The Body As Cogito: A Certain Contemporary Film In The Light of Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

Contemporary film is displaying a kind of "transnational new wave" that seems unique since the mid-60s. Filmmakers as diverse as Tsai Ming-Liang, Karim Aïnouz, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, show a similar sensitivity towards the values of the world and of the cinema. What brings the work of these directors together is the taste for a realism more focused on the phenomenon of experience, on issues of skin and surface, and a different look at the body. Our hypothesis is that the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty provides us with valuable tools to broaden the debate. The discussion will be carried out by an analysis of the work of Tsai Ming-Liang, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Karim Aïnouz.