"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
Apichatpong Weerasethakul directs "Syndromes and a Century". Set in Thailand, the film's first half sees a pair of medical practitioners (Dr Toey and Dr Nohng) attending a rural hospital in the 1970s. Its second half sees the same characters working in a contemporary urban hospital. Both characters are based on Weerasethakul's own parents.
Significantly, Toey and Nohng do not become romantically involved in either half of the film. Indeed, they are oblivious to one another, a facet which Weerasethakul turns into a giant metaphor: what does the world look like when we do not notice one another? What does the world look like when two people do not come together? What does the world look like when we refuse to see, acknowledge or understand what is around us? Weerasethakul's answer is blunt: cold, callous and inhumane.
"Syndrome's" first and second halves are packed with subtle echoes, all of which point to the effects of a global capitalism which is slowly etching its way into Tailand's rural landscape. Like several of Weerasethakul's films ("Tropical Malady" etc), "Syndrome's" title thus alludes to an all-encompassing illness, a syndrome which its characters are themselves oblivious to. Observe, for example, how Dr Toey repeatedly asks for the definition of DDT (a poisonous chemical), whilst one of Dr Nohng's patients is a kid who has been mysteriously poisoned.
Weerasethakul touches upon this "malady of modernity" in other ways. One's man illness shift from "bad karma" to "cholesterol", we watch as religion is slowly jettisoned, Buddhist statues become neglected, lunch breaks are spent discussing ring-tones, Nohng has acquired a bride who is preoccupied with work, alcoholism is on the rise, the young dismiss Chakra, the nervousness of first love is replaced with vulgar erections and the tranquillity of old Thailand is replaced by the whirlwind of urban life. Other scenes allude to different forms of alienation, eyes covered with towels, suns obfuscated by moons, lovers blocked and limbs amputated. If the film's first half seems nostalgically pensive, focused on personal stories and evocative of hazy memories, its second half is angular, hard and cold; body, spirit and environment seem irrevocably torn apart.
Weerasethakul extends the film's bifurcation in other directions as well. If the film's first half stresses Nature and greens, its second half stresses urbanity and whites. If its first half stresses the Feminine, its second half stresses the Masculine. And on and on the reversals go. Doctors become patients, desire becomes rejection, community gatherings become isolated events and what were once relaxing activities become signs of anxiety. Whether Weerasethakul believes both worlds have their advantages and disadvantages, that the world itself is made tolerable only when both poles are united like lovers, is left up to the audience to decide.
"Syndromes and a Century" has been compared to Hou Hsiou-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Ozu and Edward Yang. Its real grandfather, however, is Michelangelo Antonioni. Indeed, the film's references to poisons, as well as a solar eclipse, are obvious nods to Antonioni's "Red Desert" and "The Eclipse", the latter film's climax literally lifted by Weerasethakul for the climax of his own film. But where Antonioni, who tended to focus on self-absorbed elites, was always aware of wider social/class realities, Weerasethakul's "Syndromes" seems oblivious to the more unpleasant divides between urban and rural Thailand.
As a love story, "Syndromes" is unconventional. Toey and Nohng never embrace, and Toey spends most of her time pursued by other men. Another romantic subplot deals with a (possibly) homosexual dentist, whose advances are not reciprocated. This dentist sings at local events ("I normally sing of teeth and gums."), a creative outlet which doesn't seem to exist in the film's second half. The film then ends with a satirical montage, the song "Men and Work" playing whilst contemporary Thailand indulges in trendy fitness routines, electric gadgets and kitschy "return to nature" group activities.
Like all of Weerasethakul's films, "Syndrome's" is beautifully shot, filled with fields of green, lazy breezes, twittering birds and meditative camera-work. Many regard it as a masterpiece.
8/10 - See "Red Desert".
Apichatpong Weerasethakul directs "Syndromes and a Century". Set in Thailand, the film's first half sees a pair of medical practitioners (Dr Toey and Dr Nohng) attending a rural hospital in the 1970s. Its second half sees the same characters working in a contemporary urban hospital. Both characters are based on Weerasethakul's own parents.
Significantly, Toey and Nohng do not become romantically involved in either half of the film. Indeed, they are oblivious to one another, a facet which Weerasethakul turns into a giant metaphor: what does the world look like when we do not notice one another? What does the world look like when two people do not come together? What does the world look like when we refuse to see, acknowledge or understand what is around us? Weerasethakul's answer is blunt: cold, callous and inhumane.
"Syndrome's" first and second halves are packed with subtle echoes, all of which point to the effects of a global capitalism which is slowly etching its way into Tailand's rural landscape. Like several of Weerasethakul's films ("Tropical Malady" etc), "Syndrome's" title thus alludes to an all-encompassing illness, a syndrome which its characters are themselves oblivious to. Observe, for example, how Dr Toey repeatedly asks for the definition of DDT (a poisonous chemical), whilst one of Dr Nohng's patients is a kid who has been mysteriously poisoned.
Weerasethakul touches upon this "malady of modernity" in other ways. One's man illness shift from "bad karma" to "cholesterol", we watch as religion is slowly jettisoned, Buddhist statues become neglected, lunch breaks are spent discussing ring-tones, Nohng has acquired a bride who is preoccupied with work, alcoholism is on the rise, the young dismiss Chakra, the nervousness of first love is replaced with vulgar erections and the tranquillity of old Thailand is replaced by the whirlwind of urban life. Other scenes allude to different forms of alienation, eyes covered with towels, suns obfuscated by moons, lovers blocked and limbs amputated. If the film's first half seems nostalgically pensive, focused on personal stories and evocative of hazy memories, its second half is angular, hard and cold; body, spirit and environment seem irrevocably torn apart.
Weerasethakul extends the film's bifurcation in other directions as well. If the film's first half stresses Nature and greens, its second half stresses urbanity and whites. If its first half stresses the Feminine, its second half stresses the Masculine. And on and on the reversals go. Doctors become patients, desire becomes rejection, community gatherings become isolated events and what were once relaxing activities become signs of anxiety. Whether Weerasethakul believes both worlds have their advantages and disadvantages, that the world itself is made tolerable only when both poles are united like lovers, is left up to the audience to decide.
"Syndromes and a Century" has been compared to Hou Hsiou-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Ozu and Edward Yang. Its real grandfather, however, is Michelangelo Antonioni. Indeed, the film's references to poisons, as well as a solar eclipse, are obvious nods to Antonioni's "Red Desert" and "The Eclipse", the latter film's climax literally lifted by Weerasethakul for the climax of his own film. But where Antonioni, who tended to focus on self-absorbed elites, was always aware of wider social/class realities, Weerasethakul's "Syndromes" seems oblivious to the more unpleasant divides between urban and rural Thailand.
As a love story, "Syndromes" is unconventional. Toey and Nohng never embrace, and Toey spends most of her time pursued by other men. Another romantic subplot deals with a (possibly) homosexual dentist, whose advances are not reciprocated. This dentist sings at local events ("I normally sing of teeth and gums."), a creative outlet which doesn't seem to exist in the film's second half. The film then ends with a satirical montage, the song "Men and Work" playing whilst contemporary Thailand indulges in trendy fitness routines, electric gadgets and kitschy "return to nature" group activities.
Like all of Weerasethakul's films, "Syndrome's" is beautifully shot, filled with fields of green, lazy breezes, twittering birds and meditative camera-work. Many regard it as a masterpiece.
8/10 - See "Red Desert".