Either you love Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s movies or you hate them. Weerasethakul, whose fascinating “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives” won the Palme d’Or back in 2010, has been a cinematic influencer ever since 2004’s “Tropical Malady,” but his films aren’t for everyone.
His films play out in these wide-lensed frames, weird in nature, and surrounded by his infatuation for the unknowns of nature and dreams — all laid out in unconventional narrative structures that defy conventional perspectives.
After his critically-acclaimed “Memoria,” Weerasethakul has now announced the first details of his next project. Speaking to Metrograph, the director revealed he plans to shoot his next film in Sri Lanka and is willing to partner with a streamer for the film.
Location-scouting is said to commence in February. About this new film, Weerasethakul had this to say:
“This time, I want it to be more flexible. It’ll be a smaller budget, and probably with [my longtime actors] Jenjira [Pongpas] and Sakda [Kaewbuadee] and It’s the same old gang.”
The director went on to hint that the film would be inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey author Arthur C. Clarke. “He lived and died in Sri Lanka, and one of his books, The Fountains of Paradise, is set in a fictional land based on a Sri Lankan landscape,” the director said.
Speaking on its length, we might be in store for the longest film of his career, “I wrote a treatment for a three- or four-hour movie, just from my imagination, from what I dream about,” he said. “When you talk about 90 minutes, it’s a comfortable length. The human attention span is 90 minutes, and the dream cycle is also 90 minutes. To make it longer is like a challenge: how to create a journey where you don’t feel trapped by this human, biological requirement.”
As a bonus, Weerasethakul reveals his thoughts on James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water”:
“It’s so simple, right? It’s such a classic storyline, there’s no innovation there, but the technology is amazing […] In other movies that are completely computer-generated, you can feel there’s something missing, whereas in this one you are able to identify. The characters have those very big eyes, they’re like babies. It’s a mass market product, and I admire that aspect which only Hollywood can do.”
Call it a mixed review.
Of course, we all know the rule: take these reactions with a grain of salt rather than treating them as gospel. Still, I will say that the film tested like gangbusters earlier this year, and Lionsgate clearly has confidence.