Video Essay: Comparing Uncle Boon Mee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and The Reflecting Pool
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives produced and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and The Reflecting Pool by Bill Viola are both art films that address on the subject of reincarnation or rebirth. The former is a narrative film whereas the latter is an art video.
The Reflecting Pool, a 7-minute art video by Bill Viola, is influenced by his interest in Western and Eastern art, philosophies and religious views such as Zen Buddhism and Christian practices. The use of religious ideology gives the video a sense of the supernatural and the mystic. He also often employs innovative technologies and finds new methods to direct his audiences’ views.
Released twenty-one years before Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Bill Viola’s The Reflecting Pool revolves around a man made pool in the middle of a forest. Throughout the film, the camera angle never moves. This explains that the camera remains at the same place throughout the film.
In the beginning of the film, you can see a pool reflecting its surroundings on its surface. It looks like a perfectly normal scene except that you can hear the sound of the surroundings combined with the sound of running water. The sound of the running water sounded as …show more content…
In Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, many of the scenes were accompanied by natural ambience background sounds, while The Reflecting Pool is depicted in a long single shot with similar naturalistic sounds. By using natural background sounds both films bring its audience on a narrative journey. This was helpful to the audience as it gives them little distraction and a natural setting for them to ponder about the
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives produced and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and The Reflecting Pool by Bill Viola are both art films that address on the subject of reincarnation or rebirth. The former is a narrative film whereas the latter is an art video.
The Reflecting Pool, a 7-minute art video by Bill Viola, is influenced by his interest in Western and Eastern art, philosophies and religious views such as Zen Buddhism and Christian practices. The use of religious ideology gives the video a sense of the supernatural and the mystic. He also often employs innovative technologies and finds new methods to direct his audiences’ views.
Released twenty-one years before Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Bill Viola’s The Reflecting Pool revolves around a man made pool in the middle of a forest. Throughout the film, the camera angle never moves. This explains that the camera remains at the same place throughout the film.
In the beginning of the film, you can see a pool reflecting its surroundings on its surface. It looks like a perfectly normal scene except that you can hear the sound of the surroundings combined with the sound of running water. The sound of the running water sounded as …show more content…
In Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, many of the scenes were accompanied by natural ambience background sounds, while The Reflecting Pool is depicted in a long single shot with similar naturalistic sounds. By using natural background sounds both films bring its audience on a narrative journey. This was helpful to the audience as it gives them little distraction and a natural setting for them to ponder about the