Once again Weerasethakul comes to us with an enigmatic, folklore-linked story. I find his stories and style of cinema to what Romania does with its cinema. The subject is so foreign and exotic to the normal cinephile, which 80% of the time, because of sheer quantity, consumes American cinema, that when we get to live such a film we are either fooled or dazzled by the narrative.
This is what I feel about Romanian cinema. I, being romanian, see romanian films about communism as something akin to beating a dead horse - and pretty bland cinematically. As a filmmaker that is a very interesting topic to tackle because of the lack of criticism, we couldn't satisfy back then...so, of course, we're gonna milk that cow for as long as possible, mostly because that romanian new wave was filled with directors that lived in that dying period of romanian communism.
The same is happening with Weerasethakuls movies. They are exotic, different, and out-of-the-ordinary...so because of this fresh air approach, the cinephile will most of the time love it unconditionally. I still think his images communicate something more than what is told but we should be skeptical while watching this...he might just dazzle us.
I feel the sleeping soldiers are a metaphor for the laziness of man and his lack of action. And we can find the main actress here also in "Syndromes...", so it's the same universe, as well as the ever-present erection.
