Syndromes and a Century

Reviewer: Maria Komodore
Rating (out of 5): *****

If there's one word that best fits Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest experiment in cinema, it would be "enigmatic." In almost every review about Syndromes and a Century writers mention that, as the director himself admitted, the film's distinctive two halves deal with his parents' lives before they got romantically involved, and that each one of them represents his mother and father respectively. The extent to which the statement is useful for understanding Syndromes varies according to what the viewer wishes to take away from the movie; even for the most open, receptive, and film-techniques-savvy cinephile there isn't even the slightest hint pointing to that direction.

Instead, deprived of any clear and plot-advancing narrative, the film relies on its beautifully constructed steady medium and long shots, mesmerizing circular camera movements, and fluid treatment of time, to produce an awe-inspiring effect that discreetly suggests several themes. Dualities such as the rural vs. the urban, tradition (the East) vs. modernity (the West), and masculinity vs. femininity are gently and quietly evoked through the rendering of the same "story" in opposing settings.

First there's a hospital somewhere in the country where amongst the hot yellow light that floods the building's rooms and corridors, the slow blowing of the widely open windows' curtains, and the rustling of the trees' leaves, Dr. Tei (Nantarat Sawaddikul), a young female doctor, interviews Dr. Nohng, a military male doctor. As we follow Dr. Tei's attempts to dis-encourage a persistent admirer, her respectfully humorous interactions with an aching monk, and Dr. Ple's (Arkanae Cherkam) possibly flirtatious attitude towards a different monk with aspirations of becoming a DJ, the film cuts to a parallel universe where the (almost) same actions play out as if reflected in a mirror. Except that now more emphasis is put on Dr. Nohng, and the interactions between the same characters reflect the coldness of the polished and sterile high-tech facility that has replaced the first part's peaceful proverbial hospital.

Obviously, talking with conviction about the director's intentions and his creation's hidden messages is out of the question, so one must take it as is.