Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was inspired by the 1983 book A Man Who Can Recall His Past Lives by Buddhist abbot Phra Sripariyattiweti. The film is the final installment in a multi-platform art project by Apichatpong Weerasethakul called “Primitive”.
The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and also won the event’s Palme d’Or, becoming the first Thai and Southeast Asian film to do so.
The film, which explores themes of reincarnation, centers on the last days in the life of its title character, who is played by Thanapat Saisaymar. Boonmee is suffering from kidney failure and spends the last days of his life peacefully on the farm with his sister-in-law Jen and grandson Tong. One night, while Boonmee, Jen and Tong are eating dinner together, the ghost of Boonmee’s wife Huay appears. Boonsong, Boonmee’s son who worked as a photographer who disappeared a few years ago also appeared, but now he has turned into a beast-man with black fur and red eyes. Along with her loved ones, Boonmee explores his past life while contemplating the reasons for his illness.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 89% approval rating based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 7.92/10. On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 21 reviews, indicating “universal acclaim”.
In addition to winning the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, the film was also selected as Thailand’s representative for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards, but it did not make the list. the final abridged book.
According to Wikipedia
