There's a scene in the excellent documentary about the history of film, The Story of Film: An Odyssey where Lars Von Trier is trying to describe why fellow Danish director Carl Dreyer is great, and after offering a few suggestions, admits that he doesn't quite know why. Great directors, like great artists of any stripe, are great because of their ineffable qualities. We can't quite put our fingers on why they move us. Syndromes and a Century by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is the ineffabalest of ineffable directors. The film, which I feel like I could watch on a loop for days on end, never thrusts itself at you. It waits there in the background letting you approach and discover it at your own pace and with as much attentions and interest as you care to give it. It drifts along with a dream logic and seems to be more force of nature than work of art, unfolding as a series of loosely tied together events instead of a scripted story. Then the scenes start to repeat but with slight variations. Like a symphony. But once a rhythm starts to establish itself, it disintegrates. Most scene are shot in long shot like we're interlopers. But these words are not at all adequate. You have to see the film. Then see it again. And you still won't be able to reduce it down to a description that makes sense. It will defeat your attempts. But you'll be better off for it.