BEAUTIFUL and surreal, but also culturally mindboggling and - dare I say it - tedious, Uncle Boonmee may have received a rapturous welcome from critics, but it will leave most cinemagoers scratching their heads in confusion or simply nodding off to sleep.
Following a string of acclaimed films, including Blissfully Yours, Tropical Malady and Syndromes and a Century, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s latest feature about a farmer in north eastern Thailand dying of kidney cancer is, at first, an intriguing and spellbinding meditation on the cycle of life, death and rebirth.
While being cared for by relatives, the contemplative Uncle Boonmee is visited by the spirit of his dead wife and missing son, who, as a result of a bizarre sexual encounter with a monkey ghost, has turned into a hairy, red-eyed ape creature.
Over the dinner table the family quiz their surprise guests on the mysteries of the after-life and why their son grew his hair so long, as if the presence of Boonmee’s late spouse and Chewbacca from Star Wars was perfectly normal.
The scene is the beginning of a string of obscure and disconnected supernatural encounters, the strangest of which involves a love scene between a princess and a talking catfish – presumably a flashback from one of Boonmee’s past lives.
With its long-lingering camera shots and gently paced narrative, the film, which won this year’s coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, is mesmerising and hauntingly beautiful at times.
Perhaps I’m just a philistine but Uncle Boonmee is so culturally alien, no amount of critical buzz can help translate the director’s stream of consciousness to a Western audience.
Throw in an incoherent political sub-text and you’ll be as lost in the jungle as Boonmee’s monkey copulating son.
A work of art or a beautiful looking dog turd? Make up your own mind at the London Film Festival, which kicks off tomorrow.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Showing at the London Film Festival on October 17 and October 18. To book and for more information, visit bfi.org.uk/lff
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