Blissfully Yours

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is exemplary in pointing to new ways of telling cinematic stories. Here he presents us with a beautiful canvas of cultural impressionism and profound poetic daubings.

Certainly not boring. Certainly not pretentious. And if you find it slow, then you need to readjust your perception of what 'narrative' can do. Slow is a relative term. The inference from some commentators is that slow equals languid and thus dull. But this is anything but languid or dull. It is a beautiful rumination, a poem of pace and intrigue and voluptuous sensitivity.

Sit back, relax and don't rush (where is everyone rushing too, anyway?). Be with the moment and enjoy the art of a magnificent filmmaker.

This film is banded in Thailand I haven't seen it yet . Almost people don't know this film even it got some awards nothing in Television news May be this 2003 may some chance in cinema but R version .This film got NC-17 because of naked scenes . It about Love story that some I don't understand I think all of you should see this film if you have a chance .

Please do not feel sorry for anyone associated with trying to make something beautiful. A film does not need to have a beginning or an ending, or an elaborate story, it can simply contain moments in time, it can be a visual sensation, this art form, like all, needs not be strictly defined. If you found Blissfully Yours boring, fair game. But this magnificent film put a smile on my face for much of the second half, because I felt what it meant for me to feel, this film is 1000% feeling, so it's great for those who can feel. When we step into nature we can truly suspend time. "Roong, what time is it?", "Wait, I'm still having fun."

That's not a regular film but rather an unique example of art film. It's more an impression of the director then a drama or romance or anything else. The way how Weerasethakul makes movies one can love or hate.

The main character is a Burmese refugee, Min, who seems to be in love with a Thai young woman,Roong. While she's at work an older woman, Orn, takes care about Min. Once Min and Roong go for a picnic into the forest, where they meet Orn. The background of the movie is a nationwide crackdown on illegal Burmese immigrants in Thailand.

Slow shots, beautiful landscapes, strange plot construction, mysterious details, and somehow erotic and unclear relationship with two women and young man creates a great but very specific kind of cinema.It's a beautiful impression of human relationships.

An earlier film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. To pause for a second, it is amazing how relatively easy it is these days to watch cinema from all over the world. That alone constitutes something akin to bliss for me at least.

I would say seek out other films by Weerasethakul first, and then proceed to this one if you wish. There is an enchanted Thai forest here as well as in "Uncle Boonme." His admiration (not quite the right word) for middle-age women seems to be frequent, here it is juxtaposed with an almost Romeo and Juliet, or Adam and Eve, love story. Roong seems so young, and Min is clearly a visitor in her heart, and her country.

There is some sentiment for the director on the "illegal alien" (always a bit strange phrase), Min is minimally communicative in the scenes with the two dominating women, is given voice-over monologues and over-layed sketchings.

Min's skin is featured in the film, don't let it trouble you. But it seems his skin is rejecting Thailand. I guess if this film says anything it's that bliss is fleeting if not even misunderstood. The lovers try to find a place remove from the Orn-ery every day grind, a place between two countries, a sweet safe place off the map.

However, every picnic has ants waiting for it.