-Written by Kyle Bain.
2024 FILM MAUDIT 2.0 REVIEW!
You get no synopsis of Naween Noppakun’s Crazy Lotus, because I’m not even sure I know what the synopsis is after watching. I’m baffled, so you get to be, too.
This is a film that makes no sense at all, yet feels infinitely profound–extending itself into the far reaches of the universe. The longer the film plays, the further it expands; and the longer you dwell on it after your viewing, the more profound it becomes.
Again, I have no idea if this film makes sense, leaving viewers to their own devices, forcing them to both come to terms with the film and figure out what the hell it means (even if one potential meaning only makes sense to one person). Crazy Lotus uses vibrant colors, flashing lights, and eccentric voices to tell what looks like it’s meant to be a cohesive tale–but seems equally fractured and incoherent. Noppakun develops something simple yet convoluted, frumpy yet clear–something that both makes you roll your eyes and then think back to the weight that it holds.
After finishing Crazy Lotus at five o’clock in the morning I started to rattle my brain, attempting to decode this fever dream of a film, knowing I had to figure out what Noppakun’s intentions were…or I was going to go insane. With the vibrancy of Crazy Lotus’ aesthetic, the direction I went was strength. The idea of power and strength comes from the symbol of the lotus. Paired with the strong visuals is a dark, demented voice that helps to forcefully carry viewers through the film. With the combination of these pieces of a twisted puzzle, I couldn’t help but feel that this is the direction that Writer-Director Noppakun wanted us to go, begging us to look internally and analyze ourselves. While I almost felt crippled hearing the dilapidated voices of these unnamed narrators, they, interestingly, seemed to instill a sense of power in me–urging me forward, ushering me out into the world to be bigger and better.
Crazy Lotus is nothing if not symbolic. Symbolic of what, though?…that’s the question. I couldn’t help but come back again and again to the thing sitting right in front of me: the lotus. That’s the title or the film, the cornerstone of Crazy Lotus. This is what I ultimately gravitated to, but I don’t think that others have to look at the film the same way in order to appreciate it. Crazy Lotus is what the title dictates, crazy–it’s quick and vicious, and there’s no way you walk away from this film unscathed.
Written & Directed by Naween Noppakun.
Starring Surat Kaewseekram, Phemsinee Sawangkla, Gorrawiya Aphipobthitikorn, Thongchai Pimapunsri, Sirikan Supphasitthikunchai, etc.
7/10 = WATCH IT FOR FREE
