic and a fascinating array of combinations in between? He's like a Buddhist Barry White, always quietly encouraging us to get it on -- "it" being what, exactly? Some vague higher level of human togetherness?
After spending half of his last masterpiece, Tropical Malady, blurring the line between military recruitment and homosexual seduction (the second half imagined a more primordial seduction), Weerasethakul turns to the subject of healing in Syndromes and a Century. A Thai movie made in 2006 with such a title invites interpretations involving SARS, but the characters in this multifaceted work suffer from a wide variety of other syndromes, both physical and spiritual. For most of the film, they're all either seeking or providing some kind of salve, so relentlessly that sometimes two characters are at odds, both trying to help the other.
The story, which like Malady is split down the middle, begins at a clinic in the Thai countryside. The plot might be best described as a series of vignettes among related characters, with a love story loosely threaded through, but Weerasethakul doesn't operate on the level of dramatic progression. Like a good pickup artist, he plays with mood and setting. Again he experiments with form, constantly and always impeccably. A dialog scene is shot as a landscape. Incongruous lines drop abruptly into conversations. A change of scenery subtly alters the movie's texture. Sometimes inviting, sometimes menacing, often funny, the imagery and dialogue in Syndromes is more varied than in Malady, and this is a much more accessible work. It's an art film that inspires contemplation but doesn't require an intellectual eye. Weerasethakul is creating a cinema that surprises and delights at the level of the viewing experience itself, acknowledging our expectations and playing with them without having to remind us he's doing so. All we have to do is give in to it.
After spending half of his last masterpiece, Tropical Malady, blurring the line between military recruitment and homosexual seduction (the second half imagined a more primordial seduction), Weerasethakul turns to the subject of healing in Syndromes and a Century. A Thai movie made in 2006 with such a title invites interpretations involving SARS, but the characters in this multifaceted work suffer from a wide variety of other syndromes, both physical and spiritual. For most of the film, they're all either seeking or providing some kind of salve, so relentlessly that sometimes two characters are at odds, both trying to help the other.
The story, which like Malady is split down the middle, begins at a clinic in the Thai countryside. The plot might be best described as a series of vignettes among related characters, with a love story loosely threaded through, but Weerasethakul doesn't operate on the level of dramatic progression. Like a good pickup artist, he plays with mood and setting. Again he experiments with form, constantly and always impeccably. A dialog scene is shot as a landscape. Incongruous lines drop abruptly into conversations. A change of scenery subtly alters the movie's texture. Sometimes inviting, sometimes menacing, often funny, the imagery and dialogue in Syndromes is more varied than in Malady, and this is a much more accessible work. It's an art film that inspires contemplation but doesn't require an intellectual eye. Weerasethakul is creating a cinema that surprises and delights at the level of the viewing experience itself, acknowledging our expectations and playing with them without having to remind us he's doing so. All we have to do is give in to it.
posted by Steve at
10:37 PM
1 Comments:
Steve, I have to be honest and say I never thought of Joe as a "Buddhist Barry White"!! Too funny.
Post a Comment
<< Home