Urban Phantoms: Three by Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Screening Dates
Free Admission

“Allusive and enigmatic … A film that registers its ideas more by sleight of hand than by direct statement … Rewarding [and] beautiful to look at.”

Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Better to be an enemy than to be alone. Last Life in the Universe marks Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s first collaboration with cinematographer Christopher Doyle and actor Asano Tadanobu. Against the neon-lit backdrop of early 2000s Bangkok, Kenji (Asano), a fish-allergic Japanese librarian with a quiet death wish, meets Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak), an eccentric, weed-smoking bar hostess, on a bridge after both witness the sudden death of Noi’s sister (Laila Boonyasak, Sinitta’s real-life sibling). Deeply entangled with the yakuza in Japan, Kenji has fled the country seeking solitude—and an end to himself. What follows is a quiet odyssey of loneliness between two outsiders who find each other in the restless metropolis. A tender and bold declaration of connection through stillness, Last Life in the Universe remains one of Pen-ek’s most celebrated and beloved works, with Asano’s performance earning him the Best Actor prize at Venice.

In Thai, Japanese, and English with English subtitles

This free screening is presented as part of ​“Cinema Thinks the World,” a partnership project between The University of British Columbia and The Cinematheque. After the film, there will be a short reception followed by a one-hour panel talk with audience discussion.

Panellists: Chelsea Birks, Igor Drljaca, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, John Roosa
Moderators: William Brown, Anton Hing, Anna Sreekullkorn

Please note: Unclaimed tickets for complimentary screenings at The Cinematheque will be released 15 minutes before showtime. Please arrive early to guarantee your seat.

“What truly differentiates Last Life in the Universe from [Pen-ek’s] previous films is its confidence and ease that comes without having to overshare or divulge all its secrets to the viewer … A turning point in Pen-ek’s oeuvre.”

Kelley Dong, MUBI Notebook

“A stylish, slightly surreal mood piece … The Thai locales, the stars, and Doyle’s expressive cinematography add up to a disarmingly seductive yet always precarious film experience.”

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Acknowledgments

“Cinema Thinks the World” is sponsored by the Grant for Catalyzing Research Clusters (GCRC) at the University of British Columbia. Through a series of public screenings, panel talks, and discussions, it aims to explore the ways in which global cinema represents and helps us to think about the world.

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Note

Chelsea Birks works at the Centre for Community Engaged Learning at UBC, where she connects faculty and students with community organizations to work on real-world social issues. She was The Cinematheque’s Learning & Outreach director from 2020 to 2025, and holds a PhD in Film and Television Studies from the University of Glasgow.

William Brown is a filmmaker and assistant professor in cinema studies at UBC. His work focuses on digital media, philosophy, posthumanism, and critical race theory, and he is the author of (among others) Infinite Ontologies of the Chthulustream (Edinburgh University Press).

Igor Drljaca is a filmmaker and an assistant professor in Film Production, Department of Theatre and Film, at UBC. His most recent feature, The White Fortress (2021), screened at The Cinematheque in 2022.

Anton Hing is a Cebu-born, Vancouver-based filmmaker, curator, and UBC film graduate whose work explores the Asian diaspora, nostalgia, and colonial history. He also has a passion for unearthing and programming historical and contemporary Southeast Asian cinema.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang is a leading Thai director and screenwriter whose work has shaped contemporary Southeast Asian cinema. He lives and works between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

John Roosa is a professor in the Department of History at UBC and director of UBC’s Centre for South East Asia Research. His research centres around the themes of nationalism, imperialism, and oral history. He is the author of Buried Histories: The Anticommunist Massacres of 1965–66 in Indonesia (Madison University of Wisconsin Press).

Anna Sreekullkorn is a Thai filmmaker and film curator based in Vancouver with a focus on preserving Southeast Asian cinema. She is a UBC Film Production graduate whose work is grounded in the ethics of representation, telling stories shaped by the bureaucracy and labour experienced by young women and immigrants.

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