MEKONG HOTEL

Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Masters / Thailand / 2012 / Art / 57 mins / Thai with English subtitles / HD / West Coast Premiere

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MEKONG HOTEL

UltraStar Mission Valley
November 2, 2012 6:00 pm

MEKONG HOTEL

UltraStar Mission Valley
November 5, 2012 9:30 pm

Description

Official Selection, 2012 Cannes Film Festival

Apichatpong Weerasethakul has won nearly every award a director can win at Cannes, and has cinematically rendered his pet themes of reincarnation and ghosts in seemingly every imaginable direction: as mirrors (Syndromes and a Century), in light and dark (Tropical Malady), and as wistful hauntings (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, SDAFF ’10). That, with each new film, he still continues to find surprising new angles on familiar subjects while exploding cinema’s boundaries, demonstrates handily what a fountain of creativity and world treasure he’s become.

MEKONG HOTEL is an experimental featurette that shifts between fact and fiction, the secular and the fantastic. It melds pieces from an unrealized project (using previously-shot footage, including behind-the-scenes shots of Apitchapong auditioning a musician and rehearsing actors), while exploring the relationship between a vampire-like mother and her daughter. Scenes contain the same calming and soothing spirit as the Mekong River it’s shot on, even when intestines are being eaten.

A film about filmmaking, Apichatpong presents the idea of longing and creation under the lustrous Thai sunset shade. Like sifting through an artist’s sketchbook, Mekong gives insight into the creative process of one of today’s most innovative and possibly greatest filmmakers. –Joseph Mangat

Credits

Cast: Jenjira Pongpas, Maiyatan Techaparn, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Chai Bhatana

Preceded By

SAKDA

Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Switzerland, Thailand / 2012 / Short / 6 mins
A body in search of a name. A voice echoing along the Mekong River.
Precedes: MEKONG HOTEL