reports about the formal experimentation in films by thai architect turned filmmaker apichatpong weerasethakul had made me very curious and since i had to see at least some of the films, i downloaded what turned out to be a preview copy of ‘syndromes and a century’, his recent film about the way his parents fell in love – or something like that. divided neatly into two parts with nearly the same dialogue and the same characters. these include a young woman doctor being wooed by another, a monk who develops (almost) a friendship with a dentist who seem to resemble each other. the narrative is mirrored across two different geographies – one a rural hospital set in silent fields and whispering leaves; and the other a sterile humming hospital in the city. the line in between the two parts serves as a distorted mirror. as we begin to make relationships in between the two sides, what we expect to happen does not keeping us involved in a guessing game of pattern recognition and memory. its beautifully made, poetic and gently moving. what a fantastic film!
also yesterday evening mukul, aneek, suresh and me went to prithvi to watch sunils version of the brecht ‘three penny opera’ with lots of singing and dancing. the story is one of a man who seduce the daughter of a rich don of beggars who then uses his power to destroy him.
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