I was incredibly happy to hear that Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the top prize, the Palme D’Or, at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Most people have never seen a film by Apichatpong, but if you have you likely had a strong reaction. You may have been bored or confused or both, but you likely didn’t forget the experience. He’s a filmmaker who is remarkably influenced by where he’s from, which is something you can say about many great filmmakers (Allen, Scorcese, De Sica), but in Weerasethakul’s case the influence of his homeland and his beliefs infuses his films with a kind of magic.

I admit I warmed up to his films slowly. The first one I saw was TROPICAL MALADY, and I was completely confused. There was no discernible narrative, the film literally changed into another film halfway through, and I couldn’t begin to tell you what any of it meant. But after subsequently seeing an earlier film of his, BLISSFULLY YOURS, I felt like I got where he was coming from. That film had more of a narrative to be sure, but it also felt like a good primer for Apichatpong’s lyrical style. Armed with this sense of understanding, I could revisit TROPICAL MALADY and view his next film, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY, with full appreciation.

I resisted watching the trailer for his latest, the amazingly-titled UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES, but after it won the Palme I finally gave in. It’s lyrical, haunting, confusing, and you can tell a mile away it’s a film by Weerasethakul. It’s part of an ongoing project he’s been developing called “The PRIMITIVE Project“. More enlightening than trailer is this quote from Apichatpong that I found on the project site talking about the film:

A few years ago I visited a temple near my home and a monk there gave me a little book called “A Man Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” In it, the monk wrote about Boonmee, who could recall his multiple lives in the cities of the northeast. In 2008, I wrote a screenplay inspired by the reincarnation of Boonmee, and started to travel in the region in search of his surviving offspring and relatives. I met his two sons who provided accounts of their father.

He goes on to talk about a short film he made, perhaps a prequel of sorts, called A LETTER TO UNCLE BOONMEE which can be viewed online here. I haven’t yet forked over the $1 to watch it, and I’m not sure I want to before I see the feature. Much of the pleasure of watching Apichatpong’s films comes from not knowing how things will unfold and where the ebb and flow of the narrative will take you. So even though I’ve already read a fair amount about it, I’m going to hold off on learning any more until I get a chance to see the full feature on the big screen.

Sadly, his films have been barely appreciated in his homeland, but it was nice to read this morning that his win at Cannes is inspiring some celebration. The Thai cultural minister Teera Slukpetch was quoted saying “This kind of victory is what we really need at this time of crisis”, and he promised a hero’s welcome when the filmmaker returns to Thailand.

If you’re a fan of Apichatpong or want to learn more about his work and how he does it, I’d recommend watching this interview with him on the Cannes website.