Tropical Malady ***
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004
Thailand
@ Anthology Film Archives

Mr. Weerasethakul, who lives in Thailand and studied film and painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has an appreciation of the more humorous dislocations of globalization, like an aerobics class in the middle of a dusty town. "Tropical Malady" is filled with such minor disruptions (including a woman who talks about ghosts in one breath and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in the next), but the biggest disruption takes place when the storytelling shifts from realism to allegory. Set in the deepest, darkest heart of the jungle, this part of the film finds Keng tracking a ghostly figure who periodically assumes the shape of a tiger. That the figure should turn out to be the soldier's elusive lover, the object of his desire, should come as no surprise. Frankly, I was more taken aback by the talking baboon.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | Manohla Dargis review