NEON GHOST
2022
2K video | 2.39:1 | 37.52 min. | color | sound
“The future is no longer a white sheet of paper awaiting our projective prescriptive schemes and designs, and the past is no longer the archaic animist ‘stage’ which must be surmounted. The future is now behind us, and the past approaches us from the front.” This quote by Avery Gordon perfectly frames the character of Neon Ghost, a film which draws connections between Asian traditions of belief in spirits and the philosophical theory of hauntology—a framework that understands history as a ghostly, cyclical return of past ideas within the present. In Neon Ghost, the viewer accompanies a Hungry Ghost as it wanders through and haunts various decaying and abandoned sites in nocturnal Bangkok. Striking is the jerky, grotesque quality of its gestures, which—together with the white paint covering its body—are drawn from the tradition of Butoh dance: a form that, from its inception, positioned itself as resistance to the principles of modern (Western) society. It is no coincidence that the costume echoing the glow of neon lights, as well as many of the visited locations, operate as iconic metaphors of a neoliberal, globalized world—shopping malls, airplanes, cinemas. Yet these spaces appear as relics of a bygone era, lending the film an initially dystopian, post-apocalyptic atmosphere. This impression is further intensified by the abstract sound composition, which layers acoustic textures and intermittently incorporates sounds associated with the former functions of the abandoned sites. At the same time, it is precisely through this superimposition of temporal layers that the film opens up utopian horizons. By unsettling the familiar—rendering it as something past and decayed—the work invites reflection on alternative futures worth imagining and, as the reference to political protest movements suggests, worth fighting for. Rather than invoking a distant, idealized future, this science fiction-inflected performance film operates in the mode of speculative fiction: a practice that calls the present into question and renders its utopian edges visible in the here and now.
In "Neon Ghost", a fascinating performance film, the cityscape is personified by Kage (Teerawat Mulvilai). As such, Kage is shown in search of ways to grow, at the expense of a marginalized, undervalued group of people, who are, in fact, the very essence of the city's identity. It may be that the film is bidding farewell to the past; or that it is implying that the city is hopelessly stuck in the past. Whatever the case might be, trying too hard to interpret it is spoiling the pleasure of simply enjoying it. For me, the best is to watch without thinking too much, letting one go with the flow of the actor's movements.
— Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Directed / Camera / Edited: Kay Walkowiak
Actor: Teerawat Mulvilai
Composition & Sound Design: Natalia Dominguez Rangel
Sound Design & Mix: Nigel Brown
Color Grading: Andi Winter
Voice Over: Suranya Poonyaphitak
Translation & Subtitles: Jacques Carrio, Boonyawadee Em-Ek
Production Assistants: Barbara Probst, Chonticha Nakhagasien, Guyyasit Chantavorn
Special Thanks: Somrak Sila, Amornrat Amornsirichairat, Som Land
Supported by: Federal State of Austria, Province of Salzburg, City of Vienna
In "Neon Ghost", a fascinating performance film, the cityscape is personified by Kage (Teerawat Mulvilai). As such, Kage is shown in search of ways to grow, at the expense of a marginalized, undervalued group of people, who are, in fact, the very essence of the city's identity. It may be that the film is bidding farewell to the past; or that it is implying that the city is hopelessly stuck in the past. Whatever the case might be, trying too hard to interpret it is spoiling the pleasure of simply enjoying it. For me, the best is to watch without thinking too much, letting one go with the flow of the actor's movements.
— Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Directed / Camera / Edited: Kay Walkowiak
Actor: Teerawat Mulvilai
Composition & Sound Design: Natalia Dominguez Rangel
Sound Design & Mix: Nigel Brown
Color Grading: Andi Winter
Voice Over: Suranya Poonyaphitak
Translation & Subtitles: Jacques Carrio, Boonyawadee Em-Ek
Production Assistants: Barbara Probst, Chonticha Nakhagasien, Guyyasit Chantavorn
Special Thanks: Somrak Sila, Amornrat Amornsirichairat, Som Land
Supported by: Federal State of Austria, Province of Salzburg, City of Vienna
︎ Archive Film