By the Time It Gets Dark (2016) poster
2016 · drama

By the Time It Gets Dark

Directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong1h 46m2016
ElsewhereIMDb6.4637RT91%Metacritic73TMDB6.225
  • sombre
  • slow-burn
  • inventive
  • signature
  • intimate
Movie DNA

Sombre, slow-burn, gentle drama, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Film-maker Ann has an upcoming project about the 1976 massacre of Thai students. She interviews Taew, a survivor, at a mountain retreat only to have her perspective change as the project progresses.

Our read · By the Time It Gets Dark (2016) reads as a sombre, slow-burn, inventive drama entry — gentle in intensity, intimate in scope, measured in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of By the Time It Gets Dark

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a meditative experimental Thai film on historical trauma and representation.

ends ambiguousit stays with youmeditativegrips by minute 22attention 5/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violence

Skip it tonightYou want a clear linear story about the 1976 massacre or easy resolution.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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