Mekong Hotel is, I think, supposed to be something of a lark. I got that feeling about the one other Apichatpong Weerasethakul film I have seen (Mysterious Object at Noon). However, whatever charm Mekong Hotel is supposed to have is lost on me.
The film begins with the director talking to a guitarist who is providing the music for the film we are watching. Next, we are introduced to a young woman carrying bloody entrails who, after apparently cleaning up from her meal, meets a man staying at this hotel. He has lost his dog to, he believes, an evil spirit (hmm, who could that be?). The man starts hanging out with the young lady at her mother's home near the hotel, on the Mekong River. They all lounge around. The mother talks about her past, a flood in Thailand and worries about her daughters. Are these actors in character or just talking between takes? Occasionally, the long scenes are interrupted by the director talking to the guitarist in the background. Not a whole lot happens.
Toward the end, the film provides some confusing exposition, with the actors clearly reading their lines from a shooting script which is deliberately left in plain view of the camera. I guess this is to remind the viewer that he is watching a movie (trust me, I didn't need to be reminded).
Finally, there is a nearly six-minute overhead shot of revelers on jet skis going around and around on Mekong River.
Okay, if I were on vacation and lounging outside my hotel room, I might watch jet skiers under the pretty scenery for six minutes too. However, to watch such a scene in a movie is beyond me. Maybe my attention span was ruined by music videos as a teenager or maybe a six-minute static shot of river is just dull, as is the rest of the movie. I don't know what game the director is trying to play with his audience, but I am not amused.
