Thai director’s ‘Cemetery of Splendor’ a puzzle

Thai director’s ‘Cemetery of Splendor’ a puzzle

Like most of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films, “Cemetery of Splendor” is an experimental, strange, dreamlike meditation on humanity, our need for love and our inner demons.

In a small rural clinic, soldiers have been suffering from some unknown sleeping sickness.

Jen, a middle-aged woman, takes a special liking to a young solider, Itt (Banlop Lomnoi).

[...] two spirits from her local temple appear and tell Jen that the soldiers will not get better because the clinic sits on a sacred battleground where spirits are still fighting.

The hour-long “Mekong Hotel” (2011), never released in the United States, is a special bonus for fans of Weerasethakul, who is best known for the great “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

If you haven’t seen a Weerasethakul film yet, here’s a good opportunity, but leave your expectations at the door.