Cemetery of Splendour - Political critique through the lens of Paul Schrader's transcendental style

I am Aryan Kurungode and this video essay analyses the subtle political critique within Apichatpong Weerasethakul's 'Cemetery of Splendour' (2015) through the lens of transcendental style.
'Transcendental style' is a term first coined by filmmaker Paul Schrader in his 1972 book, 'Transcendental style in film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer'. Schrader attempted to categorize slow art cinema from different cultures and histories as films expressing the 'transcendent' in their unique ways.
This video essay delves into how Weerasethakul initially follows transcendental style and later complicates it and how this aligns with his political critique of Thailand.
While the film has been interpreted in numerous ways, I choose to focus on its subtle political critique that deals with the history of violence in Thailand, that exists in some form even today. After a military coup in 2014, many have argued that Thailand has basically become a military dictatorship, with strict Lèse-majesté laws that have imprisoned countless people, often those with no criminal background, for many years.
Weerasethakul in what is a slow, art film about comatose Thai soldiers, critiques the political state of Thailand in a way that is subtle and incredibly powerful. I attempt to analyse how Weerasethakul uses Schrader's transcendental style along with this political critique.
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[@mhm2957]

thank you for this essay! i just got the chance to watch cemetery of splendour and was looking for video essays to understand more about it yet no one seemed to cover it except for you (at least from what i found >w

[@antonhingfilms4101]

I go to school with this guy 🔥🔥🔥

[@Cotoletta777]

Just watched the movie yesterday, my first touch with this filmmaker, what an amazing experience, by the way great essay!