The Ancient One is back on the big screen. Well, at least Tilda Swinton is, anyway. The Scottish actress joins Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul in the new film Memoria set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival this year. In the movie, Tilda Swinton plays a Scottish woman named Jessica, who hears a very loud “bang” at daybreak. What happens next to “Jessica” is a huge mystery as the sound or bang triggers a sensory syndrome that follows her as she travels through the jungles of Colombia.
Although the trailer doesn’t give much to what the “bang” is or if it’s good or evil, we do get the idea that it is powerful and has been around for a very long time. In one scene, we see Tilda Swinton (Jessica) explaining the strange noise, or trying to describe the sound, to an audio engineer with little luck. While in a later clip she examines an old skull with an archaeologist who explains that the hole drilled into the skull was meant to “release bad spirits.” Clearly this could have something to do with the “bang” and the strange new illness Jessica has now been cursed with.
Memoria is set to release at the Cannes Films Festival on July 15th. Currently a widespread release has not been announced but with the cinema making a comeback and streaming services making deals to show feature films, this will most likely happen sooner rather than later.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul is making waves behind the camera as he previously won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2010 for his film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. His last feature film was 2015’s Cemetery of Splendor, although in 2018 he was one of four Thai directors to make the anthology film, 10 Years Thailand. Crossing over into a larger market might be in his future as this movie is getting a lot of attention based on the new trailer.
Memoria also stars Elkin Díaz, (El Rey, Out of the Dark) Jeanne Balibar (Les Misérables) Juan Pablo Urrego, and Daniel Giménez. Cacho.
WIth the movie set to be shown to thousands only a few days away, I am sure that more about the story as well as the “bang” will be revealed. And since Swinton is a Golden Globe nominated actresses for her role in The Deep End in 2001, this film should be a deep one as it plays out.
What we want to know is, when and if she will be back as The Ancient One in the MCU? The last time we saw her was in The Avengers: Endgame. With Doctor Strange 2: The Multiverse of Madness coming out in 2022, it is possible that her role as the Ancient One could make a return. After all anything is possible in the MCU these day’s. In the meantime though we are happy to see something new from Swinton and look forward to finding out what the “bang” is and where it came from.
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