Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 3.5
Weerasethakul's continued exploration of the spiritual and material worlds has crippled housewife Jenjira (Jenjira Pongpas Widner) and a "psychic" both spending time in a hospital (that used to be a palace ... then a cemetery ... then a school) where Thai soldiers have a sleeping disorder and can, at any time, wake up or pass out. Glides gracefully on its own sense of whimsy and wonder, with odd details littered around to engage the mind and eye (the glowing breathing machines are out of a sci-fi film) and plenty of symbolic connections: fields are being dug up to unearth ... something, and yet children play soccer around the dirt, not caring about what could be under there (let the past be the past?), the unresponsive soldiers are in a kind of "limbo" between life and death, two female 'gods' become human and thank Jenjira for her offerings (after trying to sell her cloth). "Europeans are living the American Dream," Jenjira says at one point ... post-Brexit, I'm not so sure about that.
