Syndromes and a Century

I start another review of an Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul film with great hesitation and resigned confusion. For some reason I was excessively tired yesterday evening, so about 3/4ths of the movie is totally lost on me which doesn't help things. Previous to this I had seen Tropical Malady which I didn't like, and Worldly Desires which I didn't like even more. One might question why I continue going to see his movies -- my feeling on it is I believe his movies have merit and at times are very beautiful and very meaningful, but the package as a whole fails to come together for me.

I went to Syndromes and a Century thinking this would finally be the one that came together and made me suddenly realize what everyone else seems to see in his movies. And indeed the first quarter or so of the movie was just that -- it was interesting, beautiful and even humorous at times in a very humanistic way. His direction is very careful and precise, showing us at times everything that we need to see with a wide shot, and at other times showing very little to nothing when we should be concentrating on the off screen imagery formed in our heads by the sounds. The story is at times flighty and at other times playfully repetitious.

I've been unable to extract much meaning from it due to my spacing out from being sleepy, and felt that if I had hung in there it might have won me over. I definitely felt it was a stronger movie than the other 2 I have previously seen though, and for that reason would probably give Weerasethakul yet another shot. Overall, Syndromes and a Century was worth seeing, but may require another viewing or two to fully appreciate it.