by Afra Nariman

Mysterious Object at Noon (2000)

Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul

REVIEW:

What’s more real than humans telling stories? 

Mysterious Object at Noon is a fascinating experiment, and an impressive and bold feature-debut that pushes the boundaries of our notions of cinema. Rather than ambiguously exploring the blurred line between reality and fiction, the film expresses these two modes of storytelling side-by-side for us to observe, often making it clear which segments are “documentary” and which are “fantasy,” and at times distinctively weaving these modes together to push the “narrative” forward. 

The film experiments with the line that separates truth from fiction in a particularly unique way that not only encompasses the cinematic material, but that also speaks to a broader observation; that we are all part of one another’s lives, and as a such, everyday we become the characters of each other’s stories. In Mysterious Object at Noon, the story is told collaboratively, by various people who tell their segment of it in continuity with what has already been shared. In our lives, we tell stories shaped by our interactions with others everyday — in our dreams, in the stories we make-up about the strangers we encounter, or in the ways we choose to explain the world around us. Reality always shapes fiction, and fiction pushes forward reality.

MY RATING /5:

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