Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul burst on the international scene when his second film ‘Blissfully Yours’ (2002) won ‘Un Certain Regard Prize’ at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The Festival has been a faithful supporter of Weerasethakul from then on. His film ‘Uncle Bonmee Who can recall His Past Lives’ (2010) won the Palm D’Or and now ‘Memoria’ (2021) has carried away the Prix du Jury. He has also produced an array of Short films and Installations since 1993, notably with stunning titles. One example: ‘Like the Relentless Fury of the Pounding Waves’ (1996). How can one describe these thoughtful films that carry us along with minimal narrative, with the director’s inimitable lyrical vocabulary, reaching emotions we thought we had forgotten?
Tilda Swinton as Jessica
‘Memoria’ relates the story of Jessica (Tilda Swinton). A Scottish woman, who runs a market -gardening business selling flowers in Medellin, Colombia. Her sister is suffering from a mysterious ailment, so Jessica goes to Bogotá to see her. One night, she is woken up in the middle of the night by a strange sonic boom that seems to follow her around, even during the day. What is causing it? Jessica, both interested and disturbed, tries to discover where it comes from.
She keeps meeting a character called Hernán (Elkin Díaz and Juan Pablo Urrego) who appears in different ways, ageing throughout the film. Is he real or has she imagined him? The tangible presence of the dense Colombian jungle is never far, feeling closer all the time, the sounds, the greenery, all fed by stories of invisible people who are able to conjure spells to keep strangers out of their lands.
Tilda Swinton as Jessica and Juan Pablo Urrego as younger Hernán
Perhaps Weerasethakul is something like Marmite, you love his work or you hate it. Some reviews are not sympathetic, but many more are enthusiastic. The gentle drawn out takes are enthralling, it is impossible to break away. In the carefully-crafted soundscape, from the cacophony of jungle to town traffic, we still feel a deep and penetrating silence. Between more traditional takes with her sister and family, we have Jessica, moved by this mysterious sensory syndrome. searching for ‘her’ sound. Unable to sleep, her search takes her to try and emulate it in a recording studio with a young Hernán (Juan Pablo Urrego).
Jessica composes a poem:
Beyond the petals
And Once furious winds
The air gasps at it fading shadow.
Tilda Swinton as Jessica
‘Memoria’ is a sort of gentle detective story that takes us into the realms of memory and the deeper layers of the mind. There is talk of hallucinations: what is real, what is not, does it matter? Do memories ever fade? How far can we experience memories that remain embedded, even in a stone from long ago, or pick up a thought from the person sitting beside us.
You would think that Weerasethakul’s works are extraordinarily difficult films to make and the long list of Production companies indicate that they are equally hard to fund. We are thankful he succeeds. ‘Memoria’ has already garnered not only the Jury Prize at the 74th Cannes Film Festival, but also the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. It is Colombia’s official submission for the 2022 Academy Awards.
Weerasethakul’s films have an hypnotic quality, that is as far from a typical blockbuster that you can get. They contemplate, reflect and absorb, picking up thoughts that have remained, deep folk memories of long ago, powers that radiate from the tribes and plants, emanating from the jungle itself.
Is there something that is creating the sonic boom, or it is caused by blood pressure at high altitude as one doctor tries to tell her? Is it significant that only Jessica appears to hear it? Ancient bones are dug up in the construction of a tunnel. They’re female bones from 6000 years ago, and a hole had been drilled in her skull, probably to release bad spirits.
Tilda Swinton and Jeanne Balibar
In the end, what matters are the emotions that are stirred on an unconscious level by the film as we are immersed in it. The narrative is barely there and yet, the sensory world of those images and the sounds stay with us, in some cases, like with me, for days, stimulating thoughts and feelings long forgotten. People talk about the silence of memories, but are they ever silent? More likely, they are ever- present.
Elkin Díaz as the older Hernán
MEMORIA (2021) is on out in the UK and Irish cinemas-
Written and Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Producers: Apichatpong Weerasethakul /Diana Bustamante/ Simon Fields, Keith Griffiths, Michael Weber and Charles de Meaux /Cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom / Edited by Lee Chatametikool
Cast: Tilda Swinton as Jessica /Elkin Díaz as older Hernán Bedoya/ Juan Pablo Urrego as younger Hernán Bedoya/ Jeanne Balibar as Agnes Cerkinsky/ Daniel Giménez Cacho as Juan Ospina.
Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul
