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CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR
(122 minutes)
Forum: August 2, 1.30pm;
Hoyts 10: August 15, 1.30pm
Fans of Thai poet-cineaste Apichatpong Weerasethakul (or, more plainly, Joe) will not be disappointed with his new work Cemetery of Splendour, in which the past seeps up through the present and the spiritual becomes tangible as seductively as ever.
Returning to his home ground – the lush jungles and animist villagers of the north-east of Thailand – Joe picks up on the true story of an unexplained outbreak of narcolepsy within a single company of Thai soldiers, turning it to his own mystical purposes.
Regular collaborator Jenjira Ponpas Widner plays Jen, a middle-aged hospital volunteer who develops a silent bond with sleeping soldier Itt; during his few waking moments, he seems just as drawn to her. Keng, a medium working with patients' families, channels his spirit so that Jen can share his sleeping life too.
Centuries ago, he tells her, this hospital site was a cemetery for kings who are now sapping the modern soldiers' spirits, sending them to fight long-ago wars.
Strange, yes, but the story feels entirely grounded; it is not that the very serious Joe literally believes in spirits as much as he wants the freedom to drift in a world of metaphor. Succumb to his vision and the experience can feel transcendent.
