Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Last Life in the Universe is a fully nuanced film about lonliness and sadness, supported with existential themes. But the thing most striking about Last Life in the Universe is the respect that the characters recieve from the director and narrative. Ratanaruang obviously cares about them-- they escape movie archetypes without being boring, and their emotions are full ranged and real. Impressively, Kenji(Tadanobu Asano) the OCD librarian and Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak) the playgirl's bodily and sexual desires are handled without turning them into caricatures: Kenji is psychologically sufficient and Noi isn't oversexed.The beautiful camerawork and the desaturated film help to make their temporal situations meaningful within the narrative. 4.5/5.

Ratanaruang's latest movie is Invisible Waves

0 Comments Saturday, May 06, 2006, 5/06/2006 08:49:00 PM