By Victoria Chin
Thai independent film "Tropical Malady" does more to confuse than to entertain, but according to the audience, maybe you're just not supposed to understand.
Upon emerging from a theater running the Thai film Tropical Malady, audiences seemed unsure, contemplative, and even confused. Which perhaps is the beauty of this film--you're not supposed to understand it. The film opens with a quote from novelist Ton Nakajima: “All of us are by nature wild beasts. Our duty as human beings is to become like trainers who keep their animals in check, and even teach them to perform tasks alien to their bestiality.”
These words seem foreign and even insignificant during the first half of the film, which focuses on a romance between a soldier and a country boy. The two of them seem happy until a villager disappears, upon which rumors start to circulate about a shaman who can transform himself from man to beast. Ah, so maybe the Nakajima quote was relevant? Next, we're launched into the tale of a soldier (but not the one from the first half...or is it?) who wanders into the jungle, presumably to find the shaman. The soldier's presence in the jungle is never directly clarified, because the film's second half has practically no dialogue. According to the director, this portion emphasizes the diversity of sound in the jungle and visions in the darkness. According to me, it demonstrates the consequences of staying in the jungle without human contact: you begin to see men who can turn into animals.
Tropical Malady is definitely not a film for all audiences, especially most American audiences, who are accustomed to Hollywood cinematic convention. This slow-moving film lacks a climactic plot as well as a conclusive ending. It is broken into two pieces that are somewhat connected at the middle, but still two distinct stories; that is, if you consider the silent second part a story. The homosexual love theme of the first half might appeal to some, if you like watching two men beat around the bush about the way they feel. Otherwise, the characters seemed to exist without purpose. As for the second part, it offers beautiful shots and sound recordings of the jungle, but can be frustrating to watch for those expecting an ending or at least something related to the first half. The film's dichotomy may have been to illustrate a man vs. beast or light vs. dark effect, but that's left to the audience to decipher.
Concerning the film's dichotomy, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul remarked, “Even though the story is presented in a linear structure, Tropical Malady has two distinct stories that represent two very different worlds. However, these two territories are linked by characters that the audience can interpret as the same or not. What's essential are the memories. Memories from the first part validate the second part. Just as the second part validates the first. Neither exists wholly without the other.”
Understand? Because I don't. But again, as a fellow audience member said to me while we exited the theater: maybe you're just not supposed to. Most of the audience seemed to have enjoyed the film very much; how or why, I cannot say. Call me a Hollywood junkie, but I like understanding movies, or at least knowing that I might understand after watching again. The film was interesting in that I've never seen anything like it before, and I am willing to bet that audiences never will again. But who's to say that's a bad thing?
Tropical Malady took home the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 and was the first Thai film ever to be shown in competition at Cannes.
Director's Profile
Tropical Malady is Apichatpong Weerasethakul's second fiction feature. His fiction feature debut, Blissfully Yours, received the UnCertain Regard prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The film also received top prizes from the Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece) and Tokyo Filmex (Japan). Born in 1970 in Bangkok, Apichatpong Weerasethakul grew up in Khon Kaen, located in Northeastern Thailand. He has a degree in Architecture from Khon Kaen University and a Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since he began making films and videos in the early '90s, he has become one of the few filmmakers in Thailand who has worked outside the strict Thai studio system. He is active in promoting experimental and independent films through Kick the Machine, the company he founded in 1999. In 2000, he completed his first feature-length film, Mysterious Object at Noon, a documentary which earned an enthusiastic reception, including being listed among the best films of the year 2000 by the U.S. publications Film Comment and The Village Voice.
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Published: Tuesday, December 21, 2004
