Ray Pride

(Sud Pralad) Man walks into a jungle, tiger says, "Yum." With "Tropical Malady," got visionary, if you want it. School of the Art Institute painting graduate "Joe" Weerasethakul tells an original fable, a ghost story, a love story, making haunted Thai jungles the birthplace of fresh ways to tell a story. Like in his tropically laconic "Blissfully Yours," Weerasethakul is adept at dreamily paced, effortlessly lush photography, inspired sound design, precise composition and gesture, as well as sudden narrative turns that would snap the neck of a lesser man. "Tropical Malady" begins as the affection of a soldier for a young boy, and there is much that is right about its depiction of uncomplicated eros, but the movie's ghostly ascent into a spiritual, pantheistic quest, is something truly unforgettable. "A memoir of love and pain," Weerasethakul calls it. A masterpiece, if you want it. 118m.

"Tropical Malady" opens Friday at Landmark Century.

. (2005-08-16)

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