Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives [DVD]

Perfect for those who really, really, enjoyed The Shape of Water.Now that I've gotten that joke out of my system, in all seriousness, it's a beautiful, strange film intentionally shot in six different visual styles. It's both baffling and deeply moving, with moments of magical realism and thoughtfully composed, authentic daily life. There's very little artifice in this film.That being said, it's an arthouse film that isn't for casual viewers, who will likely find it confusing and overly slow-paced.

Most movies and novels insist that reality makes sense, "it's the way things really are," but if you think about it, fiction is a mock-up. Fictional plots for even the most mundane and "identifiable" stories require that you, the reader or viewer, accept that life has foreshadowings and climaxes and anticlimaxes and resolutions and make-believe people who are "developed" as they are put through whatever fictional machinery someone (maybe God?) has constructed. Perhaps it's easier for Buddhists to accept that reality is largely illusion. We Westerners are "trained" to accept a Western director's point-of-view: Events can be at first mystifying but eventually they're resolved; what happens in plots happens in life (we don't take kindly to ghosts sitting down at the dinner table); a fictional person's life is a succession of experiences which are like our own or, at any rate, our experiences are enough like those of the fictional person that we can accept them as plausible. Well, of course, "Uncle Boonmee" sidesteps these preconceptions, and this can feel as though the movie's attacking us, our sense of reality, and trying our patience. We're not children after all (who actually have more patience than adults, sometimes, to lose themselves in a dream of princesses and magic catfish and empathetic water buffalo and a world where no one ever really goes away. Death is part of the dream. I think that when you're really stumped by a piece of fiction, a movie or a book, it sometimes helps to think about the title. It also helps to trust the writer or director. If elements of the film are beautifully done (like "Uncle Boonmee's" cinematography and acting and art direction), then it's possible that the writer or director cared enough also to want to convey ideas and feelings that are important to him, and wants you to see they're important as well. Does the movie present us with scenes that might reflect Boonmee's past life? Well, you can bristle and refuse to say that the scenes with the soldiers and the straying buffalo and the princess and the fish are somehow Boonmee's past lives. And it's okay to bristle and refuse. After all, the viewer deserves some help, a few hints, a little stronger plot structure. Alas, you don't get much of that with this film (the reason this is only a four-star review). On the other hand, if you accept that somehow everything that happens in this movie is "part" of Boonmee, things may grow clearer. And there really are hints, mostly in things the characters say: Hunmay the ghost tells Boonmee that heaven isn't very interesting--it's empty for one thing--and anyway that it's people that ghosts cling to, not places. The son-who-is-an-ape says that life among the ape people is much more interesting than his life as a human (no offense to his human family). Perhaps that means that the consciousnesses of ape people and water buffalo and the insects that deserve not to be stepped on--maybe all of these have awareness and an inner life as rich as us benighted humans. Maybe the Buddhists have hit on something: You have to keep going through these sometimes inexplicable experiences we call "lives" and "deaths" until you get it right...or maybe until you just get it.

Uncle Boonmee is a stunning movie and a treat for someone willing to invest in it. With that being said, it doesn't make for a great casual watch or a movie that is all on the surface (Go rent an Expendables movie if you're looking for pure spectacle based action entertainment). The movie is stunning in the way it tells it's stories, deals with spiritualism and nativity, creates unbelievable soundscapes, and amazingly beautiful shots (while being shot on 16mm film no less!).Bottom line.It's a great movie for the film advocate, but I understand the issues a casual viewer would have with it.

terrible video and lighting, don't recommend

One of the greatest films ever made. If you like slow, intelligent, and unique cinema then look no further. If you’re an ignorant person who thinks anything from Asian culture is weird than steer clear, you’re too dumb for this movie.

Uncle Boonmee is often beautiful to watch but sad, strange, depressing all come to mind also. I bought this DVD and should have rented it. I love Thailand and Thai culture and believe in reincarnation; but, somehow this movie left me more unsettled than I would like to admit to. I do recommend it but at your own risk.

I was so excited when I read the reviews. But this movie made little sense to me. There is a scene where a princess shows up in the jungle without explaining who she is or why she is there, she get's into a lake to be with a talking fish. The fish then kills her by... going between her legs. ??? It was an immensely slow film, which doesn't generally bother me. But it was like several little films all edited together without explanation. The ending was slow and yet abrupt at the same time and I couldn't quite tell you what happened. This cost too much money for what it was. This is a difficult film to understand the storyline, which is disappointing because the beginning was good.

It took me ten years between my first and second viewing of Uncle Boonme to understand how brilliant this film is. Apichatpong's subtle genius is on display in all its glory.