Dust, haunted technology, and political trauma mark this uncanny deadpan Thai comedy where the corporeal and supernatural coexist with grounded preposterousness, as a dead wife returns as a possessed vacuum cleaner to protect her misunderstood husband.
Weerasethakul’s debut feature is like a living folk tale, a radical blend of documentary and fiction, shaped through the surrealist ‘exquisite corpse’ method as ordinary Thais collectively spin an evolving story.
Still needs another much tighter recut, this now unbanned Thai film about a cult of dog-worshipping fanatics is at times intolerable with its B-movie vibe though it unexpectedly turns into something revelatory about the meaning of ‘God’.
Perhaps too slight to really work at the level that the Thai auteur usually operates, but there are moments that invite us to ponder about the ephemeral nature of life as a trio of characters pass their time at a hotel by the river.
For better or worse, this is possibly the director’s most accessible film to date, lacking the wondrous mysticism of his previous works, yet at the same time it feels more intimate as a personal elegy.
One of the finest arthouse films of the 2010s decade – enigmatic, bewildering, philosophical and a cinematic experience unlike any other.
Bewildering yet contemplative in true Apichatpong Weerasethakul style, this is a challenging work of art.
Sound as time, memory, life and death, the latest sensorial slow cinema entry from the Thai auteur starring a restrained Tilda Swinton is beautiful, hypnotic, and a much-needed sedative for our discomforting times.
An (in)famous Buddhist temple is in crisis as religion meets politics at the heart of Thai society in this revealing documentary.
An easy-going Thai movie about the need to let go of the past that gets the balance between comedy and serious drama just about right.
Eternality Tan 