While our eyes this week are already looking ahead at the films to come at the Toronto and Venice film festivals, it’s important to remember there are still plenty of gems from Cannes and Berlin waiting to come off the fest circuit and hit cinemas. And one picture that wowed us on the Croisette — ranking on The 20 Best Film Festival Debuts Of 2015 So Far and The Top 10 Films Of The 2015 Cannes Film Festival — was Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s latest "Cemetery Of Splendor." And a new international trailer is here.
Another movie from the filmmaker blending magical realism and routine tasks of everyday life, the movie follows a group of soldiers afflicted by sleeping sickness. Here’s the official synopsis:
Soldiers with a mysterious sleeping sickness are transferred to a temporary clinic in a former school. The memory-filled space becomes a revelatory world for housewife and volunteer Jenjira, as she watches over Itt, a handsome soldier with no family visitors. Jen befriends young medium Keng who uses her psychic powers to help loved ones communicate with the comatose men. Doctors explore ways, including coloured light therapy, to ease the mens’ troubled dreams. Jen discovers Itt’s cryptic notebook of strange writings and blueprint sketches. There may be a connection between the soldiers’ enigmatic syndrome and the mythic ancient site that lies beneath the clinic. Magic, healing, romance and dreams are all part of Jen’s tender path to a deeper awareness of herself and the world around her.
READ MORE: Cannes: Watch 3 Clips From Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s ‘Cemetery Of Splendour’
Our critic at Cannes noted the film leaves you with "a sense of alien wonder that seems not to sink in from the outside but to spring from the bass-deep pit of your own stomach….as perhaps the purest expression of cinema." If that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is.
Check out the new international trailer below. Strand Releasing has the U.S. rights for the movie, but no date has been set. ‘Cemetery’ opens in France on September 2nd. [Cine Maldito]
