Based on Thai folklore, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's hypnotically sensual film Tropical Malady explores a hesitant romance between a soldier and a shape-shifting country boy. Divided into dialectic halves — the first rooted in an urban setting, the second in a magical forest — the film is an intoxicating reverie with a twisting plot. As Weerasethakul considers the nature of desire, the film shifts midway through, pitting the soldier against a man-eating tiger that could be his beloved. Silently bonding in the dark rain forest, the lovers share both a tentativeness and primeval attraction. This dynamic is the most enchanting element of the film, and its persistent resonance is utterly ravishing.