This is such a warm, engaging and magically entertaining film. The narrative begins in the early eighties at a hospital in rural Thailand and mostly follows a young, strong-willed female doctor as she negotiates her position in a world divided by traditional beliefs systems and late-modern efficiency. The second half seemingly takes place in the present but tells (more or less) the same story with many of the same actors, focusing mostly on a young male doctor (we meet him in the first section) working in a very modern, urban hospital. I can’t tell you what it all means–Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a kinder, gentler David Lynch–but the film has a kind of dreamy, Proustian quality as it dances lightly around such themes as time, memory, repetition, and the mystery and impermanence of beauty. Of course, Syndromes is very elliptical but not frustratingly so (its ninety-minute running time breezes by). In fact, I’d describe the tone of the film as comically effervescent. In terms of form, this may be one of the most beautifully shot films I’ve seen all year.
i must say that the comic aspect of this film or its effervescence didn’t quite jump out at me, but then i never see comedy anywhere except in italian films in which people do things like fall down the stairs or fall off their bicycles or fall on banana peels and land on their asses, or in borat. in any case, yes, i loved this too. i found it riveting, while simon next to me fought hard not to throw a hard object at the tv screen. riveted is the last thing he was. go figure.
the netflix people helpfully tell us that the director recounts his parents’ first encounter, so that’s what i took the film to “mean,” though of course since the two parts, which at first seem to be a his/her affair, are set in different places and possibly different times, this doesn’t make a lot of sense.
there are some gently humorous moments (the monks, the dentist — okay, the dentist is actually hilarious), but the charm of this film is, as jeff says, in the really effective visuals, and, in the second part, in the dreamy, lovely musical soundtrack.
how nice it is to be drawn into a film and grabbed in such a sensual, soothing, mesmerizing way. i feel as if i had just been given a backrub by kurt! thanks jeff for recommending this.