Syndromes and a Century

Syndromes and a Century (2006) is a meditative drama by Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul you can watch online on iFILM. It's a memory piece about his parents, both of them doctors, assembled from fragments that begin abruptly and trail off with no resolution.

The story is told twice. First in a sun-dappled rural hospital, where a doctor gently questions a young colleague named Toey and a monk admits he'd rather be a DJ. Then nearly the same scenes replay in the cold corridors of a city clinic, and the very same words land completely differently across the two worlds. Weerasethakul never spells out the link — he just sets two eras side by side and lets you feel the drift between them.

The film competed in the main competition at Venice and has turned up on plenty of Western critics' best-of-the-decade lists. This is slow, hushed cinema that won't suit everyone: no clear plot, no dramatic spikes, only mood, light and recollection. For viewers willing to sink into its rhythm, it lingers for a long time afterward. Stream Syndromes and a Century (2006) online on iFILM.