Film Reviews / Sep. 05, 2018
Using the traditional Thai Buddihist floral arrangement Baisri as a symbol, Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017) is a gay love story that conveys separation, regret, desire, sorrow, life and death. It is a film poem.
Shane works in a farm picking up jasmine buds. Pich is an artist who combines jasmine bud and petals to create Basiris. They share a past: a few years ago, they agreed to run away together to the big city, but Shane got cold feet the last minute, got married and had a daughter. Unfortunately, his daughter passed away and his wife left him. After learning that Pich has cancer, Shane returns to his hometown. He feels guilty about what he did to Pich and wants to make up to him. He decides to become a monk, and take care of Pich, hoping they can stay together forever.
Malila: The Farewell Flower is the second feature film of Thai director Anucha Boonyawatana. It is somehow a continuation of her first film The Blue Hour (2015). Both talk about gay men’s relationships and its connection with the cycles of life & death. The two films include a scene of the main character soaking in the river. This is to express water has the ability to wash away the happiness and sadness of the sacred soul.
Pich mentions to Shane, deeply saddened by his daughter’s loss, that the person’s body that suffers will leave its soul behind and that Basiris put the soul back in place. After Pich finishes his Basiri, Shane will reunite with his lost soul and will no longer resist his feeling towards Pich, even though, they do not have much time left together. Not only does Baisri recovers his soul, it also reawakens his love for Pich, a love that has always been there.
When Shane mentions to Pich that he wants to become a monk. He asks Pich to stay together after he is secularized. Under their time constrains, Shane's request transcends a request for cohabitation into a request to live together. The two lonely individuals can finally reach for each other’s souls, even though they were both born alone and will die alone. However, they cannot ask for anything else but this moment in their lives.
Before Shane finally becomes a monk, Pich succumbs to his illness and passes away. Now a monk, Shane still lives a life filled with doubts. Especially, due to the guilt and his debt to Pich, which he will never be able to pay back. One day, he finds a rotten body in the forest. Shane has to look into the body and remember that the transcends the physical world. Shane cannot stand the vision by he forces himself to. The body turns into the image of Pich and he can finally apologize and bid farewell to him. A metaphysical experience. Shane's guilt is washed away along with the dirt on his body.
The performance from the handsome and sexy film star Sukollawat Kanarot is flawless. His portrayal of a man without a soul, sad and desperate due to his difficulties with Pich, is mesmerizing. A highlight in his career. Anuchit Sapanpong, plays a character out of his comfort zone during his career as a singer and dancer. His insightful attitude towards the cycle of life and death and his total dedication to Shane are some of the most climatic moments in the film.
The film quotes a Baisri poem from the 19th century. When the pure and beautiful Baisri is completed, and it has accomplished its praying function, the wilted Baisri is thrown away. Shane asks Pich if he feels sad for the wilted Baisri. He replies expressing that wilting is also a form of beauty, seeing the Baisri floating along the river makes him feel at peace. A metaphor for the idea of life and the living, and the silence in letting go, the calmness of nostalgia.
