bizarre astonishment

In the first third of the movie, following in the footsteps of ornithologist Fernando, we embark on a discovery channel-like journey through the animal world. I also fell asleep with the slow footage in that telescope. . . Later, he woke up and found that the male protagonist had an accident while rowing a canoe and was swept away by the river. . . The camera turns to two Chinese women hiking in the forest, and they start talking about religion, which reminds me of Yang Guimei's eldest daughter in "Food and Man." In that movie, she fell in love with the edible gym teacher, and led him on the path of faith. Well, to be fair, it has always been my forte. Back in The Ornithologist, the two women rescued Fernando from a coma, thinking it was a beautiful human story. They hoped that he would lead him out of the area and continue the pilgrimage. But Fernando said he was not like them, he had no faith.

The next day, the style of painting changed, and Fernando was tied up and unable to move. It was the two kind ladies who did it. He begged them to no avail. Then one night, he ran away. Short of food and clothing, he was cut off from the outside world, and he fell into an endless jungle. At this time, the movie began to be mysterious and terrifying, as if entering another unknown world. He witnesses spooky rituals, meets and has sex with Jesus, a deaf and mute shepherd, before killing him for an argument. Then, he passed through a time-space tunnel and entered a more mysterious realm. There, he talked to fish in stagnant water, discarded the pills he found, burned his fingerprints, and rescued a miracle dove. After waking up, I saw the three ladies hunting, who were shot and came back to life. Then met Jesus' brother Thomas, was stabbed to death by him, completed the switch of appearance (became the director himself) and the change of name, he is no longer Fernando, he is Anthony. At the end of the film, Anthony and Thomas walk out of the forest and into the city hand in hand, waving to two Chinese ladies across the street.

If the first third is sleepy, then the latter follows in the footsteps of the male protagonist and enters a world beyond the understanding of ordinary people, or the world of gods. As said in the movie: there are some things we don't have to know, we just need to go through and believe. Of course, it's still difficult for a Chinese without faith like me to understand. There is also an impressive use of telescopes, transforming from a distant object to a subject within. The process and atmosphere of this transformation are very well grasped, that is, the feeling of holding your breath and not being able to play with yourself. The director also brings his own gay leanings to the film, including two Chinese pilgrim ladies, as well as Fernando and Jesus. Religion is of course the most important part of the film, and knowing the story of St. Anthony will make the film better. Being in the jungle does feel a lot like Apichatpong, the same wet rainforest, the same unknowable next life. Of course I personally prefer Tropical Diseases, more poetic. But this film can also be counted as a spectacle in the 2016 movies.

(This article was originally published in the author's WeChat subscription account, Xiaoyu Xiaoyu, welcome to subscribe)

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