The unexpected winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s 2010 Palme d’Or is a triumphant foray into the fantastical. Strange and surprising, yet serenely measured, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s sixth feature tells the story of the final days of Thai farmer Boonmee (Thanapat Saisaymar), and alludes to the continuation of his life, albeit in another host.
A dinner table sequence is when the film truly announces itself as something extraordinary. After Boonmee's wife Huay (Natthakarn Aphaiwonk) has unexpectedly materialised, the shock is trumped by the appearance of his son Boonsong (Geerasak Kulhong) in the guise of a Monkey Ghost, who emerges from the darkness of a stairwell, red LED eyes first. The warmth and relative nonchalance with which the visitors are greeted - and the often irreverent dialogue - add a comic edge to the mystical proceedings. Another extraordinary highlight is an ostensibly unconnected episode involving an ageing princess who is comforted (and somewhat ravished) by a talking catfish.
The film’s elements work in perfect synchronicity. Worlds merge: the natural, man-made and supernatural, as epitomised by the initial appearance of Huay. She gradually reveals herself, transparent against a backdrop of trees, and remains partially translucent. Huay takes a human form, yet is both of supernatural origin and interwoven with nature.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is based on a real character named Boonmee, who claimed to experience visions of his previous incarnations during meditation and who ultimately published a book describing these visions, titled A Man Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Weerasethakul used this book as an inspiration, but the film is only a loose adaptation; it was also made in homage to the cinema of Weerasethakul’s childhood and as a tribute to his father, who died of kidney failure.
Fairytales, folklore and religion converge in this remarkable and quietly ambitious picture, which is rich in its depiction of sensation. Rather than announcing its considerable achievements from the rooftop, it whispers them softly in your ear.
The DVD/Blu Ray extras include nearly half an hour’s worth of (mostly) illuminating deleted scenes and an interview with Weerasethakal - who wittily emerges like one of his film’s apparitions - talking in some detail about his motivation for making the picture and about the film’s shoot.
Watch the trailer for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
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