Ether of Exodus

Thai Film Director Apichatpong’s latest film, “Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chaat” (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), is in the main competition for the Cannes Palme d’Or. Inspired by a book written by a Buddhist monk in the town of Khon Kaen, where the Bangkok-born filmmaker grew up, the movie is about a man who believes in reincarnation.

Shot like an old home movie on Super 16mm in locations throughout Northeast Thailand, “Past Lives” weaves together a dying man’s memories with reflections on movies of the past and the changing face of rural Thailand. It’s part of the director’s multi-platform 'Primitive' art project that explores memories of a brutal anti-communist crackdown in 1964 in the northeastern village of Nabua, Nakhon Phanom. 

It’s the second time Apichatpong has had a film in the main competition at Cannes, and it’ll be his fifth overall appearance on the Croisette. Not including this year, he’s had three movies screened there. In 2008 he served as a judge on the main competition panel that was headed by Sean Penn. 

Apichatpong’s history at Cannes is interwoven with the dozen Thai films that have made it to Cannes, which   

makes for a great  list of movies to watch. Here are all 12, listed by year of appearance: 

Lives of most artists are embalmed in ether of exodus, with most feeling an ethos of exile, while getting entangled in ordinary life.

The unusual cinematic voice – which some critics mark as even insane – from Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a typical symbol of this sentiment. His latest film, ‘Cemetery of Splendour’ is part of the World Cinema Package at this year’s International Film Festival of Kerala, going on in Thiruvananthapuram. This film picked up its theme from a real life occurrence of a bunch of soldiers of Thai army being quarantined in a medical facility for being affected by “sleeping sickness”. Critics say that the film ruminates about his favourite themes, as seen in past films – of foregone lives, hopes and yearning for a change. The film is seen by many as a desaturated commentary on the contemporary military dictatorship of Thailand.  The film is placed in a hospital, which is a repeatedly appearing signage in his films. 

Weerasethakul was first introduced to the festival attendees of IFFK in 2010. Then the festival had five of his films in ‘Contemporary Masters in Focus’ package. This film maker arose  from  anonymity  that year, as his film, ‘Uncle 

Boonmee' who can recall his past lives’ won the Palm d’or at Cannes.

Festival goers, who attended the festival then, remember how the film maker, who is known popularly as ‘Joe’ had declared that more people from Thiruvananthapuram saw his films than from his own country, while introducing the film on stage.

Some viewers find that ‘Cemetery of Splendour’ displays a lightness of treatment in the way Weerasethakul pictures supernatural events, unlike in his earlier films. They were reminded of his earlier works while savouring the part where the film maker takes the audience on a surreal expedition inside the dream of a soldier.