Film: Tropical Malady
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Country: Thailand
Released: May 2004
Runtime: 125 minutes
Genre: Fantasy
Studio: Kick the Machine Films
Influenced: Carlos Reygadas, Rithy Panh, Miguel Gomes, Hong Sang-Soo, Anocha Suwichakornpong
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's journey into cinema was as unique as his filmmaking style, starting out as an architecture student in Thailand before switching course to a master's degree in filmmaking at the Art Institute of Chicago. Weerasethakul has mentioned being influenced by the works of various directors, especially those from the Iranian New Wave, notably Abbas Kiarostami. His style blends the mundane and the mystical, often incorporating elements of Thai folklore and spirituality, and the director has expressed a deep connection to his homeland, notably its traditions and landscapes. After the critical success of Blissfully Yours (2002), which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes, the director's next solo film Tropical Malady was even more thematically and structurally daring. The film's title, Tropical Malady, refers to a real medical condition but is used metaphorically in the context of the film to represent a mysterious and transformative experience.
The film is divided into two distinct parts. The first part is a contemporary love story between a wordly soldier named Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) and a naïve country boy named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee). The narrative follows their blossoming romance, capturing intimate moments and the dynamics of their relationship. The second part takes a surreal turn as it delves into a mythical tale about a soldier hunting a shape-shifting tiger in the jungle. The line between reality and myth blurs, and the film challenges viewers to interpret the connection between the two parts. During the more conventional first half, there are touching moments of romance, and a lovely karaoke scene in which the meaning of the song is shared between Tong and Keng through loving glances. In another scene in the cinema, which is reminiscent of the gay cruising scenes in Goodby, Dragon Inn, the actions of the two lovers take place in the dark, in public but just barely hidden.
One night, however, after a ride together on a motorcycle and a shared moment of strange intensity, Tong disappears into the darkness of the jungle. Soon after, the film shifts from a realistic portrayal of a gay romance to a more abstract, dreamlike exploration of Thai folklore. Weerasethakul makes innovative use of music and moves the camera in a dreamlike way, notably in the scenes involving the naked man prowling through the jungle. There’s a mystical and spiritual quality to the film, with its talk of shamans and tigers, as well as monkeys that understand the movement of spirits between the ghost world and the real world. In one scene, we see the ghost of a cow leave its dead body and walk through the forest, a moment of cinematic magic that is reminiscent of Victor Sjöström's Phantom Carriage (1921). Those scenes in the jungle, in which Keng is forced to confront the shape-shifting tiger, are the most visually striking and symbolically rich in the move, inviting various interpretations.
Tropical Malady received critical acclaim and won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004. The film's innovative storytelling and visual style contributed to its success on the international film festival circuit, and helped to solidify Weerasethakul's reputation as a leading figure in contemporary cinema. The director's work has continued to explore themes of identity, memory and the coexistence of the mundane and the mystical, and this blending of the real and the mythic is a theme found in several of his later films, such as Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) and Cemetery of Splendour (2015). His characters often undergo personal or spiritual transformations, notably a process of reincarnation in Uncle Boonmee, while the meditative and contemplative nature of his movies, involving long takes and static shots, has been a constant feature of his cinematic style. Weerasethakul's films often end ambiguously, most impressively in Tropical Malady, which closes with a still image of a painting of a tiger spirit taking the soul of a man, and the quote: "Sometimes I am an animal. Sometimes I am an animal that becomes a man and sometimes I am a ghost. In dreams I dance with a tiger. This is me."
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