Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave—the birthplace of his first life.
Thanapat Saisaymar Jenjira Pongpas Sakda Kaewbuadee Natthakarn Aphaiwonk Geerasak Kulhong Wallapa Mongkolprasert Kanokporn Tongaram Samud Kugasang Sumit Suebsee Mathieu Ly Vien Pimdee Akachai Aodvieng Prakasit Padsena Nikom Kammach Chophaka Chaiyuchit Winai Ruenrerng Kumgieng Jittamaat Miti Jittamaat Phetmongkol Chantawong Nuttapon Kemthong Atapon Wernziw Tongsit Rachasin Thanabodee Laohawanich Namthip Meaungmaha Nitipong Thinthupthai
Joslyn Barnes Charles de Meaux Caroleen Feeney Simon Field Hans W. Geißendörfer Keith Griffiths Luis Miñarro Holger Stern Michael Weber Apichatpong Weerasethakul Tiana Mille Danny Glover
Montri Bodsayasiri Rukit Kummach Pichan Muangduang Tawatchai Muangjai Winai Ruenrerng Phim U-mari Chadil Yuenying
Kukiat Hirunsrisuk Richard Hocks Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr Chalermrat Kaweewattana Koichi Shimizu Yingsiwat Yamolyong
Amornsak Boatrat Chanokpim Chotikanatjaphan Navy Chumthachot Natchanan Kitikriengkrai Achawan Pupawan Phim U-mari
Illuminations Films Anna Sanders Films Kick the Machine The Match Factory GFF Eddie Saeta ZDF/Arte Haus der Kunst Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) Animate Projects Limited
Oncle Boonmee (celui qui se souvient de ses vies antérieures), Wujek Boonmee, który potrafi przywolac swoje poprzednie wcielenia, Uncle Boonmee erinnert sich an seine früheren Leben, Tio Boonmee, Que Pode Recordar Suas Vidas Passadas, Onkel Boonmee som kan huske sine tidligere liv, 波米叔叔的前世今生, El hombre que podía recordar sus vidas pasadas (Tío Boonme), Loong Boonmee raleuk chat, Onkel Boonmee som kan erindre sine tidligere liv, Farbror Boonmee som minns sina tidigare liv, Amcam önceki hayatlarini hatirliyor, Lo zio Boonmee che si ricorda le vite precedenti, Ο θείος Μπούνμι θυμάται τις προηγούμενες ζωές του, O theios Boonmee thymatai tis proigoumenes zoes tou, 엉클 분미, Дядюшка Бунми, который помнит свои прошлые жизни, 能召回前世的布米叔叔, Onkel Boonmee erinnert sich an seine früheren Leben, Tío Boonmee recuerda sus vidas pasadas, Ο Θείος Μπούνμι Θυμάται τις Προηγούμενες Ζωές του, גלגוליו הקודמים של הדוד בונמה, Boonmee bácsi, aki képes visszaemlékezni korábbi életeire, L'oncle Boonmee recorda les seves vides anteriors, Amcam Önceki Hayatlarını Hatırlıyor, Onkel Boonmee Som Kan Huske Sine Tidligere Liv, Tio Boonmee, que Pode Recordar Suas Vidas Passadas, Чичо Буунме си спомня своите няколко живота, Дядечко Бунмі, який пам'ятає свої минулі життя, Wujek Boonmee, który potrafi przywołać swoje poprzednie wcielenia, ブンミおじさんの森, Strýček Búnmí
France
Cannes Film Festival
France
Paris Cinéma
Brazil
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival
USA
New York Film Festival
Brazil
São Paulo International Film Festival
Greece
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Thailand15
Germany0
FranceU
South Korea15
Greece
Brazil
France
Germany
Greece
South Korea
Thailand
USA
"The idea that we can operate in different times is very important for me. And it manifests in daily life or when you meditate.
In a way, it's a very scientific thing that you experience for yourself, how time passes, how your body can react to time in different ways."
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul
"I try to mimic the pattern of memory and of thinking and the randomness of life. It's like a journey.
That is the main thing about the beauty of life; that you don't cram. And not only beauty, but also the fact that there is never a concrete thing in life."
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul
"You'll stay with me to the end?"
A surreal and hypnotic vision of not just mortality and the passage of time but, more impressively, the inseparably tangible and metaphysical relationships we have with each other and by extension our shared history and folklore. Ghosts *and* migrant workers. (In this economy?)
STORYTIME: My aunt's ghost and my furry cousin visited me and my dying uncle?? 😱😬👻🐒👌🐟 (NOT CLICKBAIT!!)
“heaven is over-rated. there’s nothing there.”
it feels weird even attempting to write about this film in any way but here we go.
ever since i watched Uncle Boonmee for the first time, i’ve been in dire need of a rewatch. and when’s a better time than midnight when you’re not doing your best.
usually with my favorite films, i will ask myself why i didn’t watch it sooner. or i get genuinely mad that i only just now discovered it. with Uncle Boonmee, i feel as if it came into my life at the exact right moment. i guess in ways it’s hard for me to accept that i’m not doing well and to allow myself to take time…
"Be right back."
a fear of mine that's been left unspoken in my reviews is this voice in my head that intermittently pricks at this idea that i will somehow "run out" of movies to watch. that out of a countless array of films that i could never finish all in my lifetime, there's this intrusive bug that says one day i'll "run out" of films to experience and my journey into film will cease.
my first apichatpong weerasethakul film shows me that this fear is not only irrational, but narrow minded and profoundly stupid. this was an experience that i only get maybe once a year, not unlike my first tarkovsky film (i found many similarities between this and…
This is one of those films I've read about for years. I had some preconceptions about its tone, themes, and imagery, and many of them played out more or less as I expected. Part of that is a passing familiarity with Weerasethakul. On paper, he seems like a director I would wholeheartedly love, but in practice, there's always something to his style that holds me back. It's in mood of the film. Instead of allowing me the opportunity to drink in the quiet beauty, there's some violence, some sexual tension, some dangerous remove that keeps me from embracing it. Boonmee comes closer than either of his previous films that I've seen to breaking that barrier.
What Boonmee shows is a…
One of the unspoken comforts of watching a film that originates from your own culture is that you already know the language and traditions that inform it. Even without explicitly studying the Western canon, we learn almost by osmosis about the myths and ethos and imagery of our cultural traditions. I never read the Bible, for example, but I grew up in the U.S. and was exposed mostly to American and English literature until college. In those literary traditions, the Bible echoes out everywhere. Literary curiosity in my mid-20s inspired me to read the book of Genesis, and I was not entirely surprised when it felt intensely familiar. It's one of the pillars of Western culture, after all.
Uncle Boonmee…
Exploring the entire complexities of this will take more than one viewing, but this film is truly magical. I can't recall the last time I was so physically and emotionally attached to the screen as I watched late at night with my noise-canceling headphones on, closing out any distractions and anything around me. Every scene is a sensory overload, but in the greatest conceivable way. Completely transcending. I felt like I was there as a bystander, soaking up every ounce of the ambiance, every sound, and every familial feeling around the loss of a loved one.
In fact, I don't even want to over-analyze anything because I don't want to reduce everything to metaphors that may or may not be…
Having seen the impenetrable Uncle Boonmee several times now it had never sparked in my feeble brain that the 2009 short prequel "A Letter to Uncle Boonmee" could provide a missing piece to the never-ending puzzle that was Weerasethakul. It didn't, of course. Once again I became a homeless dog barking up the wrong tree in the wrong forrest on an island of malevolent cats. But I didn't care. Why didn't I care? I was being pushed down a hill in a rusted shopping trolley and someone had cut the brakes. Uncle Boonmee continued to yank my unwilling ass back into its mystical orbit, its cryptic spectacle lunging after my jugular from dark alleyways whispering "psst, kid, c'mere." So here…
