3/15/2023 0 Comments Memoria movieThough Weerasethkul wouldn’t ever say that or give us any clues. I was left with a strange, though touching, sense of neutral uncertainty suspended with Jessica’s determined sound: as if it was some micro-echo of the big bang that created a universe or the whimper after we’ve ended our world. Jessica’s sound ‘threat’ might be overcome or she will have to live with it. Despite a possible alien force a dog from Jessica’s sister’s dream following her the disappearance of helpers and a Jessica who might succumb to panic attacks this is no dystopian affair. Yet Memoria’s spiritual search (beautifully realised by Tilda Swinton’s superb performance) isn’t to be de-railed by the caring humour of Syndromes. Whilst Blow-Up’s famous tennis court sequence, minus racket and ball, with only tennis sounds, questions our perception of reality as acutely as any of Weerasethkul’s cinematic illusions (My favourite Weerasethkul film is probably Syndromes and a Century – a serene blend of comedic drama and spiritual refection). She’s aided by a recording engineer to recreate the sound in his studio (Though we never find out what makes this noise or where exactly it’s coming from). Similarly Memoria offers Tilda Swinton an auditory mystery. In Antonioni’s film a photographer has captured more than the image of two lovers in a London park: after constantly blowing up the negatives David Hemmings discovers what appears to be a dead body. However Memoria also appears to share with Blow Up an obsessional search to discover a relative truth and meaning. The sound of falling rain, machinery, car alarms, memories of children and friends’ voices become embroidered on the soundtrack almost as a consequence of the strange thumping noise trailing Jessica. In Memoria he begins to explore sound design more deeply. The static Warhol shot of a building and more importantly Copolla and Walter Murch’s mix of surveillance activity sounds and modern jazz equally fascinate Weerasethakul. Weerasethakul employs long held shots dwelling on the profound or inconsequential moment – though often challenging us to really know the difference. The director’s list of his all time favourite films includes Coppola’s The Conversation and Andy Warhol’s Empire. Yet this is not the case with experimental methods. Initially she’s reluctant to prescribe drugs and instead gives Jessica a leaflet about Jesus (that last prescriptive touch being a lovely example of Weerasethakul’s wit).Ĭommentators on Weerasethakul’s films talk of their very Asian sensibility rejecting traditional Western film narrative. On visiting a recording engineer Jessica describes it as sounding like “a ball of concrete hitting a metal wall surrounded by seawater” and also as a “rumble from the core of the earth.” Unable to escape from the thumping noise Jessica visits a doctor who says that local people suffer auditory hallucinations. One night she is woken up by a mysterious noise. Weerasethakul’s concerns have been deepened by a plot less, but rigorous, scenario depicting dreams, animism, re-incarnation, surreal happenings, the transience of time and memory all still sheltered under the umbrella of a Buddhist void.Īs for the bare bones of the story – Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton) is a Scottish woman botanist who is visiting her sick sister Karen (Agnes Brekke) in hospital in the city of Bogota. And in Memoria this vision has now shifted from his native Thailand to Latin America. It’s a humane, playful and transparent vision. They are metaphysical, puzzling and mysteriously absurd with an integrity and tenderness which prevents them from toppling into craziness: all convey a Buddhist tinged perception of things continually questioning the illusory nature of surface appearances. His films are serenely spacey and dreamlike. It’s as if Weerasethakul was irreverently saying to his audience, “Well if you want my enigmatic Memoria to be ‘explained’ a bit of SF might help you out”.īut Weerasethakul’s cinema can’t be comfortably grounded. The magic monkey (apparently an invention of the director and not Thai folklore) of his film Uncle Bonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives has been seen as a referential nod towards Star Wars. Apichatpong Weerasethakul loves to tease. Memoria can’t really be categorised as science fiction. I wouldn’t want to speculate that she’s been abducted by an alien power. Rayns goes on to suggest that the film’s strange hermit man, deep in conversation about memories both individual, historic and cosmic, with Tilda Swinton, may or may not be an alien.Īfter the UFO sighting we don’t see Tilda Swinton again. A whale-shaped space craft, barely camouflaged by the flora and rocks of the Columbian countryside ascends to fly away leaving a shining white circle that quickly disappears. Without spoiling your enjoyment of Memoria I think it’s permissible to reveal a very brief, and very generic, SF moment that only critic Tony Rayns has commented on.
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