Syndromes and a Century (15)

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul   Thailand   2006                 105 mins           (subtitles)   Starring: Nantarat Sawaddikul, Jaruchai Iamaram     From a well-respected director and installation artist comes this unusual and surprising film, said to be about his doctor parents.  In a rural hospital a young female doctor is experiencing confusion in her love life as are others around her and her mind drifts as she treats her patients.  In a large city hospital a male doctor is living a parallel life and having his own dilemmas.   It soon becomes apparent that the normal rules of narrative do not apply as alternative realities are entered and the same scenes are enacted at different times and locations by different characters.   Images from one time and place reappear in another in a different guise.  In this unconventional story of blossoming love, ideas of reincarnation are explored and the nature of time and memory are questioned.  Love and the absence of love, menace and peace, joy and loss, Yin and Yang are expressed in a film that rewards the open minded viewer with a euphoric Zen-like experience and insight into Buddhist mentality.