THE LONG WALK (Bor Mi Vanh Chark) CWC D: Mattie Do. Laos/Spain/Singapore. 116 min. Sep 10, 8:45 pm, Scotiabank 8 Sep 11, 4:45 pm, Scotiabank 10 Sep 13, 9 am, AGO. Rating: NNN
Do’s moody third feature is set in a small Laotian village, where a man in his late 50s (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy) goes about his days accompanied by a sad, silent young woman (Noutnapha Soydara). In a parallel storyline, a young boy (Por Silatsa) meets the same young woman… but he’s more concerned with his dying mother (Chanthamone Inoudome).
Like Do and screenwriter Christopher Larsen’s last collaboration Dearest Sister, The Long Walk is steeped in family, destiny and death this one adds a Butterfly Effect mechanism that finds its protagonist trying to fix his own past and only making things worse for everyone.
I’m not sure how well that works – there’s a key motivational question The Long Walk never really addresses – but on a tonal level, it certainly plays: Do’s deliberate pacing and long, silent stretches make the whole thing feel like a bad dream you can’t quite shake.
