"Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" (ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ) won the 2010 Palm d'Or at Cannes. A Thai film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and proclaimed "A Modern Masterpiece" on the cover of the DVD. It is so, but with the same clarity of conception as Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" gave to its audience in 1916. It is other worldly. Ideas, images, time itself move in a way that breaks the plain of contemporary western story telling. One moment the film seems magical and profound and the next sophomoric and amateur. Often more is communicated in the moments without dialogue than in those carefully crafted and language-centric scenes where all other movement is suppressed.
This is not an easy film, and it will not find a wide appeal. It is; however, an interesting film in many ways, chief among which is its concept. At its core it is about ideas, relationships, juxtapositions and enigmas.
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