KOCHI: Anyone who watches Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s film ‘Tropical Malady’ will definitely sense a very sensitive, yet very unconventional, filmmaker.
Here was a man, who was on a journey inward, who was trying to make some sense out of the blend of Hindu and Buddhist philosophies that he grew up with in Thailand and who must have had some supernatural experience.
For the same reason, we at Expresso decided to track him down at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).
It was not an easy job and even after many ‘Why don’t you come in the morning/afternoon/evening’s we managed to zero in on him on the fourth day of the festival. And we were spot on. He did have a supernatural experience, something that was on the borderline between reality and dream, that he wants to explore more.
“Well, it happened in Paris, when I had gone there for a film festival. It was a very brief encounter. I saw a woman floating near my bed. She had a transparent body. I wanted to ask what she wanted and why she was there. But suddenly she disappeared,” Apichatpong recollects.
Was he scared of the experience?
“Yes, definitely. But if it happens again, I think I will confront it. I actually would welcome it because I want to communicate with them and convince myself that it is real. Maybe we have a tool somewhere in our mind to communicate with them,” says Apichatpong, also known as Joe, short for his pet name Juey in Thai. “Everyone in Thailand has a pet name,” he explains.
The jungle in ‘Tropical Malady,’ which, he said, was a three-hour drive from Bangkok, was depicted in all its intensity and darkness that it pulled the viewer right into it, while the first half left the viewer just an observer. “Well, when it’s dark and you can’t see much, the mind takes over, it is more of a mind trip. And in the jungle, there are no rules, no sexual restrictions and you don’t have to wear clothes,” explains Joe.
The film depicts how easily man can become more like his ancestors, even a beast if left to himself in the primitive world and also how a beautiful gay relationship can turn into a prey-predator one, without actually defining who the prey or predator might be.
But does that not happen with any relationship?
“Yes, you are right. It does not have to be a man-man relationship. It can happen in any relationship,” he agrees.
At the screening, some delegates managed to watch the long first night in the dark and eerie jungle, but many were exasperated and walked out as soon as dawn broke.
“Getting the darkness visible was our major challenge. We had to use what we call balloon lights for the shots and I insisted on getting it darker and darker. Because of my stubbornness, we could not get many images but I was happy with the final outcome,” says Joe.
Yes, in most of the scenes, you could barely make out the outline of a human face. Even the littered forest floors looked scary.
As festival director Beena Paul Venugopal remarked, ‘‘Tropical Malady’ is a difficult movie.’ But how does he handle criticism? “You see, I don’t make films to please anyone. I get diverse reactions to my movies. I am comfortable and okay with those that are in sync with my thinking. I just let the others go by,” says Joe.
But even as he says that, he is one director who has protested most to the censoring of his film, ‘Syndromes and a Century.’ “They didn’t like the scenes of monks playing the guitar and doctors drinking and kissing, which they do in real life anyway,” says Joe, who left the censored portions blank in the movie. These silent scenes were long enough for the audience to realise what had happened. “I don’t know about the government, but it did have an impact on the audience, especially the younger generation and there were a lot of discussions on the Internet,” adds Joe.
Joe will be in Kerala for Christmas and New Year, spending about four days each at Alappuzha, Kochi, Kannur and Wayanad before moving on to his next project - a film about the Mekong River, the relationship between man and river. “Yes, I will be back with another film soon. Maybe I can even make a film in India,” smiles Joe.