a soldier name keng and meet a young man name tong in thailand and the two begin a friendship . keng make constant sexual and amorous advance on tong and who laugh them off and or make a game out of them . he be never exactly interested and but never fully rebuff either . the two make trip back and forth from the jungle where tong life and keng be on patrol with his military unit and to the city . we see the lush silent landscape and the bustling city life and from dance hall karaoke to the cinema to the solitude of a quiet lake . when keng finally make a move in such a way and a to be beyond any doubt of a desire for intimacy ( he kiss tong hand ) and tong responds in turn by do the same and and then walk into the darkness of the forest . before keng and can come to understand and the film take a drastic turn in tone and style and and mood . we be tell by an interjected 3d person narrator the story of a shaman who be a shape shifter know to take different animal form and who use to roam the forest playing trick on people . one day a cunning hunter and do not fall into a trick and shot him and mid transformation from woman into tiger . the spirit of the shaman be then stick a half tiger half man and eternally doom to stalk the forest while trick and devour all in it path . keng and be then on patrol in his section of the forest and explore rumor from villager and about some thing kill cattle and cause general havoc . alone on patrol in the wood and he become plague by strange sound and a sense of dread and and image of a naked boy and a tiger and spectral animal and and a glowing phosphorescent tree ( which look as beautiful a those in aranofsky the fountain . i have no idea how they get that effect and on their budget and but it miraculous . ) . this second half of the film and of course call into question our understanding of keng and tong prior relationship ( if tong ever exist at all . ) . while part one and be reminiscent of a modern quirky love story like chungking express and the second half be like terrance mallick shoot a remake of predator . all sense of time and space and be swallow by the jungle and and implicit politics of the first half be turn inside out in the second half while it be literally cat and mouse and with the possibility that the cat may want to be eat by the mouse and or vice versa . the second half be also mark by the inclusion of tribal art and cave painting and depict the story of the shaman and the soldier and with sub title accompany them . to paraphrase a description by director weerasethakul it like a silent film for the first people on earth . and together with the visual effect and confident cinematography and clever use of edit and music and and sound and and disarm performance and it become magical . tropical malady combine the most modern and ancient notion of fear and desire and and make something new out of them . this be thailand solaris and a story of the change shape and form of want and need and of be deceive and allow yourself to be deceive by them . it slow pace and force reflection on question like what form or body comprises love and be it purely physical or something more and be it perhaps deception itself and a fools errand we invent to forget the savagery of the jungle around u and be it the need to devour or be devour . there a scottish legend call tam lin ( one of my favorite ) and long story short and a woman fall in love with a faerie and and discovers he use to be a man and but make a deal with the faery to serve them if they spar his life and after an accident . tam tell the woman she can restore his humanity and claim him and if when the faery pass on halloween night and she will wrap her arm around him and not let go no matter what happen . she do this and and the faery transform him into all manner of creature and some hot and some cold and some thorny and others slimy and some which bite and claw and etc and but she hold on throughout all his change and til eventually she find herself just cradle a man . and the faery begrudgingly let her keep him and because she hold on to what she love and despite the way it change with time . the film open with these line and all of u be by nature wild beast and our duty a human being be to become like trainer and who keep their animal in check . and even teach them to perform task alien to their bestiality tom nakajima tropical malady and be a good deal more ambiguous and i suspect more predatory and reflective as well and than tam lin and and come from the opposite side of the world and but like that story manage to peculiarly harmonize emotional sensitivity and mythic scope and into a coherent whole . i wish i would have pay more attention to weerasethakul mysterious object at noon the first time i have the chance and he have a talent for experiment with narrative and style that be miss in many film endlessly praise these day . the phrase i keep hear from other review or the one i like the best be if brokeback mountain and be a mountain on the island from lose . it callous and with a smidgen of truth and but this be a much good movie than that . it be very slow move though and the first hour will give you no hint of the second half ( other than a few visual one and look at the various statue in the background and etc ) and but for the bold and the patient and there be lush hypnotic reward to be have .