Muslims
make up less than five percent of Thailand’s population, but an Islamist insurgency
still decided it deserved to run the (nearly 95% Buddhist) country. Laila was raised
in the Islamic faith, but as a hip, well-educated Bangkokian, she is
psychologically and geographically removed from the southern insurgency. A road
trip to Pattani potentially holds cultural and political revelations for her,
as well as the hint of supernatural mysteries afoot in Pimpaka Towira’s Island Funeral (trailer here), which screens
during the 2016 Seattle International Film Festival.
Laila
seems to be the only member of her family that remembers her Aunt Zainub and
even that is a distant memory. Nevertheless, for some reason the young woman
had an urge to reconnect with her distant kin, who seemed to be expecting her
call. Although she is a modern independent woman, Laila’s father insists she
travel with her brother Zugood (whose college buddy Toy tags along for reasons
that soon escape him).
Frankly,
the old man had reasonable cause for concern, given the rising insurgency
activity and the national government’s corresponding military deployments.
However, none of those big picture conflicts penetrate past Laila’s windshield.
They have more pressing concerns. The trio is as lost in Thailand as Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang, but the atmosphere is definitely eerier, especially when Laila
insists she saw a naked woman in chains run across the highway. Zugood and Toy try
to convince her it was nothing, but everything means something in a film like
this.
There
are times in the first two acts we are keenly aware we are watching Laila drive
around in circles. Yet, the third act is something radically different, marked
by a strange vibe that suggests some sort of paranormal business is happening
just outside our field of vision. Zainub’s ancestral home and island village are
also quite a distinctive setting, like a tropical Shangri-La inhabited by elder
Muslim women.
It
is hard to formulate a clinical reaction to Funeral,
because it is an immersive kind of film that insists viewers acclimate to its rhythms.
Fortunately, it is relatively easy to just surrender and go with it, thanks to
Heen Sasithorn charismatic performance as Laila. Without question, she is far
brighter and much more proactive than her brother and his ambiguous roommate. In
contrast to Aukrit Pornsumpunsuk and Yossawat’s almost intentionally meek performances
as Zugood and Toy, Pattanapong Sriboonrueang is silently fierce and steely as
Surin, the mysterious loner who guides Laila to her aunt. Kiatsuda Piromya also
has a grand presence befitting Zainub. She makes quite an entrance, amply
paying off all Towira’s build-up.
