Ahead of his english-language debut Memoria starring Tilda Swinton and premiering at the Cannes film festival this week, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives cemented his international reputation after a series of singular features that include Syndromes and a Century, Tropical Malady and Blissfully Yours. Suffering from kidney failure, Uncle Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the remote forest, an important place from his childhood and, he believes, the possible location of his former existences. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and the spirit of his long lost son returns. It’s haunting, poetic and masterful, creating an enchanted world where fauna and flora converge to convey a magical, sublime atmosphere. Or, as ‘Couple in a Hole’ director Tom Geens commented, “Thinking about it still makes the hairs on the back of my head behave like they are at a 90s illegal rave.”
