21
May/13

BOOED AT CANNES: TROPICAL MALADY

21
May/13
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s TROPICAL MALADY was both booed and celebrated at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s TROPICAL MALADY was both booed and celebrated at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival

TROPICAL MALADY (SUD PRALAD) (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Thursday, May 23, 4:30, 7:00 & 9:30
Series runs through May 23
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.kickthemachine.com

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Jury Prize at Cannes for this beautiful, mystical work that will thoroughly engage you — if you allow it to. Part tender love story between a country boy (Banlop Lomnoi) and a soldier (Dakda Kaewbuadee), part folktale set in the deep forests of Thailand, Tropical Malady is a like a visual poem in which details are not as important as the overall effect, which is intoxicating. The unorthodox film features ghosts, a shape-shifter, unusual characters, and a playful sense of humor that come together to form a subtle meditation on life and love. Weerasethakul once again displays the gentle, captivating narrative technique that lies at the heart of his oeuvre, which also includes such works as Blissfully Yours, Syndromes and a Century, and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Own Lives. Tropical Malady is screening on May 23 at BAM, concluding the BAMcinématek series “Booed at Cannes,” consisting of films that did not exactly thrill the Cannes glitterati but have gone on to gain their own unique reputations. In the case of Tropical Malady, while some people at Cannes walked out on the film and others stuck around to boo it, Quentin Tarantino headed the group that awarded it the Jury Prize.