Mysterious Object at Noon

by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

The inspiration for MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON was the Surrealist storytelling technique known as Exquisite Corpse, wherein a variety of writers would contribute to a story one sentence at a time, without knowing much about what the previous sentences contained. Thai independent filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul used the technique to interview people throughout Thailand, learning a little bit about their lives and then asking them to contribute to the film's evolving story. What emerges is at once a portrait of Thailand's disenfranchised lower classes -- farmers, fruit vendors, village performers of "mor lam" (a song-and-storytelling hybrid extremely popular in the rural northeast) -- and a fractured group-narration of a story about a handicapped boy and his tutor, a woman named Dogfar. The finished story was then shot in dramatic form, using nonprofessional actors, and intercut with the earlier footage.

"It's a film unlike any other... you're likely to be utterly enchanted by this unique dish of entertainment that may be the beginning of a new art form: Village Surrealism. Mr. Weerasethakul's film is like a piece of chamber music slowly, deftly expanding into a full symphonic movement." - Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times

"Mysterious Object at Noon engages, unhinges and forever deranges the way that stories and cultural histories could -- and perhaps should -- be told." - Filmmaker Magazine