This is a tough one to rate as, while I was certainly blown away by the time the credits rolled, I felt I didn't get fully on board with it until the final half hour. Before that, while I appreciated the unexpected, albeit uncommon moments of sound design (the recurring sonic booms) and the outstanding framing in certain scenes, its style still felt fairly standard for such an extended period of time (or, at least, less dream like than I was expecting given my experiences with some of Weerasethakul's other films). That said, a few scenes still stood out to a degree here and there, like a dog following Jessica around or her walking into an ensemble quartet. Once the action moved to the countryside though, it became one of the most sensually powerful films I've seen in a long time. With the inclusion of the fish scaler's motionless and extended 'sleep', the hand holding connection, or a particular genre changing set piece at the end which I won't dare reveal, the snail like pacing and gorgeous photography grew so surreal that the film became a sensual dream which froze time down to almost a standstill (as has been said of Joe's films numerous times in the past). Mixing audial and visual ambience with prolonged empty space won't work for everyone since the "nothing happens" crowd tends to trash these kinds of films (and to throw those people a bone, while I think their arguments are completely naïve, I will admit that I've struggled with a couple of Joe's films), but if you're able to get on board with the ethereal rhythms his films offer, you'll get such pleasing and unique results. Again, it wasn't until the final half hour where the film fully won me over. Given how moved I was by the final act though, I feel confident enough on this being improved by subsequent watches down the road to not mark its rating down. As an aside, if you don't think you'll be able to watch this in a theater, you should definitely watch it with headphones at the very least.
Review of Memoria
