For the past few weeks, Mubi.com has been streaming for free the latest short by renowned filmmaker—and School of the Art Institute graduate—Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives). The short, Ashes, is one of the director’s more purely experimental works, an impressionistic photo essay about contemporary Thailand shot on a variety of film stocks and employing mainly nonsync sound. In a recent interview for Mubi, Apichatpong shared his skepticism about the fate of his home country, comparing it to a slowly sinking ship, and Ashes reflects this sentiment in its images of antigovernment protests and in its funeral-set conclusion. Yet the overall tone is gentle and inquisitive: tellingly, the only dialogue is a short description of a pleasant dream.
