Review of film: “UNCLE BOONMEE – ” [ = Report # 09 on 46th CIFF ]

2010, 09-26:

Review of film: “UNCLE BOONMEE – ”  [ = Report # 09 on 46^th CIFF ]

      Full title = “UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES”

              REPORT # 09 on the 2010 46^th CHICAGO INT’L FILM FESTIVAL =  

This Film was the winner of the 2010 CANNES Film Festival’s highest competitive prize, the “Palme d’Or”, under it’s original Thai title "Loong Boonmee raleuk chat". 

…  In the interest of fairness, I must tell you that the film in-effect centers on elements such as “SPIRITUAL” matters, & that is NOT anywhere near being one of my “favorite” subjects…

…  Uncle Boonmee (THANAPAT SAISAYMAR) is dying from failing kidneys, & decides to spend his last days in the countryside near some of his family members such as his devoted sister Jen (JENJIRA PONGPAS) & her son Tong (SAKDA KAEWBUADEE)…

…  As the movie says at the beginning, there’s an attempt at covering “my PAST lives as an ANIMAL” & affiliated matters leading to (as the Fest Schedule describes it) “…  an enchanting blend of heady spiritual imagery and tender human drama that confronts the largest of questions--  what happens to us after we DIE?”…

…  There are some very CREATIVE shots such as “shadowy” views of oxen & other animals walking thru a forest and “symbolic” images of relatives who’ve “PASSED ON”… 

...  Jen’s sister Huay (who died at 42) suddenly “appears” at Boonmee’s dinner table, “visiting” for the first time in 19 years, and starts talking to the group about the past, etc.  A son who died is seen in a “figurative” sort of red-eyed “animal” form… 

...  Jen and others talk about things such as how prayers were made on their behalf at temples, how spirits and “hungry animals” seem to “sense” Boonmee, and so on…

…  Discussions are held about “monkey ghosts”, bees (?) & other creatures, and a lot of thoughts about “KARMA” (such as how things come “back” to people for being “stubborn” in life)…  At one point, Boonmee speaks of how he feels he killed “too many communists” when he was in the military (to which Jen says encouragingly, “You killed with GOOD INTENTIONS!...”)…

…  Jen ponders about how her father did NOT become a “ghost” (& possibilities “why”)…  There is some good photography around a waterfall, followed by talks about “REFLECTIONS”, scenes with a catfish, & then more talks about ghosts & the like…

…  The film ends with some “REALISTIC” scenes concerning what happens to Boonmee physically & how others react to that, including views of people watching TV as they talk (all of which seems to be sort of at “odds” with the “tone” of the EARLIER sections of the film)…

…  I don’t mean to be “snippy”, but I’m sorry:  while I could appreciate some of the “artistic” elements of the film, I found the whole thing (especially the supposedly “visionary” & “thought-provoking” elements) frequently BORING, to the point I nearly fell ASLEEP during a number of scenes…

…  I found all the “pondering” to be PONDEROUS, & kept saying to myself, if this was the “BEST” film at Cannes, they must have had some really LOUSY ones to choose from (or some very “confused” judges)!... 

...  Sorry, but I can’t honestly rate this as more than like 6.5 out of 10 (& I’m being somewhat “generous” there)…

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