Tag: Jenjira Pongpas

REVIEW: สุดเสน่หา [Sud sanaeha] [Blissfully Yours] [2002]

Jared Mobarak

I feel like hitting someone. After witnessing the arrest of two young Burmese women while shooting his previous film in Bangkok, Apichatpong Weerasethakul decided to create a new work depicting the political injustice caused by growing tensions between Thailand’s government and illegal immigrants. Because those familiar with his oeuvre know he’s built his career upon glacially paced narratives that do more to conjure mood than advance plot, the declaration that the aforementioned incident inspired him to “cast the sun as [his] main character” in สุดเสน่หา [Sud sanaeha] [Blissfully Yours] proves…

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REVIEW: ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ [Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives] [2010]

Jared Mobarak

“I’ll find my way back to help you” I think there is a major cultural divide for me watching the Palme D’or winning Thai film ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ [Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives] from writer/director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. There is such spirituality to its display of Boonmee’s (Thanapat Saisaymar) final days that I can’t begin to comprehend in my Americanism. Between watching his memories as a cow or a catfish in previous lives and the absolute believability that people can either move on towards heaven or stay as ghosts, I…

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