Memoria

Synopsis

Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s films are very unique and definitely not for everyone. Some will be bored. But Weerasethakul‘s film stick with you, like magical operations. They set their own pace, but are only seemingly slow. Spirits are at work in the films of the Thai master. MEMORIA, his new, internationally produced film with Tilda Swinton in the main role, begins with a muffled bang which wakes Jessica (Swinton) up. Only she can hear the sound. The sound scares her at first, but then she wants to hear it more and more. In the academic milieu of the University of Bogota in Colombia, Jessica tries to reconstruct it with the help of sound engineer Hernan. It works, but then Hernan suddenly disappears, as though he never lived. Jessica believes she is losing her mind. She encounters people but it isn‘t clear whether they are really alive. Some are at least temporarily dead but seem completely content about it. Jessica‘s sister was just in the hospital. Now she is sitting at a restaurant and reassuring her that she shouldn‘t worry about the curse that seems to be looming over their Amazon research project. MEMORIA shows people – half alive, half from a different world – that stumble upon colonized land and hold ancient skulls in their hands while something is breaking new ground. “Like rumblings from the depths of the earth,“ says Jessica. It‘s certainly about themes: colonization, the destruction of the rain forest, the experience of foreignness. However, Weerasethakul mainly creates an uncertain feeling or rather a vibration. Reality here is simultaneously profane and banal, everywhere is haunted and the dead are among us. Tom Dorow (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN) Translation: Elinor Lewy

Genres

• Drama

Viewings