When it was announced that Cemetery of Splendour, the latest film from Palme d'Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, was to play in Cannes as part of the Un Certain Regard section there was some scratching of heads. That sidebar is seen as the more outré and dangerous of the official competitions. Could Cemetery of Splendour really be more elliptical than the Thai director's Syndromes and a Century or Palme-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives?
The mystery continues. Though still odder than squirrels in sombreros, the Thai director's latest film is probably his most conventional yet. The story focuses on a group of soldiers who, while digging up a site for potentially sinister reasons, fall foul of an inexplicable form of narcolepsy. Offering an image that recalls both Syndromes and Boonmee, the patients are seen recovering in a hospital whose windows open on to the jungle. The story then spins itself around Itt (Banlip Lomnoi), one of the victims, Keng (Jarinpattra Rueangram), a young volunteer who seems to be a medium, and an older volunteer Jenjira (Jenjira Pongpas Widner), who is married to an American.
Weerasethakul indulges in his taste – exercised in much of his gallery-based art – for drawing mystery and beauty from mechanical objects: a ceiling fan, compact hydro-electric water wheels. There are also, as is often the case with this director, ancient forces working their way into the walking world. But for the most part, Cemetery of Splendour hugs close to everyday reality. The three main characters stroll about the baking surroundings and obliquely tease out various philosophical issues and matters of utter inconsequentiality.
Although the film is short on bravura shots – one typically puzzling scene of an amoeba creeping across the sky noted – it is every bit as sleepily seductive as Weerasethakul’s best work. One leaves the cinema refreshed and revivified.
