Mekong Hotel

Thailand, United Kingdom

2012

61 Min

Color

Thai

Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
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CAST Jenjira Pongpas, Maiyatan Techaparn, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Chai Bhatana, Chatchai Suban, Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Cannes (Special Screenings), Locarno (I film delle giurie: Concorso internazionale), Toronto (Wavelengths), New York (Views from the Avant-Garde), Vancouver (Dragons & Tigers), London (Experimenta)

Synopsis

Mekong Hotel is a portrait of a hotel near the Mekong River in the north-east of Thailand. The river there marks the border between Thailand and Laos. In the bedrooms and terraces, Apichatpong held a rehearsal with his crew for a movie that he wrote years ago called Ecstasy Garden. The film shuffles different realms, fact and fiction, expressing the bonds between a vampire-like mother and her daughter, the young lovers and the river. Mekong Hotel – since it was shot at the time of the heavy flooding in Thailand – also weaves in layers of demolition, politics, and a drifting dream of the future. — Cannes

Director

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul (Thai: อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล; born July 16, 1970) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Blissfully Yours, which won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival; and Syndromes and a Century, which premiered at the 63rd Venice Film Festival and was the first Thai film to be entered in competition there.

Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Weerasethakul has directed several features and dozens of short films. Themes reflected in his films (frequently discussed in interviews) include dreams, nature, sexuality (including his own homosexuality), and Western perceptions of Thailand and Asia, and his films… read more

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GIYGAS

20Jan13

Apichatpong's attempt to get a song stuck in your head forever.

EGGSALAD and Pedro Tavares like this

affasf

16Dec12

The clumsy river setting creates a very unique atmosphere for this transmigrant spirits\thai ghost tale. Besides some weirdo sequences the movie is intriguing and marvelously crafted. Apichatpong vision thrills in every scene, charming us with an ancient, sordid spell; tracking a furtive point-of-no-return for the eye.

hugo alexandre

17Nov12

Very awesome film. Something like a drug lulls you to another world.

Daniel Racine

15Nov12

Toujours fascinant de plonger dans l'univers évanescent d'Apichatpong, à mi-chemin entre le réel, la fiction et l'au-delà. Et cette guitare qui emballe ce doux cauchemar éveillé, comme une conscience collective qui nous berce. Un autre beau moment de pur cinéma!

Roland Löbner likes this