By the end, nothing much has happened, but all the same, picture casts a witchy kind of spell with its deep-breath pacing and undertow of unspecified malaise.
Syndromes and a Century(แสงศตวรรษ)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Thailand, France, Austria · 2007
1h 45m
Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring Nantarat Sawaddikul, Jaruchai Iamaram, Sophon Pukanok, Jenjira Pongpas
Genre Drama, Romance
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul explores his parents' lives as young doctors before they were married or even knew each other. With the first part dealing with Weerasethakul's mother's journey and the second part dealing with his father's journey, this film examines the depths of point of view and personal memories.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Syndromes and a Century, like its curious title, has the logic of a dream, a piece of music or perhaps a John Ashbery poem. Its coherence is evident; it is too lovely and lucid to be frustrating or dull. But it takes place just on the other side of conscious apprehension.
Syndromes and a Century, which was commissioned by the New Crowned Hope festival to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, is a movie of long serene takes and gentle absurdities.
These moments, enjoyable and arcane, may not add up to a masterpiece. But they're uniquely Weerasethakul's.
As human beings, we're geared to desire an actual plot in our movies, and I regret to inform you that nothing really happens in Syndromes and a Century -- and yet the experience of the movie is all about the NOT happening.
Strictly for art-house types, particularly those familiar with the director, who makes no concessions to mainstream audiences. You have to abandon any preconceived notions about movies and allow your mind to be seduced by the mystifying, occasionally humorous world of a one-of-a-kind filmmaker. You might even find yourself becoming a fan.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari)
After his friend is found dead, Francis suspects the crazed hypnotist Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist, Casare.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 1920
- Director Robert Wiene
- Cast Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Fehér, Lil Dagover, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Rudolf Lettinger
- Genre Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
- Available on Screambox, Fandor Amazon Channel, Screambox Amazon Channel, fuboTV, Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Crackle, Fandor, Cineverse, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Public Domain Movies, Cultpix, Plex Channel
Umberto D.
What will you do when you can't afford to live?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1952
- Director Vittorio De Sica
- Cast Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari, Elena Rea, Memmo Carotenuto, Ileana Simova
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Kanopy
The Piano Teacher
(La Pianiste)
Perversion --- at its absolute best.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Austria, France, Germany • 2001
- Director Michael Haneke
- Cast Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Isle
(섬)
A man develops a violent obsession with the woman who saved him from committing suicide.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2000
- Director Kim Ki-duk
- Cast Suh Jung, Kim Yu-seok, Seo Won, Son Min-seok, Cho Jae-hyun, Jang Hang-seon
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, FlixFling, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Plex, Plex Channel
Tropical Malady
(สัตว์ประหลาด)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Thailand, France, Germany • 2004
- Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Cast Banlop Lomnoi, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Huai Dessom, Sirivech Jareonchon, Udom Promma
- Genre Drama, Romance, Fantasy
- Available on Metrograph, Kanopy
The Seventh Continent
(Der siebente Kontinent)
A haunting tale of a middle-class Austrian family’s dissatisfaction with life — based on a true story
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Austria • 1989
- Director Michael Haneke
- Cast Birgit Doll, Dieter Berner, Leni Tanzer, Silvia Fenz, Robert Dietl
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Unfair: the movie
(アンフェア the movie)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2007
- Director Yoshinori Kobayashi
- Cast Ryoko Shinohara, Sadawo Abe, Hiroki Narimiya, Kippei Shiina, Mari Hamada
- Genre Action, Thriller, Mystery
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Dust in the Wind
(戀戀風塵)
In this meditative, semi-autobiographical love story, a young couple escapes to the city in hopes of making it big.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Taiwan • 1986
- Director Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Cast Chien-wen Wang, Hsin Shu-Fen, Li Tian-Lu, Mei Fang, Lin Yang, Grace Chen Shu-Fang
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Blissfully Yours
(สุดเสน่หา)
The story of a love affair that begins during a picnic on the Thai-Burmese border.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Thailand, France • 2002
- Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Cast Kanokporn Tongaram, Min Oo, Jenjira Pongpas, Sa-gnad Chaiyapan, Kanitpat Premkij, Jaruwan Techasatiern
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Overcoat
(Шинель)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1926
- Director Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg
- Cast Andrei Kostrichkin, Antonina Yeremeyeva, Sergei Gerasimov, Pyotr Sobolevsky
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Yearning
(乱れる)
After a bombing raid destroys the family store, Reiko rebuilds and runs the shop out of love stopped short by destruction.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1964
- Director Mikio Naruse
- Cast Hideko Takamine, Yûzô Kayama, Mitsuko Kusabue, Mie Hama, Aiko Mimasu, Yû Fujiki
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Adventures of a Dentist
(Похождения зубного врача)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1965
- Director Elem Klimov
- Cast Andrey Myagkov, Vera Vasileva, Alisa Freyndlikh, Pantelejmon Krymov, Andrei Petrov
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Criterion Channel
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2019
- Director Quentin Tarantino
- Cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Hulu, fuboTV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FXNow