{"id":1032,"date":"2010-11-20T19:53:03","date_gmt":"2010-11-20T18:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1032"},"modified":"2016-01-24T18:10:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-24T17:10:06","slug":"uncle-boonmee-who-can-recall-his-past-lives-dir-apichatpong-weerasethakul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032","title":{"rendered":"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives<\/em> (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beloved of Cannes, Apichatpong Weerasethakul\u2019s films are deeply arthouse.\u00a0 Since Blissfully Yours <\/em>from 2002 won \u2018Un Certain Regard\u2019, Weerasethakul\u2019s films have won prize after prize at festivals all over Europe, and Uncle Boonmee won the director the Palme Dor, this year. Weerasethakul is one of those directors for whom linear narrative seems an impediment rather than an aid.\u00a0 In Blissfully yours<\/em> after rather languid scenes in hospitals, the central couple drive off into the countryside and the film coalesces around their al fresco bonking.\u00a0 Unsurprisingly, Weerasethakul\u2019s films have often been censored\u00a0 by the Thai authorities (one of the tags for the IMDB reference for Blissfully yours<\/em> is \u2018uncircumcised penis\u2019!), but his previous film Syndromes and a Century<\/em> was censored for \u2018inappropriately\u2019 having monks playing a guitar and an remote controlled aeroplane.\u00a0 Possibly because both his parents were hospital doctors, hospitals have often been the starting point for Weerasethakul\u2019s films.\u00a0 Syndromes and a Century,<\/em> takes place in hospitals and dentists\u2019. That last film featured a split time narrative in which relationships are seen growing in two different time frames.<\/p>\n

Uncle Boonmee starts with a lovely view under moonlight of a tethered waterbuffalo fanned with incense.\u00a0 The animal breaks free and charges deep into the undergrowth from which it is rescued gently and respectfully by its owner.\u00a0 Then we turn to the tamarind farm in the countryside to which Uncle Boonmee has returned, and returned we understand, to die.\u00a0 He has brought his Lao medic, Jiaa, who conducts a crude dialysis for Boonmee, two and three times a day.\u00a0 Boonmee is accompanied by his sister-in-law, Jen, and his cousin Tong.\u00a0 At their first evening meal, they are joined by the ghost of his wife, Huay, and deeply discomforting ghost of his son, Boonsong, who disappeared into the forest, mated with a monkey ghost and has now become one;\u00a0 with luminous red eyes and Chewbacca-styled black body hair.<\/p>\n

After a wander round the farm sampling the tamarind, and the tamarind and maize flavoured honey from Boonmee\u2019s bees, the film suddenly moves to a disfigured Princess being carried through the forest on a palanquin. Stopping by the pool of a waterfall, the princess looks into the water and sees the unblemished woman, she seeks to be.\u00a0 Then she gets into conversation with a catfish who proceeds to seduce her in the pool, itself.\u00a0 The film then moves back to Uncle Boonmee who is escorted into a spooky cave network by the ghost of his wife, his cousin and sister-in-law, and where he dies.<\/p>\n

The last half an hour of the film follows the sister-in-law, Jen, as she deals with the funeral and its aftermath, including a rather odd, and innocent, encounter with one of Thailand\u2019s young men coming to the end of his compulsory three months as a monk.<\/p>\n

Weerasethakul makes poignant reference to the recent history of this beautiful country, in particular the insurgencies that have blighted Thailand\u2019s recent history, and the myriad dialects that colour life there, and the way that might affect Boonmee\u2019s karma. For all its strange plotting, this film is always engrossing.\u00a0 The performances, particularly by the non-professional Thanapat Saisaymar as Boonmee, and Jenjira Pongpas as Jen are often deeply affecting, with their still, quiet reactions to the apparitions that crowd them.
\n 
\nIan Pople<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beloved of Cannes, Apichatpong Weerasethakul\u2019s films are deeply arthouse.\u00a0 Since Blissfully Yours from 2002 won \u2018Un Certain Regard\u2019, Weerasethakul\u2019s films have won prize after prize at festivals all over Europe, and Uncle Boonmee won the director the Palme Dor, this year. Weerasethakul is one of those directors for whom linear narrative seems an impediment rather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[14,283],"tags":[33,80,267],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nUncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beloved of Cannes, Apichatpong Weerasethakul\u2019s films are deeply arthouse.\u00a0 Since Blissfully Yours from 2002 won \u2018Un Certain Regard\u2019, Weerasethakul\u2019s films have won prize after prize at festivals all over Europe, and Uncle Boonmee won the director the Palme Dor, this year. Weerasethakul is one of those directors for whom linear narrative seems an impediment rather […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-20T18:53:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-24T17:10:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032\",\"name\":\"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-20T18:53:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-24T17:10:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\",\"name\":\"Ian Pople\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Ian Pople\"},\"description\":\"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Beloved of Cannes, Apichatpong Weerasethakul\u2019s films are deeply arthouse.\u00a0 Since Blissfully Yours from 2002 won \u2018Un Certain Regard\u2019, Weerasethakul\u2019s films have won prize after prize at festivals all over Europe, and Uncle Boonmee won the director the Palme Dor, this year. Weerasethakul is one of those directors for whom linear narrative seems an impediment rather […]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2010-11-20T18:53:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-24T17:10:06+00:00","author":"Ian Pople","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Pople","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032","name":"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-11-20T18:53:03+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-24T17:10:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1032#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9","name":"Ian Pople","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"Ian Pople"},"description":"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-gE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1032"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5770,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032\/revisions\/5770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}