Cemetery of Splendor (2015)

A group of soldiers in a small town on the Mekong River in northern Thailand are struck with a bizarre sleeping illness.

Director:

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Writer:

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Stars:

Jenjira Pongpas, Banlop Lomnoi, Jarinpattra Rueangram

7 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jenjira Pongpas	...	Jenjira (as Jenjira Pongpas Widner)
Banlop Lomnoi	...	Itt
Jarinpattra Rueangram	...	Keng
Petcharat Chaiburi	...	Nurse Tet
Tawatchai Buawat	...	The Mediator
Sujittraporn Wongsrikeaw	...	Goddess 1
Bhattaratorn Senkraigul	...	Goddess 2
Sakda Kaewbuadee	...	Teng
Pongsadhorn Lertsukon	...	Library's Director
Sasipim Piwansenee	...	Cream Hostess
Apinya Unphanlam	...	Singing Woman
Richard Abramson	...	Richard Widner
Kammanit Sansuklerd	...	Parasite Doctor
Boonyarak Bodlakorn	...	Dr. Prasan
Wacharee Nagvichien	...	Soldier's Wife

Storyline

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 colored 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.

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Plot Keywords:

soldier | sleeping | thailand | notebook | medium | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Thailand UK Germany France Malaysia South Korea Mexico USA Norway

Language:

Thai English

Release Date:

2 September 2015 (France)

Also Known As:

Cemetery of Splendor

Filming Locations:

Khon Khaen, Thailand

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,780, 6 March 2016, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$51,765, 5 June 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kick the Machine, Anna Sanders Films, Match Factory Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Itt and Jenjira are eating dinner in the city, several bystanders are seen looking and pointing at the crew.

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Quotes

Sign Post: Hunger for Heaven will lead you to Hell

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Connections

Features Mae Bia (2015)

User Reviews

Sleepwalking Land - Thai style

For the few readers of my reviews, I apologize for the recent blockbuster posts. "Arrival" and "Kubo" not very far off the map, but perhaps you can take this journey.

It's an exotic film, but not in the common sense. I suspect one could go to Thailand and not really find what this film presents, it may not exist.

Like mind-reading, meditation, religious shrines, beauty creams, ring worm, and reincarnation....we don't really see them in action, but can sense they are present. Might as well add love and history to that list.

Things we cannot see but know are there including the current in water and the air moved by fans, images used to separate scenes in this film.

In the middle of this "Cemetery of Spendor" there is a scene, not linearly part of the plot, that puts us in a theater for a coming attractions unreal reel of a Thai ghost film. So this film too is a ghost film, even if the principal ghost, Itt, is not dead but hovering between lives past and present. Sleepwalking and seance-summoned (well not really a seance, there is a medium.

The films pace is languid, a dog is allowed to wander into frame, a hen guides its chicks past a door in a school converted to a hospital. The lead character, she has been through both, now and then.

One of my all-time favorite films, "Travelers and Magicians" has a similar feel....although that was a story, and this is almost more of a poem.

Certainly not for everyone, but you will love it. And you'll want one of those psychedelic apnea respirators with color tubes. Also we find out that Europeans are living the American Dream....but dreams for this director can clearly be tricky.

In my limited exposure, Weerasethakul has a wonderful way of seeing/thinking and filming, here's his weather and sports short that we got to see at SFMoMa last year.

Warning : it is definitely a film as art feature https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fYrRwASGQA one of my sons sure appreciated it over the Calder sculptures. To each, his own....but glad to have visited this Sleepwalking Land. (Wow he should get the cinematic rights to that book by Mia Couto!)