Syndromes and a Century
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Screenplay: Apichatpong
Weerasethakul. Cinematography: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. Film editing: Lee Chatametikool. Art direction: Akekarat Homlaor. Producers: Charles de Meaux, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. With: Arkanae Cherkam, Jaruchai Iamaram, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Nu Nimsomboon, Jenjira Pongpas, Sophon Pukanok, Nantarat Sawaddikul. Thailand/France/Austria. In Thai. 103 min. 2006. Original title: Sang sattawat.Weerasethakul is almost universally regarded as Thailand’s most gifted filmmaker, but that shouldn’t be allowed to obscure his status as one of *anywhere’s* most gifted filmmakers. This characteristically offbeat drama is arguably his finest work since “Mysterious Object at Noon,” his inimitable debut feature of 2000. Then again, “Blissfully Yours” and “Tropical Malady” were also amazing, so let’s call them all his finest work. This time the film unfolds its leisurely, loosely strung story at a Thai hospital (the filmmaker’s parents were physicians) in two different time periods, identifiable not through narrative developments but through changes in mood, atmosphere, and ambience. Few movies in memory have cast such a powerful aesthetic spell—it’s hard to gauge passage through time or space except by submitting to the film’s beguiling surfaces and letting them wash over you like a current of water or wind. This is cinema of the most advanced and astonishing kind. – David Sterritt
