Last Life in the Universe
Director: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Year Released: 2003
Rating: 1.0
It's a Thai version of Garden State - or is Garden State a more pop-friendly Last Life in the Universe? - in which a suicidal and near-comatose young man gets bullied by the world but changes when he meets a crass and disorderly young woman. Conceptually thin and all-too precious (Ratanaruang never tires of shots of his lead staring at the floor, or images of meticulously placed books), it gets really desperate when they borrow from Buñuel and start swapping out actresses with no explanation. At some point the lead's moping dopiness - so common in cinema from all countries (and we were all born at such an interesting time!) - made me so irate that if he wasn't going to off himself, I would have gladly done it for him.
