This year’s Palme d’Or winner is an enigmatic piece of borderline-experimental cinema that demands a lot from its audience. It’s painfully slow-moving and, much worse, visually underwhelming. But if you put in enough background research – Buddhism and 20th century Thai history, for starters – or somehow find intuitive access, you might find it mesmerizing, metaphorical and poetic.
UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES | Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand et al. 2010) with Sakda Kaewbuadee. Opens in Berlin cinemas on September 30.