NYFF: Cemetery Of Splendour
Monday, September 28, 2015 at 10:00PM Jason on the the latest from beloved Thai director Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul.
From what I gather, Weerasethakul is a filmmaker easiest approached with a road-map - an iconography of expectations, of mood and mise-en-scene, to guide you gently into the good night of his magical thinking. That is to say it's best to know what you're getting into. You're best served with a reference point, a friendly little ghost to hold your hand and lead you through the invisible world he's maneuvering his camera through.
It's a world that's not just off frame, to the left or right as you might expect. It's more as if it's sitting in the seats both left and right of you in the theater, occasionally grabbing at your popcorn, maybe whispering a lightly dirty joke in your ear before resting its head on your shoulder. It's comforting... but also a little invasive. He wants all of you.
I went in alone. Cemetery of Splendour, Weerasethakul's newest film, was my first. Hey, everybody had a first at one point, right? That's what makes it first. And just like losing one's virginity I found myself bewildered, a little bit sweaty, and ultimately ashamed at myself for putting it off for so long. That's what I was afraid of? Yeah it was a little bit weird but it went down fine, and I look forward to another spin.
Splendour tells the story of a somnambulist pack of soldiers, mysteriously struck sleepy-time by their surroundings, housed in a former school and taken care of by both some friendly local women (never unfriendly enough to not give a giggling poke at their engorged dream members) as well as a series of glowing candy-cane-shaped lamps, arcing gracefully over their beds while offering the jungle (and the film) a singular neon surrealism. It's rumored that the soldiers were digging up the earth for fiber-optics cables when they were struck ill and these lamps are like living heads of those wires, War of the Worlds-style, risen up to keep a slow colorful creepy watch over their slumber.
The film slowly (I'll have to bust out my thesaurus to find variations on "slowly" and "dreamily" for this review) closes in, in its medium-to-long-shot manner, on one sleeping soldier, and one nurse-type - Itt and Jen, who manage to form a sweet and easy rapport in between the comatose moments. He usually wakes up to her massaging some part of him, which is really the quickest way to a man's heart, no matter what the foodies say.
I don't want to trace out the road-map for you any further. I think if you've already wandered in Weerasethakul-Land you basically know your way around, and you know the journey - one taken half-drifting along just an inch or two above the ground as if you, like Jen, have one leg shorter than the other - itself is the destination. What a lovely journey though - a series of small escalating emotional catharses that moves through like clouds, like a slight breeze through the fanned trees, giving prayer to the benevolent specters milling about in the underbrush.
Cemetery of Splendour is screening at the New York Film Festival on Wednesday, September 30 and Thursday, October 1. If you're interested in Weerasethakul, check out Nathaniel's reviews of his Palme d'or winner Uncle Boonmee.
Reader Comments (10)
Apitchatpong is Thai, not Taiwanese.
Taiwanese????? Geezzzzz, I guess he's not beloved enough to know where he's actually from.
Guys, I'm sure it was just a slip, but I changed it before too many others get angry. :)
Cemetary of Splendour has no release plan in Thailand any time soon (at least not as of this comment) which is too bad. It keeps popping up at major festivals but nope, not here in its home country. I'm really curious to see what the fuss is all about.
Jija -- have his other movies not performed well at home? any context for why that would be? I know it's a weird thing about a lot of "masters" that they're more beloved abroad than they are at home.
Yeah thanks for fixing that, Glenn - it was just a typo, I was working on a piece on Hou Hsiao-hsien at the same time and got my T words scrambled was all
I imagine it's similar to Jia Zhang-ke and how his films work against what the government wants so they don't always get released. That'd be my own hunch, but I'd also love to know if it's something else.
Nathaniel - I can't recall any of his movies being a commercial success here, even by arthouse standard (I could be wrong though). They never get proper release. (But isn't that the case everywhere? I wonder how he kept raising funds for the projects that don't pay).
As far as recognition goes, he is well-known and (very) respected by the industry. Moviegoers are aware of him but rarely have a chance (or interest) to see his work as they are deemed 'too difficult/boring/arthousey'.
Thailand submitted Uncle Boonmee to compete in best foreign film so I don't think the committee has anything against him. What I heard about the non-release of Cemetary of Splendour is that the movie (or its theme) touches on the sensitive subject (royal family, as the title suggests). So basically what Glenn said. This is strictly rumor though and I can't really confirm because I haven't seen the film. Hopefully, we will get to see it and make our own judgement.
I saw this last night and it was beaauuuuutifuuuuuul. God I love this man's movies.
On the topic Jija brought up, he also just gave an interview where he said he's probably done making movies in Thailand because the political atmosphere is so oppressive (he talked about self censoring his work out of fear of landing in jail) and he can't get his movies shown there commercially anymore.
this movie was rubbish...I couldn't even keep my eyes open... but I liked Weerasethakul's sense of humour, in the note he sent that was read before the nyff screening he said "it was ok to fall asleep"...