Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
All-Time Favorites
•
1h 53m
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul | 113 mins | 2010
Winner of the 2010 Palme d’Or at Cannes, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s film follows its fatally ill title character (Thanapat Saisaymar) on a final pilgrimage of sorts, traveling the countryside of Thailand’s rural northeast where he encounters long-lost loved ones including an apparition of his dead wife and his son, who makes his prodigal return in the form of a “Monkey Ghost.” A visionary, dreamlike work of lush magic realism that draws from the deep well of Thai mythology and history, proposing an animistic view of the natural world in which there’s nothing unusual about the appearance of a catfish who speaks, and where the possibility of regeneration awaits at the precipice of death.
“Apichatpong, one of my favorite directors, approaches this material with a lush, slow rhythm that’s deeply rooted in the land. I love that it’s less a traditional narrative and more a meditation, where, as Uncle Boonmee prepares for the afterlife, memories and specters of his wife and other mystical beings begin to quietly emerge. It inspires me deeply.” —Tyler Mitchell
Up Next in All-Time Favorites
-
The Last Seduction
Directed by John Dahl | 110 mins | 1994
Skipping town on her husband Clay (Bill Pullman), Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) sets about seducing a series of men into abetting her lethal money-making schemes. The fact that this erotic thriller played initially on TV meant that Fiorentino was ineli... -
35 Shots of Rum
Directed by Claire Denis | 100 mins | 2008
“It’s the best father-daughter movie I can think of. And it’s one of the greatest romances, too… The dance sequence to 'Night Shift' by the Commodores is not able to be described. We are witness to the most magical thing that can happen between two peopl... -
Party Girl
Leaving October 1
Directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer | 94 mins | 1995
With her beguiling presence and spry, screwball energy, Parker Posey made her name as the queen of American indie cinema during its ’90s boom. The recently restored "Party Girl" captures an ascendent Posey in wickedly fine ...
