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Uncle Apichatpong Who Ruminates on the Past, Present and Future
Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul discusses the film that won him the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d’Or in 2010. (13 min., 55 sec.)
(Photo: Suzanna Finley)
Often referred to as a "mysterious" man who makes "mysterious" films, partly as a playful reference to the title of his feature debut Mysterious Object At Noon (2000), Apichatpong has made films that compel audiences to look at films differently. To watch an Apichatpong film, Hui pointed out, viewers must abandon their basic understanding of narrative structure, logic, what is real/unreal, what is past/present, and when one is human/animal/spirit — but she also questioned if audiences too readily neglect the rich cultural and historical references that permeate the director's work.
The filmmaker responded that it is not understanding that he seeks: "A film has its own life. It's like a person. It has a certain charisma and a certain wavelength. You either have the same wavelength or not. For me, my duty is to express my wavelength… It's my memory, but at the same time, I hope it’s open enough to trigger your own experiences."
In a moment of contemplation, Apichatpong, whose films are infused with Buddhist philosophy, expressed doubts about filmmaking, once his ultimate purpose in life.
"With my interest in Buddhism, I always have conflicts… Filmmaking is about control. Many times you have to be very mean to be able to get the results," explained the filmmaker. For the director who is particularly interested in memories, he expressed conflicts between "remembering the past through filmmaking" and "living the present."
Looking into the future, the director contemplated a life in avocado farming as an alternative. But true to his core, Apichatpong quickly and enthusiastically turned to the subject of a new film idea which pays tribute to old science fiction films and involves a snow-capped landscape, a spaceship, and aged female scientists looking at the past.
Spaceship or jungle, past or future, film or avocado — time will tell where this young experimental wizard will take his next adventure.
Asia Society's Blissfully Thai film series is presented in association with Cineaste. Major support for this film series is provided by the Thai-US Partnership Program of Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thai Artists Alliance, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
He's very young, plenty of output left to come from him! We hope
The gentleness of the people, their language, and willingness to help family and friends was a new experience for me. Their welcoming the ghosts and nature spirits at the dinner table was so gracious. There was a slow natural pace to the film that lulled me to the rhythms of the forest and the streams. The time they took to eat and appreciate the wild honey from tamarind and maize was sensuous. That the living and dead were willing to travel through the jungle and into the cave showed unconditional love and trust. The amount of time the nature monkey spirits waited seemed an echo of a natural cycle. The monk and aunt being in two places at once was interesting and gentle, not jarring. The scenes of the young soldiers seemed like a violation to the farm, but an endless rhythm of peace and war. The cave scene reminded me of the film "Cave of forgotten dreams" by Werner Herzog, and the sense of a long geological time span with remnants of human and animal presence visible yet disappearing.
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