In a remote region of Thailand, on the banks of the Mekong River, a group of soldiers haves been struck by a mysterious illness that causes them to fall into an endless sleep. As she takes care of one of them, Jen (Jenjira Pongpas) delves into his dream, revealing haunting visions of past conflicts. In the final scene, she sits on a bench and observes a wasteland where children play while excavators turn over the ground. She displays a strange expression of terror, and… end of movie.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul leaves us pondering Jen's gaze. Is she merely observing the scene or glimpsing something beyond reality? Does she see the shocking cycle of military violence that has taken place since Ayutthaya and the 1960s-70s? Is she about to fall into the strange sleeping sickness? Does she see a form of the future that terrifies her? Certainly a bit of all.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul leaves us pondering Jen's gaze. Is she merely observing the scene or glimpsing something beyond reality? Does she see the shocking cycle of military violence that has taken place since Ayutthaya and the 1960s-70s? Is she about to fall into the strange sleeping sickness? Does she see a form of the future that terrifies her? Certainly a bit of all.
- 3/10/2024
- by Hugo Hamon
- AsianMoviePulse
Five years after the remarkable success of “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” that won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 2010 and many more festival awards, director and eclectic Thai video artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul presented “Cemetery of Splendour”, another imaginative and enigmatic work that elaborates on the author's fascination with the act of sleeping as a means of accessing deeper layers of consciousness and understanding.
Cemetery of Splendour is screening at Metrograph
In order to be enchanted by the director's imaginative and hypnotic world you need to unlock a certain receptiveness towards a non-traditional narrative, a storytelling that is more stratified than linear. The film takes place in the town of Khon Kaen, Isan province, Northwest of Thailand where the director grew up, and more than a story, there are many places and many stories. There is a former school transformed into a small country hospital in a...
Cemetery of Splendour is screening at Metrograph
In order to be enchanted by the director's imaginative and hypnotic world you need to unlock a certain receptiveness towards a non-traditional narrative, a storytelling that is more stratified than linear. The film takes place in the town of Khon Kaen, Isan province, Northwest of Thailand where the director grew up, and more than a story, there are many places and many stories. There is a former school transformed into a small country hospital in a...
- 2/14/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Within a few days of the announcement last week that creator-writer-producer Mike White had settled on Thailand for Season 3 of “The White Lotus” in terms of both setting and shooting locale, the forum posters on Gold Derby were asked by poster Carlo for their casting wish list. And they did not disappoint, as the following makes clear.
Poster Couverture got things started by posting a picture of Michelle Yeoh and Sandra Oh posing together at an event accompanied by the caption, “We will be waiting.” Oh well. It’s Ok to dream, right? Aziz Sliti went next by suggesting Ben Barnes and Lizzy Caplan before later going all “Succession” by adding, “Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin as a couple is too good to be true.” Lil Tony is looking at Daniel Craig as a contender, while smurty11 is looking for the third season to cast Oh, Allison Williams, Michael Shannon,...
Poster Couverture got things started by posting a picture of Michelle Yeoh and Sandra Oh posing together at an event accompanied by the caption, “We will be waiting.” Oh well. It’s Ok to dream, right? Aziz Sliti went next by suggesting Ben Barnes and Lizzy Caplan before later going all “Succession” by adding, “Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin as a couple is too good to be true.” Lil Tony is looking at Daniel Craig as a contender, while smurty11 is looking for the third season to cast Oh, Allison Williams, Michael Shannon,...
- 4/3/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
New Thai outfit to attend Busan’s Acfm for the first time.
New Thai production and sales outfit Neramitnung Film is attending Busan’s Acfm for the first time with a slate of four titles, including a sequel to box office hit 4 Kings and Davy Chou-produced Doi Boy.
4 Kings Part 2 sees the return of a young drug trafficker from the first film – played by Ukrit Willibrord Dongabriel, aka Thai rapper D Gerrard – who is determined to seek revenge from two rival gangs, unleashing a new war of violence.
Filmmaker Puttipong Nakthong also returns to direct the sequel, which is...
New Thai production and sales outfit Neramitnung Film is attending Busan’s Acfm for the first time with a slate of four titles, including a sequel to box office hit 4 Kings and Davy Chou-produced Doi Boy.
4 Kings Part 2 sees the return of a young drug trafficker from the first film – played by Ukrit Willibrord Dongabriel, aka Thai rapper D Gerrard – who is determined to seek revenge from two rival gangs, unleashing a new war of violence.
Filmmaker Puttipong Nakthong also returns to direct the sequel, which is...
- 10/8/2022
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
“Facing the jungle, the hills and the vales, my past lives as an animal and other beings rise up before me.”
Even though he had been gaining a reputation over the years, it was not until “Uncle Boonmee…” won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethaul received wider recognition. While his other five features including “Mysterious Object at Noon” (2000), “Blissfully Yours” (2002) or “Tropical Malady” (2004) had come from a similar foundation, to be honored for a work like “Uncle Boonmee…” must have been very special to the filmmaker given the amount of time and energy he had spent on the project long before he worked on most of his other films.
In his notes on the so-called “Primitive Project”, a video installation by the director which, for example, is part of an exhibition at the Tate Modern, Weerasethakul recalls some of the most important inspirations for the film.
Even though he had been gaining a reputation over the years, it was not until “Uncle Boonmee…” won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethaul received wider recognition. While his other five features including “Mysterious Object at Noon” (2000), “Blissfully Yours” (2002) or “Tropical Malady” (2004) had come from a similar foundation, to be honored for a work like “Uncle Boonmee…” must have been very special to the filmmaker given the amount of time and energy he had spent on the project long before he worked on most of his other films.
In his notes on the so-called “Primitive Project”, a video installation by the director which, for example, is part of an exhibition at the Tate Modern, Weerasethakul recalls some of the most important inspirations for the film.
- 9/1/2018
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2016. We’ve asked our contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions — those personal lists unspool following this one — and, after tallying the votes, a top 50 has been assembled.
It should be noted that, unlike our previous year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly be discussing more during the next. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2016 below, our complete year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2017. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
50. Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
A note from Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul to the...
It should be noted that, unlike our previous year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly be discussing more during the next. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2016 below, our complete year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2017. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
50. Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
A note from Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul to the...
- 12/30/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour is a fantastical and meandering exploration of the blurred boundaries between dreams and reality in a small, rural town in Thailand. Set in a newly-formed hospital in the grounds of an old school, the film centres around disabled housewife and volunteer, Jenjira (Jenjira Pongpas), and her burgeoning relationships with the […]
The post Cemetery of Splendour Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The post Cemetery of Splendour Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 6/14/2016
- by Lauren Burgess
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
There are few filmmakers working today who are like Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Besides having a name that leaves writers waking up in cold sweats, “Joe” as he lovingly goes by is the resident surrealist poet of Thai cinema, as interested in striking tones and moods as he is sending his films off into lands of wookie-like specters and fish with, ahem, oral capabilities, all while keeping them grounded by genuine human discussions about everything from grief to sexuality.
And then there’s Cemetery Of Splendor. Arguably the director’s most accessible work to date, relations can be made to previous Weerasethakul films, particularly Tropical Malady and the hospital-set pair of narratives in Syndromes and a Century, but this is a beast of an entirely different color. Khon Kaen is the setting of this film, specifically a former school that has become a clinic housing and healing military types who...
And then there’s Cemetery Of Splendor. Arguably the director’s most accessible work to date, relations can be made to previous Weerasethakul films, particularly Tropical Malady and the hospital-set pair of narratives in Syndromes and a Century, but this is a beast of an entirely different color. Khon Kaen is the setting of this film, specifically a former school that has become a clinic housing and healing military types who...
- 3/7/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
"Cinema as the stuff dreams are made of..." Strand Releasing has unveiled an official Us trailer for Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest film Cemetery of Splendor, which has been playing at film festivals since last year. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, played at Tiff and the New York, Busan, Vancouver and Denver Film Festivals, and is now playing at the Sundance Film Festival this year, arriving in theaters in March. This dream-like, mesmerizing Thai film is about a lonely housewife (Jenjira Pongpas) who tends to a soldier with sleeping sickness that "falls into a hallucination that triggers strange dreams, phantoms, and romance." Those who are fans of "Thai Joe" and his films - this is his latest must-see feature. Here's the official Us trailer for Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendor, high def on Apple: Soldiers with a mysterious sleeping sickness are transferred to a temporary clinic in a former school.
- 1/28/2016
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Landing on the Sight & Sound and Cahiers Du Cinema best of the year lists, as well as making the rankings of the Best Of 2015 from our own writers Jessica Kiang and Oliver Lyttelton, for those of us who weren't able to catch Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Cemetery Of Splendour" on the festival circuit, the good news is that it's finally coming to cinemas. And even more, a new trailer is here. Read More: Cannes Review: Apichatpong Weerasethakul's 'Cemetery Of Splendour' Starring Banlop Lomnoi, Jenjira Pongpas, and Jarinpattra Rueangram, the film is another journey into the director's unique world where drama and magic seem to fold over on themselves, and he's once again spinning a story that falls somewhere between memory and fairy tale. Here's the official synopsis: Soldiers with a mysterious sleeping sickness are transferred to a temporary clinic in a former school. The memory-filled space becomes a...
- 1/27/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Sundance 2016 is fast approaching. Last week we posted the movie lineup of Midnight and Competition film selections. We now have the complete lineup for the premieres in both the feature film and documentary categories. We also have their selections for the Spotlight and Kid films. I've also included a list of special events.
There are a lot of great films on this list that I'm excited about seeing because of the incredible talent involved. Viggo Mortensen and Frank Langella star in Captain Fantastic; Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams star in Certain Women; Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates and Danny Glover star in Complete Unknown; Paul Rudd and Selena Gomez star in The Fundamentals of Caring; John Krasinski directed a film called The Hollars which he stars in with Anna Kendrick, Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Sharlto Copley, and Charlie Day; Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has made a new...
There are a lot of great films on this list that I'm excited about seeing because of the incredible talent involved. Viggo Mortensen and Frank Langella star in Captain Fantastic; Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams star in Certain Women; Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates and Danny Glover star in Complete Unknown; Paul Rudd and Selena Gomez star in The Fundamentals of Caring; John Krasinski directed a film called The Hollars which he stars in with Anna Kendrick, Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Sharlto Copley, and Charlie Day; Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has made a new...
- 12/13/2015
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Kate Plays ChristineThe lineup for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 21 -31, has been announced.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONAs You Are (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, USA): As You Are is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation. Cast: Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, Mary Stuart Masterson. World Premiere The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, USA): Set against the antebellum South, this story follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner, accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. After witnessing countless atrocities against fellow slaves, Nat devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Mark Boone Jr. World PremiereChristine (Antonio Campos,...
- 12/7/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Top brass at the Park City festival have rounded out the feature line-up with a dazzling selection on paper that includes new work from Asif Kapadia and other returning alumni such as Todd Solondz, Taika Waititi and Joshua Marston.Scroll Down For Full List
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
- 12/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Top brass at the Park City festival have rounded out the feature line-up with a dazzling selection on paper that includes new work from Asif Kapadia and other returning alumni such as Todd Solondz, Taika Waititi and Joshua Marston.Scroll Down For Full List
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
Road movie The Fundamentals Of Caring by Rob Burnett starring Paul Rudd will close the festival, while Maggie Greenwald’s Sophie And The Rising Sun is the Salt Lake City Gala Film. Heid Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Norman Lear: Just Another Version Of You is a Day One Film.
The Premieres line-up introduces Indignation, the feature directorial debut from former Focus Features CEO and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon screenwriter James Schamus, and the latest world premieres from John Carney, Kenneth Lonergan, Ira Sachs and Diego Luna.
The Documentary Premieres section encompass latest films from Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Liz Garbus and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
The Spotlight...
- 12/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
My Golden Days director Arnaud Desplechin Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
With the 53rd New York Film Festival now in full swing and the visit of Pope Francis to New York ongoing, here are four more films to look forward to. Stig Björkman's portrait on Ingrid Bergman with Liv Ullmann, Sigourney Weaver, Jeanine Basinger and her children providing personal memories accompany Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words and Arnaud Desplechin's resplendent My Golden Days (Trois Souvenirs De Ma Jeunesse) stars Mathieu Amalric, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, Quentin Dolmaire and André Dussollier. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives fame) has his Cemetery Of Splendour, starring Jenjira Pongpas Widner, haunting us, and Brian De Palma discussing his films with Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow in De Palma will keep you awake.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center raises the curtain with six free opening day screenings in celebration of 25 years for The Film.
With the 53rd New York Film Festival now in full swing and the visit of Pope Francis to New York ongoing, here are four more films to look forward to. Stig Björkman's portrait on Ingrid Bergman with Liv Ullmann, Sigourney Weaver, Jeanine Basinger and her children providing personal memories accompany Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words and Arnaud Desplechin's resplendent My Golden Days (Trois Souvenirs De Ma Jeunesse) stars Mathieu Amalric, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, Quentin Dolmaire and André Dussollier. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives fame) has his Cemetery Of Splendour, starring Jenjira Pongpas Widner, haunting us, and Brian De Palma discussing his films with Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow in De Palma will keep you awake.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center raises the curtain with six free opening day screenings in celebration of 25 years for The Film.
- 9/25/2015
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Dear Fernando,Did you catch Tsai Ming-liang’s masterpiece Journey to the West at the festival last year? Those hoping that Tsai’s follow-up after that exhilaratingly pure film and the majestically decayed Stray Dogs would have a similarly expansive vision will be disappointed by Afternoon, a two-odd-hour, four-take long video conversation between the director and his inseparable actor-muse-alter-ego-best-friend, Lee Kang-sheng, made as a gallery installation to accompany Stray Dogs but shown in a cinema at Tiff. Yet by its very nature Tsai’s sorrowful minimalism has never been more emotional. The director is a veritable blabbermouth, and whether spurned on either by the mysterious motivation for the project, his interlocuting actor’s dry silence, or nervousness in the presence of the quite noticable camera crew (awkwardly tipping their heads in the frame, taking photographs, and later even asking questions as the conversation dwindles), Tsai Ming-liang nervously but avidly, movingly...
- 9/20/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Cemetery of Splendour
Written and Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2015, Thailand/UK/Germany/France
The unconscious dream state that connects each of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films begins in his latest when frequent collaborator, Jenjira Pongpas (Her characters’ names devolving film to film from ‘Pa Jane’, ‘Jen’ and now simply ‘Je’), stumbles into the frame with her ft. high platform sandal keeping her stumpy left leg in proportion with her right. This familiar image is the proverbial blanket Weerasethakul pulls over his audience, tucking the viewers into his familiar world, allowing for a communal drift into his drowsy landscapes. It’s only a testament to Weesrasethakul’sself awareness as a filmmaker that he has a narcoleptic soldier drop into a lethargic mess as we see him glance upon a movie screen, reflecting how he makes his films onto the characters who inhabit them. This scene, among others, provides a self reflexive exploration of Weerasethakul’s oeuvre,...
Written and Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2015, Thailand/UK/Germany/France
The unconscious dream state that connects each of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films begins in his latest when frequent collaborator, Jenjira Pongpas (Her characters’ names devolving film to film from ‘Pa Jane’, ‘Jen’ and now simply ‘Je’), stumbles into the frame with her ft. high platform sandal keeping her stumpy left leg in proportion with her right. This familiar image is the proverbial blanket Weerasethakul pulls over his audience, tucking the viewers into his familiar world, allowing for a communal drift into his drowsy landscapes. It’s only a testament to Weesrasethakul’sself awareness as a filmmaker that he has a narcoleptic soldier drop into a lethargic mess as we see him glance upon a movie screen, reflecting how he makes his films onto the characters who inhabit them. This scene, among others, provides a self reflexive exploration of Weerasethakul’s oeuvre,...
- 8/18/2015
- by James Waters
- SoundOnSight
HONG KONG -- Fortissimo Films has acquired worldwide rights to Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century, one of seven films commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival that is part of Vienna's Mozart Year. The festival, which runs Nov. 14-Dec. 13, has invited international artists from diverse cultures to show works and interpretations of Mozart's ideas and visions. Thailand's Syndromes stars Nuntarut Sawaddikul, Nuntarut Jaruchai Leamaram, Jaruchai Nu Nimsomboon, Tow Sophon Pookanok, Sophon Arkaney Cherkham, Arkaney Sin Kaewpakpin, Sin Sakda Kaewbuadee and Jenjira Jansuda.
- 5/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HONG KONG -- Fortissimo Films has acquired worldwide rights to Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century, one of seven films commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival that is part of Vienna's Mozart Year. The festival, which runs Nov. 14-Dec. 13, has invited international artists from diverse cultures to show works and interpretations of Mozart's ideas and visions. Thailand's Syndromes stars Nuntarut Sawaddikul, Nuntarut Jaruchai Leamaram, Jaruchai Nu Nimsomboon, Tow Sophon Pookanok, Sophon Arkaney Cherkham, Arkaney Sin Kaewpakpin, Sin Sakda Kaewbuadee and Jenjira Jansuda.
- 5/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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