Syndromes and a Century (2006)

Essential Viewing

Thailand/France/Austria/UK

Feature Film

Original Title: แสงศตวรรษ

Writer/Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Cinematographer: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

Cast: Nantarat Sawaddikul, Jaruchai Iamaram, Nu Nimsomboon, Sophon Pukanok, Jenjira Pongpas, Arkanae Cherkam, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Sin Kaewpakpin

Weerasethakul’s spellbindingly compelling, gently humorous, vaguely unsettling, and joyously human film, one of seven pieces commissioned for the New Crowned Hope Festival (part of Vienna’s celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday), pays tribute to the film-maker’s parents, both of whom were doctors, presenting, plotlessly in two mirrored parts, Thai hospital life (the first part in a small rural hospital, the second in a large urban one). Iain.Stott