Search - Blissfully Yours on DVD

Reflective, sweet, and formally audacious

David Alston | Chapel Hill, NC, USA | 07/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I suppose BLISSFULLY YOURS could be summed up as a great film about nothing, or perhaps about life's tiny moments.

Filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul is one of the more interesting filmmakers working now, and though this extraordinary film may not be the best place to start with his work, it does sum up much of what he seems to go after.

Here, as with his other films, there's an interesting contrast between documentary starkness and a slight dreamlike quality, where everything almost seems real, but is just slightly out of synch with the normal intensity one would assume with normal life. The departure from absolute reality is accented here by the two-act structure (also seen in TROPICAL MALADY), with credits appearing 43 minutes into the film for the first time. The explicit fascinations with spontaneous creativity notable in MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON, and with memory and legend that shaped TROPICAL MALADY are more muted here, but still present: the romances (and joys and angst) depicted here seem drawn from recollections, or from the unconscious ways we work through problems and crises. And - whether seen in myth, or seen in romance - the omnipresence of human creativity is a quiet background force here as well.

A reflective tone is notable here - rather than use minimalism to examine the defects of modern society, Weerasethakul uses a calm and quiet tone to focus on joys taken for granted. I would note that the severe depression seen in one character is an indication that he's well aware of difficulties in the lives of ever-evolving characters, but he also maintains a strong respect for those same characters. So in a way this is a film spotligting those moments of peace we all seek - the variety we too often fail to grasp the significance of when we do find them.

This may be the best-looking of the Weerasethakul films I've seen, with a lush visual sensibility (even in the urban segments, set in and filmed in Khon Kaen) that presents both beauty and a kind of florid mysteriousness in great fashion.

In short, this is a film of grace and power.

-David Alston"

CENSORED!!!!

Bennett Lerner | Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Thailand | 04/24/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Be warned, even though the listing says "uncut", this is the Thai-government-approved censored version of the film. There are about 10 very significant minutes missing. The complete version is on the Strand Releasing DVD. Great movie! See it complete!"