A spellbinding, beautiful, enigmatic film with a mysterious, allusive two-part structure.
Tropical Malady(สัตว์ประหลาด)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Thailand, France, Germany · 2004
1h 54m
Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring Banlop Lomnoi, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Huai Dessom, Sirivech Jareonchon
Genre Drama, Romance, Fantasy
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A romance between a soldier and country boy splinters into a mythical venture based on Thai folklore.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Weerasethakul's latest has received mixed responses on the film-festival circuit, yet while it's anything but commercial, it's also anything but unadventurous.
Takes the viewer on a mysterious and sporadically fascinating trip into the darkness of the human heart and Thai legend.
Like "Blissfully Yours" and Apichatpong's first feature, the exquisite-corpse road movie "Mysterious Object at Noon" (2000), Tropical Malady promotes new ways of seeing.
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
This challenging, inventive movie from Thailand is not for everyone.
"All of us are by nature wild beasts. We must be like animal trainers and teach ourselves tricks alien to our bestiality." Cutting-edge Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul uses this quote from the novelist Ton Nakajima to introduce his entrancing third feature.
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
Certainly for most audiences the viewing experience will prove not only tedious but bewildering.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
It took me two viewings to enjoy the landscape of Weerasethakul's mysterious jungle -- so very thick, steamy, and foreign -- without wishing for clearer trail markers.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Shows a young filmmaker pushing at the limits of cinematic narrative with grace and a certain amount of puckish willfulness.
If you enjoy intelligent, challenging filmmaking, Tropical Malady is for you.
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