Memoria

Memoria (2021) — watch online on iFILM this meditative drama from Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a co-production spanning Switzerland, France, Germany, Colombia, Mexico and Thailand. Tilda Swinton plays Jessica, a Scottish orchid grower who travels to Colombia to be with her ailing sister.

One morning, before dawn, Jessica hears a massive bang — deep, blunt, coming from nowhere visible. Nobody around her registers it. The sound returns, again and again. She tries to recreate it in a recording studio, chases down a possible source, asks strangers. The further she goes, the more the line between external world and inner state starts to dissolve. Time itself begins to behave strangely.

Weerasethakul shot in exceptionally long, static takes — cinema that refuses to rush the viewer. The jury at Cannes 2021 awarded the film its Prize. This is not a thriller with a tidy resolution; it is closer to a sensory experience than a plot. Those who find most films too busy will find Memoria exactly the right speed. Stream Memoria (2021) online on iFILM.