Jason Sondhi
I’ll be upfront, this is not a free film. It is available for $1 from Mubi, the new name of the website “The Auteurs”, a nice service which fills a niche by video streaming art films. So is this film so uncommonly excellent that I need to share it with you irregardless? Not exactly, however you may have heard the newsCannes is over and the coveted Palme D’or, arguably the most prestigious award in all of filmdom, has been awarded to Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Weerasethakul’s victory has been portrayed as a surprise by the main-stream media, however to a follower of world cinema the name is well known; perhaps only Jia Zhangke, featured before on this site, has received the kind of critical adoration that Weerasethakul has. And so, if you have failed to connect the dots up to this point, look at the title again; this short is an accompaniment to that award-winning feature, and thus I feel it is worth comment.
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is a sort of introductory statement to the feature. It checks in at 16min and consists of a hypnotically roving camera that pans the interior of homes in a small deserted village in North East Thailand by the name of Nabua. Multiple actors take the place of the director, reading out a letter to Uncle Boonmee, a man who has had multiple reincarnations, but uniquely has stayed in Nabua through all of them. The feature film, which I have not seen, evidently focuses on Uncle Boonmee, exploring 6 of these lives he’s had, which from my understanding, include a water buffalo, a cow, and ghost among other states of being.
This short film which preceded the completion of the feature, serves as a message, a visual “letter” to Uncle Boonmee, stating Weerasethakul’s intention to create the feature film and to describe the Nabua which he sees in the present. Themes of memory, and perspective immediately present themselves, but most powerfully, the absence of people in the village resonates. Nabua was the site of vicious military crackdowns and occupation from the 60’s through the 80’s, and residents who were not killed, fled. Thus the elements of the film, from the sound design and the weightless, floating camera, to the presence of soldiers, combine to interact with the spectral presence of Uncle Boonmee, whose personal history is one with the history of the area, in exploring a concepts of filmic archaeology in the face of cultural repression.
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is a confident and powerful piece of artistic filmmaking but it embodies both the best and worst qualities of that designation. The film without context is meaningless. Without knowing Nabua’s history, or Weerasethakul’s consistent antagonism to his country’s military leadership, or even a little of the backstory of Uncle Boonmee, the nature of his past lives and from whom his story is gleaned from, (a local monk), then there is nothing to hold onto. There is a hypnotic power to the camera movements and to the natural surroundings, but the film is not experiential treat, as flat visuals and poor lighting succeed in creating a feeling of in-the-room presence, but are not joyous to behold. The soundtrack of whistling winds paying homage to the spirits, is the most enjoyable technical detail of the film.
Fortunately of course there are plenty of materials available in which to deliver this context. Animate Projects, the English organization referred to in the film which gave Weerasethakul the money to embark on the project, have done a good job supplying a synopsis, artist’s statement and posting an interview with him. Phantoms of Nabua a short film which, like A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is part of a multiplatform project called “Primitive” is also available from the site for free (and is more enjoyable imho). Furthermore, intelligent reviews like this one at Not Just Movies, provide food for thought.
Even with such background in hand, I think 16 minutes of this approach will be tedious for most audiences, yours truly included. If the best part of movies for you is in thinking and talking about them afterwards, this film will provide material for that, and the relatively brief effort will be worth it. Plus cineastes are snobs (admit it), so this might be a good way to speak intelligently about Weerasethakul to your friends and impress them with your depth and insight into the Cannes-winning film that basically no one has seen yet. However if you would like your films to give you at least some visceral enjoyment during the act of watching, A Letter to Uncle Boonmee might well be interminable. You are forewarned.
Watch A Letter to Uncle Boonmee at: Mubi
I’ll be upfront, this is not a free film. It is available for $1 from Mubi, the new name of the website “The Auteurs”, a nice service which fills a niche by video streaming art films. So is this film so uncommonly excellent that I need to share it with you irregardless? Not exactly, however you may have heard the newsCannes is over and the coveted Palme D’or, arguably the most prestigious award in all of filmdom, has been awarded to Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Weerasethakul’s victory has been portrayed as a surprise by the main-stream media, however to a follower of world cinema the name is well known; perhaps only Jia Zhangke, featured before on this site, has received the kind of critical adoration that Weerasethakul has. And so, if you have failed to connect the dots up to this point, look at the title again; this short is an accompaniment to that award-winning feature, and thus I feel it is worth comment.
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is a sort of introductory statement to the feature. It checks in at 16min and consists of a hypnotically roving camera that pans the interior of homes in a small deserted village in North East Thailand by the name of Nabua. Multiple actors take the place of the director, reading out a letter to Uncle Boonmee, a man who has had multiple reincarnations, but uniquely has stayed in Nabua through all of them. The feature film, which I have not seen, evidently focuses on Uncle Boonmee, exploring 6 of these lives he’s had, which from my understanding, include a water buffalo, a cow, and ghost among other states of being.
This short film which preceded the completion of the feature, serves as a message, a visual “letter” to Uncle Boonmee, stating Weerasethakul’s intention to create the feature film and to describe the Nabua which he sees in the present. Themes of memory, and perspective immediately present themselves, but most powerfully, the absence of people in the village resonates. Nabua was the site of vicious military crackdowns and occupation from the 60’s through the 80’s, and residents who were not killed, fled. Thus the elements of the film, from the sound design and the weightless, floating camera, to the presence of soldiers, combine to interact with the spectral presence of Uncle Boonmee, whose personal history is one with the history of the area, in exploring a concepts of filmic archaeology in the face of cultural repression.
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is a confident and powerful piece of artistic filmmaking but it embodies both the best and worst qualities of that designation. The film without context is meaningless. Without knowing Nabua’s history, or Weerasethakul’s consistent antagonism to his country’s military leadership, or even a little of the backstory of Uncle Boonmee, the nature of his past lives and from whom his story is gleaned from, (a local monk), then there is nothing to hold onto. There is a hypnotic power to the camera movements and to the natural surroundings, but the film is not experiential treat, as flat visuals and poor lighting succeed in creating a feeling of in-the-room presence, but are not joyous to behold. The soundtrack of whistling winds paying homage to the spirits, is the most enjoyable technical detail of the film.
Fortunately of course there are plenty of materials available in which to deliver this context. Animate Projects, the English organization referred to in the film which gave Weerasethakul the money to embark on the project, have done a good job supplying a synopsis, artist’s statement and posting an interview with him. Phantoms of Nabua a short film which, like A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is part of a multiplatform project called “Primitive” is also available from the site for free (and is more enjoyable imho). Furthermore, intelligent reviews like this one at Not Just Movies, provide food for thought.
Even with such background in hand, I think 16 minutes of this approach will be tedious for most audiences, yours truly included. If the best part of movies for you is in thinking and talking about them afterwards, this film will provide material for that, and the relatively brief effort will be worth it. Plus cineastes are snobs (admit it), so this might be a good way to speak intelligently about Weerasethakul to your friends and impress them with your depth and insight into the Cannes-winning film that basically no one has seen yet. However if you would like your films to give you at least some visceral enjoyment during the act of watching, A Letter to Uncle Boonmee might well be interminable. You are forewarned.
Watch A Letter to Uncle Boonmee at: Mubi