I saw Manta Ray (Phuttiphong Aroonpheng) at the Mumbai Film Festival in October 2018. This Thai directorial debut was a slow but engaging and eventually hypnotic blend of reality and fantasy, highly reminiscent of the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee, Cemetery of Splendour). A Thai fisherman searching for gemstones in the forest (for an intriguing purpose) comes across a battered half-dead person (hinted to be a Rohingya refugee). He brings the man home, tends to his wounds and slowly nurses him back to health. In all this time the stranger does not utter a word, but there is an emotional connect between them. One day the fisherman abruptly disappears and the stranger from that moment carries on life in the manner the fisherman taught him. Even the fisherman's wife who had abandoned him for another man returns and moves in with the mute stranger, as though she has accepted him as a substitute for her husband. Already we are going into spoiler territory so I will not discuss the plot any further but the beauty of the film is in its rhythm and its evocative mix of real and imagined elements, coming across as a fable of sorts. And towards the end there are some sequences that are rapturous pure audio-visual experiences. This is a brilliant assured debut from a maker whose future work I will be looking forward to (There was a QA with the director after the screening, a shy unassuming gentleman who said that it took him almost 8 years to get the resources for making his film. I hope we won't have to wait that long for the next one).

Words fail to describe this film, it has to be seen to be experienced. Visually, aurally and emotionally engaging to a degree rarely seen. Do yourself a favor and watch it on a big screen, in a dark room, with no distractions - a theater, basically.

Without knowing what I got into, I bought a last minute ticket to see manta ray at the international film festival in Rotterdam. I was pleasently surprised by this movie because I didn't know what to expect.

The movie is visually stunning and has a great 'flow' to it. Although it is a slow movie I never found it dull. The way the director makes the Thai city come to life was a real pleasure. I don't want to spoil anything about the plot so I won't. But the only thing I will say about it, is that I feel the movie lacked substance. Nevertheless I throroughly enjoyed myself and I would recommend this movie to people who like surrealistic experiences.

At the moment I rate it at 7/10 but it;s more like a 7.5/10