By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring: Agnes Brekke | Daniel Giménez Cacho | Jerónimo Barón | Juan Pablo Urrego | Tilda Swinton
Country: china, colombia, france, germany, mexico, qatar, switzerland, thailand, united_kingdom
Year: 2022
Running time: 136
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8399288/reference/
Brett says: “Otherworldly, yet firmly planted in our current existence. Mystical, yet earthy. These are a few of the paradoxes during a screening of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s MEMORIA. It might be better to describe this one as a dreamscape rather than a movie. An ominous thud replays throughout Jessica Holland’s (Tilda Swinton) daily activities. We first get exposure to this during sleep, which in itself is a motif that is presented over and over again alongside the thud. There might be something to be said for the fact that even in our consciousness, we are at times lulled into a sleep-like states of complacency and routine. The thud is just as present and recurring, but we seem to be shocked or appalled by this reality check any time it presents itself amid our hypnotic daily treks. This is coupled with the lurking references to death (or illness by proxy) that hover throughout the film. One particular scene generally revolving around the idea of the ease and nonchalance in which one drifts in and out of death/sleep is an awe-inspiring perspective on how we choose to occupy our respective times on this earth. It is a film with many questions rather than answers, and the observational responsibilities of the viewers of this film certainly fit with that notion. It’s because of meditative films like this that I might excuse myself from taking part in yoga or other physical/emotional cleanses; art like this seems to serve a similar effective cleansing purpose for a viewer like me. 4 cats out of 5“
Chris says: “Weerasethakul’s first film outside Asia is no less experimental than the director’s previous work, thank god. Tilda Swinton’s been an expertly intuitive reactor since her Derek Jarman days, and this might be her most fascinating performance in some time for how she simultaneously commands the screen and also fades into it. Was pretty fascinating (if confounding) after my first viewing; makes more sense after a second viewing but remains, like everything else he has done, slow, enigmatic, surprising and one-of-a-kind. 5 cats”