Praise for Nymph

Nearly a week in the aftermath of the Cannes Film Festival, word is continuing to trickle back from France about Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Nymph (Nang Mai) -- the only Thai film in the festival's "Official Selection".

The story of an urban couple ("Gybzy" Wanida Termthanaporn and "Peter" Nopachai Jayanama) who go to the jungle in an effort to sort out their troubled marriage, Nymph competed in the Un Certain Regard program, and was met with discouragingly tepid reviews.

So it's heartening to find that there's critics who have some positive things to say about Nymph.

Eric Lavallee of Ion Cinema was most taken by the film's opening -- "one continuous technically difficult long-take, around 10-plus minutes in runtime." He posted a short review -- "it is nature and not humans calling the shots" -- and then included it among The Top 10 Best Scenes from Cannes, hailing it for "explor[ing] the mysterious nature of the film's key location."

The Telegraph also has a mini review:

A word for Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Nang Mai which screened in Un Certain Regard: it's an exquisitely photographed and sound-recorded drift through the Thai jungle in which a young couple whose relationship is troubled find themselves returning to a huge, veiny, sap-oozing true.

The director claimed the film is about a love affair between them and the tree. He also urged anyone who didn't understand this opaque but mesmerizing work to e-mail him.

I see from checking the film's website that the Thai release date has been moved up a day to Wednesday July 1, so Pen-ek can start checking his inbox a bit earlier.