Dain Iskandar Said’s second feature was his most successful, premiering at Toronto in 2011, winning the Netpac award from the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, becoming only the second film in the history of Malay cinema to be submitted to the Academy and winning eight awards. Let us see what it is all about though.
The film primarily takes place in the rural Malaysian town of Bunohan, which is located close to the Thai border. Adil is a young kick-boxer who has fallen deeply into debt, with little hope of paying his creditors honestly. In desperation, Adil agrees to an illegal high-stakes death match at a boxing club on the other side of the border, but in the midst of the fight, with Adil losing badly, his best friend Muski bursts into the ring and breaks up the match, dragging Adil away. This upsets the promoters of the fight,...
The film primarily takes place in the rural Malaysian town of Bunohan, which is located close to the Thai border. Adil is a young kick-boxer who has fallen deeply into debt, with little hope of paying his creditors honestly. In desperation, Adil agrees to an illegal high-stakes death match at a boxing club on the other side of the border, but in the midst of the fight, with Adil losing badly, his best friend Muski bursts into the ring and breaks up the match, dragging Adil away. This upsets the promoters of the fight,...
- 10/31/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
CANNES -- Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethaku makes experimental films outside that country's studio system. Rigorously uncommercial and for most viewers impenetrable, his second feature, "Tropical Malady", will prove a strain for even his loyal fans. Certainly for most audiences the viewing experience will prove not only tedious but bewildering. If the walkouts and boos mingled with applause at its press screening here mean anything, the film may stump the art-film crowd as well.
The film comes in two parts. In the first, a young soldier Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) falls for a country boy named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee). They sit around with his Tong's mother, listening to the sounds of the night air. Away from his home, Keng kisses and fondles Tong's hand. (Whatever does that mean? one wonders.)
Then the screen goes blank and we are meant to understand that Tong has disappeared. Now we enter the folkloric section of the movie, in which the soldier enters the jungle looking for Tong or a ghost or a wild beast that is slaughtering cows. It is not clear.
This section is shot at night in a jungle in northeast Thailand. This effectively keeps the screen nearly pitch black so one is lucky to see anything. The highlight comes when a monkey is glimpsed and his gibbering is given subtitled dialogue. Later a tiger appears, but isn't given anything to say.
Finally, a ghost appears in the form of a naked man who wrestles and apparently defeats the soldier. Hard to say though since this, too, takes place in the dark. Which is where Weerasethakul leaves his audience for most of the film.
TROPICAL MALADY
An Anna Sanders Films production co-produced by TIFA Downtown Pictures, Thoke+Moebius film and Kick the Machine
Credits:
Writer/director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Producers: Paiboon Damrongchaithaqm, Marco Muller, Christoph Thoke, Axel Moebius, Pantham Thongsang
Directors of photography: Vichit Tanapaniktch, Jarin Pengpanitch, Jean Louis Vialard
Production designer: Akekarat Homiaor
Costume designer: Pilaitip Jamniam
Editor: Lee Chatamethikool
Cast:
Keng: Banlop Lomnoi
Tong: Sakda Kaewbuadee
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
The film comes in two parts. In the first, a young soldier Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) falls for a country boy named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee). They sit around with his Tong's mother, listening to the sounds of the night air. Away from his home, Keng kisses and fondles Tong's hand. (Whatever does that mean? one wonders.)
Then the screen goes blank and we are meant to understand that Tong has disappeared. Now we enter the folkloric section of the movie, in which the soldier enters the jungle looking for Tong or a ghost or a wild beast that is slaughtering cows. It is not clear.
This section is shot at night in a jungle in northeast Thailand. This effectively keeps the screen nearly pitch black so one is lucky to see anything. The highlight comes when a monkey is glimpsed and his gibbering is given subtitled dialogue. Later a tiger appears, but isn't given anything to say.
Finally, a ghost appears in the form of a naked man who wrestles and apparently defeats the soldier. Hard to say though since this, too, takes place in the dark. Which is where Weerasethakul leaves his audience for most of the film.
TROPICAL MALADY
An Anna Sanders Films production co-produced by TIFA Downtown Pictures, Thoke+Moebius film and Kick the Machine
Credits:
Writer/director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Producers: Paiboon Damrongchaithaqm, Marco Muller, Christoph Thoke, Axel Moebius, Pantham Thongsang
Directors of photography: Vichit Tanapaniktch, Jarin Pengpanitch, Jean Louis Vialard
Production designer: Akekarat Homiaor
Costume designer: Pilaitip Jamniam
Editor: Lee Chatamethikool
Cast:
Keng: Banlop Lomnoi
Tong: Sakda Kaewbuadee
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
CANNES -- Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethaku makes experimental films outside that country's studio system. Rigorously uncommercial and for most viewers impenetrable, his second feature, "Tropical Malady", will prove a strain for even his loyal fans. Certainly for most audiences the viewing experience will prove not only tedious but bewildering. If the walkouts and boos mingled with applause at its press screening here mean anything, the film may stump the art-film crowd as well.
The film comes in two parts. In the first, a young soldier Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) falls for a country boy named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee). They sit around with his Tong's mother, listening to the sounds of the night air. Away from his home, Keng kisses and fondles Tong's hand. (Whatever does that mean? one wonders.)
Then the screen goes blank and we are meant to understand that Tong has disappeared. Now we enter the folkloric section of the movie, in which the soldier enters the jungle looking for Tong or a ghost or a wild beast that is slaughtering cows. It is not clear.
This section is shot at night in a jungle in northeast Thailand. This effectively keeps the screen nearly pitch black so one is lucky to see anything. The highlight comes when a monkey is glimpsed and his gibbering is given subtitled dialogue. Later a tiger appears, but isn't given anything to say.
Finally, a ghost appears in the form of a naked man who wrestles and apparently defeats the soldier. Hard to say though since this, too, takes place in the dark. Which is where Weerasethakul leaves his audience for most of the film.
TROPICAL MALADY
An Anna Sanders Films production co-produced by TIFA Downtown Pictures, Thoke+Moebius film and Kick the Machine
Credits:
Writer/director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Producers: Paiboon Damrongchaithaqm, Marco Muller, Christoph Thoke, Axel Moebius, Pantham Thongsang
Directors of photography: Vichit Tanapaniktch, Jarin Pengpanitch, Jean Louis Vialard
Production designer: Akekarat Homiaor
Costume designer: Pilaitip Jamniam
Editor: Lee Chatamethikool
Cast:
Keng: Banlop Lomnoi
Tong: Sakda Kaewbuadee
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
The film comes in two parts. In the first, a young soldier Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) falls for a country boy named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee). They sit around with his Tong's mother, listening to the sounds of the night air. Away from his home, Keng kisses and fondles Tong's hand. (Whatever does that mean? one wonders.)
Then the screen goes blank and we are meant to understand that Tong has disappeared. Now we enter the folkloric section of the movie, in which the soldier enters the jungle looking for Tong or a ghost or a wild beast that is slaughtering cows. It is not clear.
This section is shot at night in a jungle in northeast Thailand. This effectively keeps the screen nearly pitch black so one is lucky to see anything. The highlight comes when a monkey is glimpsed and his gibbering is given subtitled dialogue. Later a tiger appears, but isn't given anything to say.
Finally, a ghost appears in the form of a naked man who wrestles and apparently defeats the soldier. Hard to say though since this, too, takes place in the dark. Which is where Weerasethakul leaves his audience for most of the film.
TROPICAL MALADY
An Anna Sanders Films production co-produced by TIFA Downtown Pictures, Thoke+Moebius film and Kick the Machine
Credits:
Writer/director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Producers: Paiboon Damrongchaithaqm, Marco Muller, Christoph Thoke, Axel Moebius, Pantham Thongsang
Directors of photography: Vichit Tanapaniktch, Jarin Pengpanitch, Jean Louis Vialard
Production designer: Akekarat Homiaor
Costume designer: Pilaitip Jamniam
Editor: Lee Chatamethikool
Cast:
Keng: Banlop Lomnoi
Tong: Sakda Kaewbuadee
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
- 5/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.