the third weerasethakul film i have seen ‘tropical malady’ is sliced into two languorous halves by a refracting mirror. on one side is the seemingly gentle development of a gradual attraction between a soldier and a young uneducated village boy; and on the other a folk tale about a tiger spirit and a shaman being stalked by and stalking a soldier. the line in between the two might be making two sides of the same story told in two different ways, or one might be real and the other a dream – though which part is real is dubious. in the parallel tales that develop are themes of the animal nature of man, of civilization and its systems of restriction, and of love – not the easy, pleasant love of numerous romantic films; but love as a visceral force pulling us out of comfort into the unknown. love in the film is a tremendous being taking us into the wild, the animal- within ourselves, as we rediscover our primitive core, and outside in the sublime experience of watching the trembling shadows of leaves in the forest alone at night.
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