UNCLE BOONME WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES

I will need to re-incarnated as a Buddhist in my next life if I am ever to fully understand and really appreciate this movie.  As beautiful as it was to watch it is a tad to esoteric and possibly even pretentious for me to ‘get it’ in this life.

It goes like this. Uncle Boonme an ex-solder in the Thai army turned farmer has come home from the hospital as he is dying of kidney failure. He is having dinner on his porch one night with his bigoted sister-in-law Auntie Jen, his nephew Tong and his Laotian Housekeeper/Nurse Jai when he is visited by the ghost of his late wife Huay who chats to them all.  Even more strange is that they are joined by the Boonme’s son who has been transformed into a ‘ghost monkey’ after running away years ago and mating with a simian female. 

Actually not much happens after that, but there is strange scene where an ugly old Princess sees the reflection of herself in the pool of water as a beautiful young woman, and when she floats in the water she is serenaded by a catfish who tries to convince her it’s not an illusion, and that she’s the soma woman he loved in the past, as he devours her and she disappears. I’m thinking that somehow that’s to do with Uncle Boonme needing to know that his life is an illusion, and maybe to accept death without fighting it, but I’m not totally sure.

The lack of a cohesive narrative didn’t help this meandering story, nor did the fact that Uncle Boonme was played by someone who’s never acted before (allegedly he was a Roof Contractor before, but this is one job he didn’t nail down!)   But my main issue was that the movie’s mystical edge has been misinterpreted as something much more profound than it is, even to the point of winning the Palme D’Or at Cannes.  (Although Tim Burton chaired the fact the Jury that year, which in itself is telling).   It is a visually stunning piece that has several long overdrawn patches that don’t necessarily deter one from enjoying the whole experience but certainly are another factor that make it impossible for me to agree with all the critics who hail this rather odd film, a masterpiece.