Apichatpong Weerasethakul

johnny_ultimate

With a big retrospective of the man coming up in the IFI (and having had trouble trying to pronounce his name to get a ticket to his talk the other day :pac:) thought it was a good time to start a thread about this... curious director.

TBH, I was a bit surprised to discover that he has enough films to warrant a two month long retrospective! I've seen Tropical Malady and Uncle Boonmee, and thought Syndromes and a Century was the only 'major' one left to check out. Curious to see some of his other stuff though.

He's definitely a difficult director to get into - rarely have I seen a director with such a unique approach to pacing. His films are epically sombre and slow-moving. I do think there are a plethora of rewards to find though. He's particularly talented at creating surreal, supernatural sequences. The dinner table sequence in Uncle Boonmee, or the entire second half of Malady are haunting stuff. His ideas and themes are often very well hidden, and challenging to get at, but often well worth exploring in depth.

Any thoughts on Mr. Weerasethakul? Any recommendations on what to check out at the retrospective?

Nolanger

The only thought I have is that the IFI only have director retrospectives when they win big at Cannes. Can they not discover new directors for themselves and screen their films before they 'break through' at some major film festival?

bnt

Not sure what you mean by that The guy's coming over to the IFI, probably as part of a bigger tour - so they do the retrospective to coincide with his visit. The timing is not entirely in the IFI's hands. They do feature up-and-coming directors - mostly Irish directors, natch - but not in the form of a retrospective. You have to have a portfolio of well-regarded films before you merit a retrospective - it means "a look back".

Nolanger

What I mean is directors get 'discovered' and later on the IFI screen their work. They're followers not leaders. How many international directors have they brought here and screened their films before anyone else did it? Zero.

johnny_ultimate

Nolanger wrote: »

What I mean is directors get 'discovered' and later on the IFI screen their work. They're followers not leaders. How many international directors have they brought here and screened their films before anyone else did it? Zero.

Oh FFS. Yes Mr. Weerasethakul wasn't working in 1920, but that doesn't mean you have to derail the thread with ludicrous arguments once again.

If you don't want to discuss modern film, don't. Start a thread about F.W Murnau, I'll be happy to participate. But once again you're trying to detract from a topic with your own personal agenda.

Nolanger

I'm not talking about silent cinema from the 1920s! There are plenty of present-day directors in world cinema who have an impressive body of work but have not yet been 'discovered'. The IFI will never do a retrospective for these filmmakers because they wait until some foreign festival discovers them first. The IFI has about as much originality as RTÉ.

johnny_ultimate

Or they're potentially giving people an opportunity to experience the previous works of directors who have only recently exited obscurity through success - like Weerasethakul or Jerzy Skolimowski? And they do have seasons celebrating forgotten or obscure classics - the Hong Kong action film season from last year springs to mind, or recent retrospectives of Thorold Dickinson or Kenneth Anger.

Can you name some contemporary directors - who haven't won awards or anything - you'd like to see retrospectives of? And their goal is to get people to go to see the films in the first place - they have a limited budget and screening space, and I think a Terence Malik retrospective is going to be a successful one for them given their resources. If a director is willing to come over and visit, I'm sure they're equally willing to show a few of his old films too.

Nolanger

Skolimowski was established in the 1970s! His films Deep end and The shout are famous and were available on video for years. This backs up my point - he went into obscurity and then makes a comeback so the IFI are now screening his work. I'd like to see a retrospective in the IFI for Ken McMullen or Luc Moullet. Award-winning filmmakers are not the best or most interesting ones out there. The IFI jump on the bandwagon instead of doing their own research.

johnny_ultimate

You mean Ken McMullen, the award winning film director and artist whose film 1871 was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival? It would be nice alright.

Personally I'd love to see retrospectives of someone like Satoshi Miki or Nobuhiko Obayashi. But as long as the latest Cannes winner is in the public eye again, I'm not going to begrudge the IFI for pursuing retrospectives of someone like Malik when they're more than certainly going to attract a lot of audience interest.

duckworth

What is the point of having a retrospective of obscure unheard-of film directors nobody is going to see?

How many bums do you reckon Ken McMullen is going to put on seats?

The IFI has to be realistic about who it shows - there's no point in screening to empty theatres. They don't have the luxury of thousands of film-school graduates ready to show up that you would have in London or New York.

And remember, Apichat-what's-his-name is pretty obscure to 95% of film-goers here anyway.

And Johnny - definitely see Syndromes - it's my favourite of his. His short film Worldly Desires is really great too - I think they are showing it along with some of his other shorts.

e_e

Love this guy's movies (of what I've seen). Are there still tickets to the conversation with him?

duckworth

I picked up 2 on Saturday, and there seemed to be plenty left at the time.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah didn't seem any major panic when I got 'em either, as the guy at the ticket desk actually had to consult the brochure to actually find when it was on!

Alas, Syndromes seems to being reserved for the August conclusion of the retrospective. I'm kind of intrigued by the blurb and title of The Adventure of Iron Pussy though - sounds considerably different to what I've come to expect from a Weerasethakul film :P

duckworth

I haven't seen Iron Pussy, not sure that I want to. It's a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of a certain type of Thai movie (that looks awful..) I'm not sure I'll get the joke, so I think I'll pass.