Why did you grow your hair so long?

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

(2010)

Thai Palme d’Or winner that might be accused of having a misleading title, as there is very little suggestion of past lives in the film; there’s a sequence concerning a princess who becomes a catfish, but the recall in question appears to amount more to a series of casual, narratively fragile remembrances of Boonmee’s current life (as he is surrounded by ghosts in his final hours).

The pace is slow, almost somnambulant, with the effect that at times events unfold hypnotically (particular since the characters interact in a calmed and placid manner). But there is also a rich seam of humour, not least during the dinner table scenes where figures from Boonmee’s past arrive (including the strikingly visualized “ghost monkey” that features on the film’s posters). Indeed, the languorous pace and deadpan vibe occasionally put me in mind of Jarmusch.

It’s been suggested that the remembrances of the past and meanderings into history and myth represent a commentary on Thailand itself but, while there are clearly subtexts strewn through it, the overall tone doesn’t lend a strong sense of political, or any other, commentary.

****

The Illumi-what-i?

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That, my lad, was a dragon.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) (SPOILERS) It’s alarming how quickly Peter Jackson sabotaged all the goodwill he amassed in the wake of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. A guy who started out directing deliciously deranged homemade horror movies ended up taking home the Oscar for a fantasy movie, of all genres. And then he blew it. He went from a filmmaker whose naysayers were the exception to one whose remaining cheerleaders are considered slightly maladjusted. The Desolation of Smaug recovers some of the territory Jackson has lost over the last decade, but he may be too far-gone to ever regain his crown. Perhaps in years to come The Lord of the Rings trilogy will be seen as an aberration in his filmography. There’s a cartoonishness to the gleeful, twisted anarchy on display in his earlierr work that may be more attuned to the less verimilitudinous aspects of King Kong and The Hobbit s. The exceptions are his female-centric character dramas, Heavenly Creat

Gizmo caca!

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All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies.

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