Apichatpong's universe: the Many Dimensions of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives | Dianne Daley

Summary: Thai filmmaker, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, has been surprising, delighting and confounding viewers and critics since his first feature, Mysterious Object at Noon (Dokfa nai meuman, 2000). When Apichatpong’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chat, 2010) won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year, it was remarkable on many counts – one of very few Asian/Southeast Asian films to have won this award; a film shot on Super 16 mm, using old-fashioned techniques such as a mirrors, rather than computer graphics to create a ghostly apparition; and a fairytale quality with bizarre twists such as a catfish and a princess having sex and a long lost son returning as an ape. Internationally, Uncle Boonmee confirmed what many have claimed, that Apichatpong is one of the most important filmmakers of the past decade. But critics and theorists struggle to categorise his films, which appear to defy translation and frequently are described as poetic or mysterious. Like his other features, Uncle Boonmeeis on the one hand, quite simple and on the other hand, extremely complex, with an intricate interweaving of cinematic elements and structure. It bears little resemblance to classical narrative storytelling and particularly explores possibilities in relation to time and space, with a focus on animism, while simultaneously considering cinema and the filmmaking process. This paper, a work in progress, draws largely on Buddhism, animism, and phenomenology to delve into the many dimensions of Uncle Boonmee in order to produce a deeper insight. Dianne Daley teaches at RMIT University’s Melbourne city campus and is a doctoral candidate in Film and Television Studies at Monash University, Clayton, with the thesis topic: “A new dimension for cinema: gazing empathetically at the experimental narratives of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul.” She has worked as a journalist, in corporate communications and film and television production, including a Thai documentary film company. Her long-held interest in Buddhism includes the Thai forest tradition.