CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR

Weaving together Thailand’s rich fundament of supernatural mythology and its often troubled national history, Apichatpong crafts a bewitching and seductive cinematic idyll in CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR. Soldiers with a mysterious sleeping sickness are transferred to a temporary clinic set up in an abandoned school house. 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. While taking care of Itt, Jenjira befriends a young medium who uses her psychic powers to help loved ones communicate with the comatose men. At the same time, favoring science over psychic ability, the doctors at the clinic explore different healing methods - including a glowing dream machine - to ease the men’s somnabulent suffering. Magic, healing, romance, and visions are all part of Jenjira’s tender path to a deeper awareness of herself and the world around her.

Working through a prism of personal and collective memories, refusing to distinguish between the everyday, dream-states and dark fantasies, Apichatpong creates a vast pool of cinematic associations for us to sink into and explore.