‘Uncle Boonmee’ journeys to see his past selves
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is a meditation on death and life. Its simplistic nature covers up a complex network of beliefs surrounding reincarnation. The film is beautifully shot and transfixing, almost difficult to understand but always worthy of appreciation.
Boonmee (Thanapat Saisaymar) suffers from kidney failure and has decided to devote himself to seeing his past lives. Along this internal journey, he encounters family members he’s already said goodbye to, some of them even taking alternate forms like a shadowy figure with blazing red eyes.
Uncle Boonmee is definitely a thinking person’s film. It asks us to contemplate this person’s contemplating, and for some viewers that can grow tiresome. For those looking to dive deep into philosophical, religious and emotional matters, the film is immeasurably haunting. Weerasethakul, the director, has a real sense of his tale, takings risks in the nontraditional storytelling technique. His native country of Thailand comes through the movie as another character, a playground of sorts for Uncle Boonmee’s iterations.
This is not your grandfather’s ghost story. There is no catharsis or over-the-top scares. There are times when the proceedings grow rather creepy, but everything is somber and realistic, as if Boonmee’s circumstances are absolutely plausible. It’s refreshing to have a filmmaker believe so much in the material that he or she never questions its belief system. This is not a recruitment film meant to proselytize about one’s belief in life after death. The director, who also wrote the screenplay, presents the facts of the story much like Ang Lee — with very little judgment and very little obtrusion. Sometimes there’s not even an introduction to a new vision. Ghosts make entrances by walking up to the dinner table and sitting down. There’s no loud music marking their entrance or sudden shudder from the people in its presence. Ghosts are a fact of life in the film.
The movie is admittedly difficult to classify, describe and ponder. It induces obvious head scratching, to be sure, but the reasons for such questioning are less obvious. Uncle Boonmee is an enigma, and the story built around this central figure is even more of an enigma. This makes the movie enjoyable viewing for the cinematically adventurous, for those people uninterested in typicality.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
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2010
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Written and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
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Starring Thanapat Saisaymar, Janjira Pongpas, Sakda Kaewbuadee and Natthakarn Aphaiwonk
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Running time: 113 minutes
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Not Rated
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Rating:
