25 for 25: Mysterious Object at Noonat Gene Siskel Film Center
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s (MFA 1998, HON 2011) breakout first feature is a dazzlingly uncategorizable mix of road movie, folklore, surrealism, and documentary. Shot in black-and-white 16mm while traveling across Thailand, Weerasethakul invited villagers, performers, schoolchildren, and others to contribute to an ever-expanding story inspired by the surrealist game of exquisite corpse. The result is a freewheeling collaboration in which fiction and reality continually blur, mutate, and surprise--from an outdoor musical performance to a children’s game to a story told in sign language by two Deaf teenagers. Growing out of the beguiling experimental films he made while at SAIC, the film introduces many of the themes he has continued to explore throughout his career, including myth, memory, collective storytelling, and the porous boundary between the real and the imagined. (Amy Beste) Screened as part of our 2002 Conversations at the Edge series.
