you know you’re watching an anucha boonyawatana film when:
there’s buddhist symbolism everywhere
SPIRITUAL DEATH
a sad gay person walks into a large body of water
a queer teen romance does not end happily
long stretches of quiet
the film has a disquieting fascination with decay. a character collects flowers knowing they are already beginning to wilt. mold creeps up the side of an abandoned swimming pool. bodies—both animal and human—are left to rot.
there are long, sumptuous shots of nature and the landscape
the setting is almost oppresively present; very quiet but persistently there. at times, it almost has a life of its own. it’s a safe space for the queer protagonist. it’s a place full of the worst types of pain. they are free here. this is the place that’s going to kill them.
in the faux-peace of their environment, the protagonists feel like they’re the only two people in the universe. (they’re not)
dying flowers float down rivers
queer people reach for each other over and over again but only ever embrace in the dark
the ending is open and ambiguous
the wall between reality and fantasy begins to break down. is this a work of magical realism? or are these hallucinations? do ghosts ever exist outside of our minds? which is the preferred alternative?
Malila: The Farewell Flower —Anucha Boonyawatana Q&A
I recently (28/05/2022) I got the chance to see Anucha Boonyawatana at a screening of her 2017 film Malila: The Farewell Flower, followed by an absolutely fascinating Q&A session. Below the cut is a summary of some of the things she covered.
Yesterday (23/05/2022) I got the chance to see Anucha Boonyawatana at a screening of her 2015 film The Blue Hour, followed by an absolutely fascinating Q&A session. Below the cut is a summary of some of the things she covered.
