Tropical Malady (2005)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 10
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 1,721
My Rating
Movie Info
One of Thailand's leading experimental filmmakers, Apichatpong Weerasethakul directed this ambitious examination of fear and desire. Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) is a soldier who has been assigned duty as a forest ranger in the woodlands of the country. While on duty, he meets a young man named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee); Keng becomes deeply infatuated with Tong, but while Tong is friendly with Keng, he is obviously unwilling to respond to his romantic overtures. As Keng deals with his disappointment, he
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (46) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (34) | Rotten (10) | DVD (4)
The film evolves into something deeper, a story about the atavistic wildness within people.
Top CriticFor an exquisite taste of sensory cinema, look no further.
Some fantasy films make the leap from reality to reverie relatively seamlessly, hopscotching between the two states without leaving the audience behind. Tropical Malady is not one of those.
Tropical Malady is the work of a visionary fabulist.
An intriguing emotional and intellectual puzzle that made me feel exhilarated and contemplative.
It's not the kind of movie you simply leave behind in the theater. It will follow you home, leaving only a trail of soft, invisible paw prints.
What initially appears a vague and meandering plot line is actually our introduction into a sort of dream state where nothing is what it seems on the surface.
Humid transcendence
Camera work in the first half of 'Tropical Malady' appears jumpy and interrupted by confusing cuts and artsy tricks.
Maintains a visual richness, but loses its way with heavy-going forays into mythology and mysticism.
The most original film I've seen in years.
The division of the two halves is pronounced and disruptive ... but the filmmaking is assured and focused, reaching for abstraction and poetry.
A weird, gorgeous and disorienting act of exploration
As stylistically striking as it is adventurous.
Here are some more adjectives you can add to the disc's cover art: beautiful, elegiac, profound, and mythical.
A hypnotic head-scratcher that manages to be oddly fascinating and frustratingly tedious at the same time. Eventually, though, tedium wins.
It goes from a love story in the making to the mystical realm of legends where men can be transformed into wild beasts and monkey guides offer sage advice.
It's as if two completely different movies got spliced together in the editing room, or in the projection booth.
A film more textural than narrative, it's for viewers willing to lose themselves in a truly sensual jungle experience.
Audience Reviews for Tropical Malady
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Tropical Malady yet.
What's Hot On RT
Trailer for James Franco adaptation
Star Trek opens softer than expected
Rachel McAdams' time travel romantic drama
Trailer for Tom Hanks thriller
Featured on RT
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Star Trek Softer Than Expected at #1 16
- Weekly Ketchup: Will Smith to Star in Wild Bunch Remake? 33
- Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh 92
- Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition 0
- Video Interviews with Katie Aselton & Lake Bell of Black Rock 2
- VIP Access: Eli Roth talks Aftershock 1
- Total Recall: Star Trek Movies 94
Top Headlines
-
J.J. Abrams Talks Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Wars, and More
0
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Begin a New Trilogy
8
-
Mickey Rourke Confirmed for Expendables 3
4
-
Brad Bird Still Mulling Incredibles 2
0
-
Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, and Martin Short Join Inherent Vice
0
-
Bruce Willis Makes an Expiration Date
2
-
Drew Pearce Hired for Mission: Impossible 5
0
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Foreign Titles
- Tropical Malady (DE)
- Tropical Malady (Sud Pralad) (UK)
