Mysterious Object at Noon

One of the treats to be had at the Edinburgh International Film Festival is the chance to see old films that don't get cinema releases very often anymore. Mysterious Object at Noon, the first feature by acclaimed Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is definitely one of these films. In fact prints of this film are so rare, that the copy we watched had been borrowed from a Korean Film Festival and had Korean subtitles (as well as English!).

This film is part road movie, travelling through rural Thailand, and part an experiment in film making. The overarching story to the film is one about a disabled boy and his teacher. This story is told by the actors, using Andre Breton's exquisite corpse storytelling technique, where each person takes on the story from where the previous left off. Each storyteller takes the story in a new direction, it metamorphoses from a very realistic tale to one that is very influenced by supernatural forces. The story is at various stages discussed and rewritten, acted out on village stages and told to us in sign language as well as making up segments of the film. Alongside the actual story we are given fascinating insights into the storytellers' lives and how they see the world. It really is fascinating and quite surreal.

I had a press ticket for the only showing of this film at the Edinburgh International Film festival. It's rarely shown in cinemas these days!

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