Tropical Malady
Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
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  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    Weerasethakul's latest has received mixed responses on the film-festival circuit, yet while it's anything but commercial, it's also anything but unadventurous.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    100
    An entirely unconventional, hypnotic, meandering film.
  3. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    91
    A film more textural than narrative, it's for viewers willing to lose themselves in a truly sensual jungle experience.
  4. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Patrick Z. McGavin
    90
    A spellbinding, beautiful, enigmatic film with a mysterious, allusive two-part structure.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    88
    If you enjoy intelligent, challenging filmmaking, Tropical Malady is for you.
  6. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    80
    "All of us are by nature wild beasts. We must be like animal trainers and teach ourselves tricks alien to our bestiality." Cutting-edge Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul uses this quote from the novelist Ton Nakajima to introduce his entrancing third feature.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    80
    In light of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's young career, it's fitting that his beguiling, transfixing romantic fable Tropical Malady splits down the middle into two radically different halves.
  8. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Dennis Lim
    80
    Like "Blissfully Yours" and Apichatpong's first feature, the exquisite-corpse road movie "Mysterious Object at Noon" (2000), Tropical Malady promotes new ways of seeing.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    Mysterious and original.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    80
    Shows a young filmmaker pushing at the limits of cinematic narrative with grace and a certain amount of puckish willfulness.
  11. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    This challenging, inventive movie from Thailand is not for everyone.
  12. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    75
    It took me two viewings to enjoy the landscape of Weerasethakul's mysterious jungle -- so very thick, steamy, and foreign -- without wishing for clearer trail markers.
  13. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    70
    It's a haunted picture, one that feels inhabited not just by actors and scenery but by spirits, too.
  14. Variety
    Reviewed by: Deborah Young
    60
    Takes the viewer on a mysterious and sporadically fascinating trip into the darkness of the human heart and Thai legend.
  15. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Jessica Reaves
    50
    Extremely slow--unbearably so at certain points. And even when there's no action, there's very little dialogue, and we're asked to follow the disjointed and dreamlike story line without the help of anything resembling a narrative.
  16. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    40
    Certainly for most audiences the viewing experience will prove not only tedious but bewildering.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. VinceH.
    10
    To paraphrase David B., this is truly a "bending experience" in every sense of the word. From the mysterious and glazy opening scenes of soldiers and families in a rural farm eating, to the languid would-be love affair that constitutes the first half of the film are both perfect. The opening credits coming in about 30 minutes in, the gorgeous use of Thai pop music that Weerasethakul uses so lyrically, the amateurish acting and dialogue. It is all just magic. There is no way to describe it. None of this even comes close to the experience of the last 45-50 minutes of the film or so, when Keng explores the vast jungle searching for a ghost-tiger. This is easily the most pure and beautiful cinema I have seen in the theaters since "Spirited Away". The use of natural sound and the dark and disquieting texture that Weerasethakul creates is just mindboggling. As Dennis Lim says, it "promotes new ways of seeing". This is the kind of film that when you walk outside after, EVERYTHING will look different. There are really no words I can think of to describe the evocative state-of-mind and euphoria that this part of the movie put into me. I wanted to sit and watch it all over again, but unfortunately I caught the last screening in my town. IT comes to this: you need to see this film. Your life will be better for it (and no, that is not an overstatement).… Full Review »
  2. roberth.
    6
    After reading all the glowing reviews this movie received it turns out to be a major disappointment. the first half of the movie while sloppily put together is still engaging. the allegory half is so unoriginal it's irritating. while the photography is professional the narrative is strictly student film project and again very thoughtlessly put together. very forgettable.… Full Review »
  3. ChadS.
    4
    The structure of "Tropical Malady" bares a passing resemblance to John Sayles' "Limbo". The first half takes place in a community, and in the second half, the action shifts to a desolate location, void of people. This is the nicest thing I can say about this very, very, very demanding movie. The enchanted action in Apichatpong Weerasethakul's forest has its visually arresting moments, but it's too little, too late, after long periods of a static camera being pointed at a darkly lit soldier. The ghostly imagery of forest creatures is the creative domain of Hayao Miyazaki, who applies it to admirable pop culture entertainments like "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away". The second half of "Tropical Malady" has the unintended effect of being like a Miyazaki film for adults.… Full Review »
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