Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendor is a quietly intoxicating examination of humanities' relationship with nature, life, and death, being another enigmatic film from the celebrated Thai director that challenges the viewer to see the world in a truly singular way. Much of the film takes place at a temporary clinic, where soldiers suffer from a mysterious sleeping sickness, which leaves them despondent and bed-ridden. At this clinic is where we meet lonesome housewife and volunteer Jenjira, who tends to the soldiers. The doctors explore many ways to treat this sleeping sickness, including colored light therapy which attempts to aid each of the patient's troubled dreams, but perhaps it' s young Keng who provides the most essential treatment, a young medium, who uses her psychic powers to help these young, comatose soldiers communicate with their loved ones. In this setting, Jenjira comes face to face with her own existentialism, with the memory-filled spaces of comatose soldiers offering a revelatory world for her, where she reflects on her life. An enigmatic exploration of existential issues that is hypnotic, transfixing, and touching, Cemetery of Splendor is a film that quietly forces the viewer to accept the fantastical aspects of everyday life, with Weerasethakul evoking a sense of true appreciation for how large the world is around us, expressing how truly amazing the gift of life in this world truly is, and how much we as human beings can take it for granted. Shot almost exclusively with steady compositions, Cemetery of Splendor has a quiet sense of underlying sadness enveloping the whole film, as the serene, natural setting provides a beautiful juxtaposition with those soldier's suffering from the mysterious sleeping sickness. I've always appreciated the grounded supernatural and mystical elements of Weerasethakul's films, with Cemetery of Splendor being no exception, using a naturalistic approach and well selected photography to evoke this mysticism surrounding its characters, with the sounds of nature and lush setting capturing man's relationship with nature, a type of atmosphere that leads to characters being confronted in one way or another by existential questions. Through the character of Jenjira, Cemetary of Splendor touches on regret and the uncertainties of life, but also the opulence of modern day life, how humanity has grown apart from nature, busied by materialism. One of my favorite sequences of the entire film involves a beautiful transition between a busy set of escalators in a mall and the hospital beds of the sleeping soldiers, a beautiful juxtaposition by Weerasethakui that contrasts the hustle and bustle of modern society with the stillness of these dying soldiers, a sequence that is powerful in its simplicity. There is also a sequence on the lake front, where characters routinely switch seats among the benches like a game of musical chairs, a simple, almost odd scene that i'd argue is Weerasethakui's way of commenting on the uncertainty and indecisiveness of life, with these characters exhibiting uncertainty about exactly where they want to sit and what they want to do, or be. The films of Weerasethakui are certainly not for everyone, being enigmatic filmmaking that challenges the viewer from start to finish. That being said, for those willing to take a chance, Cemetery of Splendor is a quietly transfixing experience, that raises existential questions about humanity's relationship with life and death.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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