[ID: 4 gifs from the thai film “malila: the farewell flower”. gif 1: a wide shot of shane and pich standing in front of each other. shane reaches out to touch pich’s face. he’s wearing a kesa while pich is naked. gif 2: shane setting up his mosquito net in the forest. gif 3: shane and pich sitting down at a river next to the bai sri that pich had crafted. gif 4: monk sangchai and pich sitting in the forest next to each other, eating out of big black pots. /end ID]
M A L I L A : T H E F A R E W E L L F L O W E R (2017), dir. Anucha Boonyawatana
Malila: The Farewell Flower —Anucha Boonyawatana Q&A
I recently (28/05/2022) I got the chance to see Anucha Boonyawatana at a screening of her 2017 film Malila: The Farewell Flower, followed by an absolutely fascinating Q&A session. Below the cut is a summary of some of the things she covered.
She refers to Malila as her beloved film, and said that it brings together many different parts of her experiences
This was her first time rewatching it in three or four years
When creating Malila, she drew heavily on her own experiences in the monkhood, back before she transitioned (ordaining for a short period of time is a tradition for Thai men over the age of 20)
P’Nuchie said that in Thailand, monks are often presented as something distant, representatives of the Buddha, but she wanted to show a monk experiencing emotion
She highlights how monks are often understand as almost a separate gender, leading an existence detached from sexuality and conventional categories of manhood and womanhood. When Malila was specially screened at a university for monks, the audience there immediately understood the theme of gender fluidity
When I(!) asked her about the connections between her 2004 thesis film Down the River and Malila, she said that she definitely felt there was a connection, as both deal heavily with Buddhist themes and feature water as a central motif. She added that she sees Down the River as being about impermanence and Malila as being about suffering
She actually invited one of the actors from Down the River to appear in Malila, but the scene he was in didn’t make the final cut
The inspiration for the film came largely from her own experiences making bai sri: large, handcrafted monuments used in Buddhist ceremonies, made from threaded-together leaves and flowers that begin wither almost before the bai sri is even completed. She began to wonder about the point of investing time into making something that will only disappear, and this led her to ask these same questions about love and life
Although one of the main characters, Pich, makes bai sri, it is actually an art that is traditionally reserved for women.
The film is dedicated to her friend who passed away of cancer. She highlighted the importance of friends for lgbtq+ people, often being more important than family. She also talked about how she never really convinced herself that he would die, even though she knew his condition was serious, because he was the same age as her and still so full of life. She regrets that she was never able to say a proper goodbye.
She talked a bit about how much films about monks are scrutinised by the censorship board, mentioning Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2007 film Syndromes and a Century (which was censored due to a scene of a monk playing a guitar) and another film featuring a monk crying at his father’s funeral
When it was submitted for censorship, the final farewell scene (in which Shane, now a monk, embraces Pich/his corpse) generated much controversy. If the scene had involved a man and a woman, it would have been banned, as it would have violated rules of the monkhood. As it was between two men, however, P’Nuchie managed to use the ambiguity surrounding perceptions of queer relationships to her advantage
Malila was fairly well received in Thailand for an arthouse film. Despite being a very niche film, it made a splash because she cast one of the country’s most famous actors (Weir Sukollawat) in the leading role. It recieved mixed reviews, but the general response was mostly positive
