BFI Recommends: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
A film that induces happiness: Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s mystical jungle movie Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is our latest recommendation, chosen by Johnathon Parkins.
If you’re looking for an escape, there’s no better film than Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. This is less a film, more an immersive visual essay, complete with poetic interludes, nocturnal playfulness and a couple of laughs along the way. It made me want to go into a forest (when lockdown is over, of course), and try to find the mystical creatures and ways of engaging with our natural world that we’ve forgotten.
I always come out of this film a much happier person than when I went in, and am certainly a better person for watching it. It also made me look at catfish in a very different way, and I can’t say better for a film than that.
Johnathon Parkins
Events Coordinator, Events and Production
@johnathon_parkins