Search - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

Watching "foreign" films can be an enriching experience - you get to experience storytelling from a perspective greater or lesser degrees removed from your own. The flipside, of course, is that you might not understand a lot of the nuance. Cultural references, subtitles that miss the subtleties, etc.

"Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" is a 2010 film by celebrated Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. This is the first Thai film I've watched, so I'm avoiding any generalizations about Thai cinema in general. But based on the title you might think Uncle Boonmee regales his friends and family with stories like "Oh, I was once a samurai in training, and before that I was a peasant woman in Scotland, and before that I was..." This is not the case, however. The reality of the film is much, much more puzzling.

Here is a list of elements that comprise this film:

- a normal Thai family, some members of which have passed away
- a ghost of one such deceased family member
- a newly-discovered species of nocturnal simian-hominid with glowing red eyes, referred to as a "Monkey Ghost"
- an aging princess who longs for youthful beauty
- an escaped water buffalo
- the 1965 Thai struggle against communism
- recurring themes of photography/reflections/images

Put them all in a blender and you've got "Uncle Boonmee."

The "A story" is basically this: Uncle Boonmee has failing kidneys and is not long for this world. He is cared for by an immigrant from Laos, Jaai. His wife Huay has passed, and his sister-in-law Jen and nephew Tong come for an extended visit. While eating dinner one night, the ghost of Huay suddenly appears, as well as Boonmee's missing son Boonsong who has transformed into a Monkey Ghost. The family takes these events in stride. Eventually Boonmee leads his family to a nearby cave and ruminates about his life before he dies. The family members grieve and hold a traditional Buddhist funeral, then go about their lives.

That's really about it, but notice I didn't mention the buffalo or the princess.

This film is a puzzle. If you're into puzzles, you might like it. If you prefer your storytelling more straightforward, I'd understand if you'd choose to skip this one. I don't regret watching it, but I wouldn't revisit it. At the same time, I wouldn't avoid another Weerasethakul film...it was an interesting brain challenge and I'm sure I'll be thinking a lot about it in the near future.

What I'd be interested to read would be a review from a Thai viewer. But until then...

Grade: straight C