Frozen Gestures and Reincarnation

Started out the day with a great great discovery, just following ppl down the street and into this great cafe, amazing bakery and great coffee. All the tables and chairs are the old old wood and antiques... love the tone and music here... it will be my hanging out and getting my share of java every morning before I head out...




It was kinda raining the whole day, which gave me a bit of a headache in
the end... I started out wanting to go to New Museum as my first destination.. but then
couldn't resist the call of Soho, so ended up going shopping for ... some odd hours... I find that Uniquo is not as good as before, first because their prices have gone up quiet a bit, and the Tees are not as crazy and unique anymore... a bit disappointed... then got great great finds in the Levi's jeans store, 3 pairs of great jeans for 50 bucks... and of course went to Muji, found this great BLACK raincoat just in case...



Then it really started to rain hard, so I decided it is time for the museum...
The New Museum, just a couple blocks off Soho, with each floor hosting a different exhibition,
which really is not that quiet impressive, given my limited understand of the "new" art...but somethings did catch me though.


On the first floor, it is from Lynda Benglis, the first retrospective in NYC in 20 years who is a real feminist and famous artist... one of the most "signature" thing for her is putting lots and lots of bright color latex on top of each other... making a huge sculpture that is not in her control how it turns out...which can be half the size of a person, frozen in the air... I think I can do that as well if that's call art... but the idea of the "frozen gesture" makes me reflect upon where everyone is frozen in a certain state at each point of their lives, and building on top and on top of it... We get frozen or static without even realizing it, being oxidized and life draining away...
that's pretty interesting.. but she didn't really say it like that.. don't know if it is the intended meaning...just my imagination...



One of my fav. Thai director,Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who have directed films like "Ploy", "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year, and film titles like "The Adventures of Iron Pussy ", how can I pass on his first ever exhibition, "Primitive"... the room is spread into eight films,
following a gang of youth who happen to be able to build a spaceship and can travel back and forth through time, and exploring the personal and political memories of their own identity and of the country... which relates to the military regime of Thailand in the 1970s... it is meant to be a dream like experience, “reincarnation and transformation.”
I have always wondered how I would be like if I am living in another time period, what would I be doing... whom would I have met...
maybe there is another me on the other side of the world right now, living a completely different live... just like in "The Double Life of Veronique" or a different version of my life right now base on different decisions that I made, but he is living on with those consequences... as in "Sliding Doors"



One of my fave bookstore in NYC is the New Museum gift shop, with lots and lots of great art books and films... very interesting topics on things you never thought of, or have thought of and couldn't find anywhere else... got a book about the making of books with different materials like fabrics, silk, many many more... also one that's about using ANY material to turn it into a pinhole camera, like coffee jars, matchboxes, your limit is just your imagination... very cool...
also a book about the resistance art in the Palestine...

Hot Docs: The Cove

One of the best and most powerful doc I have ever seen. It is about how Ric O'Barry, one of the best at dolphin training in the 60s, made a TV show called Flipper, which he used 10 yrs to created a whole industry of dolphin shows at marines. But when his beloved frd flipper committed "suicide" because of the stress living at the marine, Ric finally woke up and realized what he had done. He had put over 23000 dolpines each year to being slaughtered. Each year, in Taija Japan, fishermen will trap dolphins that pass by the area and let the marine trainers come and pick the best ones and be sent all over the world while all the rest will be killed on the spot. But because dolphin meat is not the most attractive thing there is, they were disgusted as other more expensive meat to be send all over the country. Because of the industrial dumping and pollution, and because dolphins are at the upper level of the food chain, they have become living toxic dumpsites when they eat smaller polluted fish, and anyone who eat the dolphin meats (which they don't know about), will get high level of mercury poisoning. And it was also given out as charity to school children as free lunch all over Japan. Which has the most hurtful effects.

Ric then used the next 35 years of his life trying to right a wrong, and gathered a passionate team of ppl who really do care about the ocean and the dolphins to uncover this hidden secert. It really is a Ocean's 11 real life thriller, where they had to go undercover, tailed by cops day and night, watching their every move, being provoked by locals so they can do something stupid to kick them in jail... is one crazy ride...

I think what really touched me in this film is that the team really put everything on the line, that if they were caught, they will be in jail, or even killed and lose everything. Their passion for doing something that seem so "silly" to save a bunch of sea animals makes me believe how one small group of ppl can make a difference in the world. And makes me believe once again the moving power of cinema, where you will not get the some shock by just hearing the news. But when you see the visuals and the cries of the dying dolphins, it has such impact that shatters your heart to pieces...
A MUST WATCH FILM!!! Can't wait for it to come out in Aug throughout the city.




Go to The Cove: What Can I DO to see how you can help and take part!!!

And be careful not to eat too much tuna or salmon.. they are full of mercury as well...
see the list some of the "safer" fish below

Eat only sustainable clean seafood.
Good fish

Arctic Char
Barramundi
Catfish
Clams
Cod (Pacific)
Crab (Dungeness, Stone)
Halibut
Herring
Lobster (Spiny)
Mahi mahi (US)
Mussels
Oysters
Pollock
Salmon (Alaska wild)
Sardines
Scallops
Squid
Sturgeon (farmed)
Tilapia
trout

Bad fish
Chilean Seabass
Cod (Atlantic)
Crab (King)
Flounder
Groupers
Halibut
Lobster (Caribbean)
Mahi mahi (Imported)
Marlin
Monkfish
Orange Roughy
Rockfish
Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic)
Shark
Shrimp (imported farmed or wild)
Snapper (red)
Sturgeon (imported, wild)
Swordfish
Tuna
Walleye pike
Yellowtail

Time Traveler's Wife

Would you have loved me when it was just a couple of years back,
When i was still very selfish and reckless?

Even if you can see the person i am today,
Would you have committed to stay?

To walk with me on this journey,
Through the tragic and gray?

To love me without regards,
To show the true love that you always say?

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The above "poem" was written after finish reading "Time Traveler's Wife" a while ago...
Wondering who would really have loved me when I was still very crazy and lost back then..
and who will really still believe in the future me seeing who I am this day.
And it touched me that God is still there every single way...

Can't wait for it to come out in the movie with Rachel McAdams in it... loved her since The Notebook...


The Time Traveler's Wife is the story of librarian Henry DeTamble, who has a genetic disorder that causes uncontrolled time-travel.

Hot Docs: Inside Hana's Suitcase

It was the opening night for this year's hot docs film fest. The world premiere of Inside Hana's Suitcase and it blew me away and I do have high expectations for this year's films...
The film started a bit slow, but gets better in mid-way. I guess it can use a bit less dramatization and special effect to keep it more authentic. But it was still very good.

The story is about how one Japanese woman, Fumiko, where she wish to open up a Holocaust center so that the children in Japan can learn about its history and maybe possibly to stop the increase in child violence. Then a old suitcase was send from the Auschwitz museum, and the quest to discover the story of its owner Hana begins. It is amazing how the suitcase is not just a plain old suitcase when a name and story is attached to it. To find out more about the owner, Fumiko went to Auschwitz itself to talk with the other survivors, some were Hana's childhood friends, ones who lived in the same cabin as her, and find out the horrors the children and all the Jews had to go through. In which she was able to connect with Hana's brother, George, who lives in Toronto. It was a very touching moment when George was able to see his beloved sister's only belonging left, and telling the stories of their family.

This film really gave me confirmation of how important it is for people who have gone through great tragedy to be able to tell their stories. As George said, it is important that people other than himself, will be able to know about Hana, to let her stories live on. It is a healing for him in a way. Even though it is still painful and tears still swell up his eyes, he feels it is still very important for other children to learn from Hana so this history will not repeat itself.

Fumiko's passion and efforts to dig deep into finding more about Hana is really touched me as well, or else all these beautiful memories about the lovely children before being send to the concentration camp can't be bring out. And they are still going around the world everyday to make it be known.

After the screening, there were Q & A section... and we were actually about to meet al the characters in the film, George and Fumiko themselves. It is actually a first time I seen an actual Holocaust survivor in person. It is truly an honor to be in the same room with someone who had been through so much and still holding on, living his life to the fullest. He really touched me as he keep using his life as a witness, telling again and again the painful past, hoping that history won't repeat itself. So what is our responsibility after this? How are we to engage to our time, to the present, right now? I truly believe, as a person of media ( if I may call myself that for now), we do have burden, a accountability to let these witness be presented, these stories be told, these memories live on.

This film also reminds me of a film I saw in TIFF a while ago, And Along come tourist. Also a very touching film, high recommend!! It was also about the Holocaust, where one of the survivors who lives on site at one of the Auschwitz museum to give lectures about it, keeps repairing the suitcases as he still cherish each and every piece like his children. It was asking the question about whether the tourist who comes to the museum really cares about the past, or just come for the wows and amusements. Even the local politicians were just using the past sometimes as a tool to gain ground and favors. And how are we treating the "human history witness", do we know we have lots of treasure inside of them? And do we have any respect for other people's tragedy? Reminds me of what Beichuan might become as a tourist site.

Inside Hana's Suitcase will be showing again Sun May 3rd @ 1:30pm, don't miss it!!!

Extended reading
Q & A: Inside Hana's Suitcase
Hot Docs from Apr 30 to May 10

Slumdog Millionaire!!!

This is just such a great film.
At the end of the movie, I can only say...WOW...
It is supposed to be just another typical star-crossed lover movie, but Danny Boyle gave it a bit time remixed, with a great story linked together by the game show "Who wants to be a millionaire?", embedded with such a rich culture from India and showing the brief glimpse of how Bombay had changed from a slum where the main characters came from, to the modern day city of Mumbai. The actings are great, especially the kids in the beginning of the film really set the tone and helped us build an intense emotional attachment to the characters.
The editing and cinematography is superb just like you would expect from Boyle, like the fast editing we have seen in Trainspotting. And the music score by A.R. Rahman was stunning and goes with the movie so well.

I really do appreciate how much work and understand Boyle had in the Indian culture and the tides of change it had experienced. If our Chinese Canadian history or culture can be told like it did in the film, then it will really really be something...

This is one of the best film that made me sit on the edge of my seat for quiet a while!!

Lars and the Real Girl

It is about Lars who is an really extreme introvert because of hurts in the past, and one day just shows up with a great beautiful girl, Bianca, the doll as his girlfriend.

A great movie about how sometimes we make really stupid decisions, and projected everything we wanted onto a delusion... but everyone around you played along with you cause all they wanted to do is love you...
pretty touching...

Blindness Movie

I have always thought that Fernando Meirelles was a great director as his last two movie was really great...The City of God (On my Top 10 movie list of all time) and Constant Gardener...
So when Blindness comes with, with a cast of Julianne Moore and Gael García Bernal, i just got to go see it right away on the opening night...
(Spoilers ahead)

It is a very great movie, so lots of metaphors and symbols to show how human nature react in sudden chaos...
Has a lot for viewers to think about, will be a bit better if the director can show Julianne, the only one who can see, her struggling to adapt and her loneliness in the situation...
The movie is about how a nation of people suddenly got this epidemic of instant "white blindness" that spread very quickly in the city.
It is very interesting how they see whiteness instead of totally darkness, which is how a total blind person should see...total blackness...

To get a clue of what this "blindness" may mean, the eye doctor was saying there was nothing wrong with the eyes, just that every light was turned on, that's why people couldn't see...
When compared to the dark ages before with lots of oppression and violence, when all the lights are turned on, when humans have all the freedoms that they want, it brings into question what does freedom, human rights, self interests, free market means...

And this "disease" is very contiguous can also be interrupted into the greed that had blinded us into seeing things clearly, just look at wall street and the US economy...
it can also be substituted into all the capitalism, consumerism, any beliefs that lead us not to see clearly and degrade our human dignity in the end, hurting each other in the process...


When all the people with the virus are quarantined in an abandoned hospital,
(Why can't we lock up all the greedy selfish bankers causing all the trouble...>_<) where it was kinda setup like a concentration camp,
with the stupid television telling how sorry the government was to put them there... (hmm... I thought I saw that somewhere before...)
The darkness of the human nature quickly showed...
As Gael Garcia Bernal became the leader of his ward taking charge,
ordering everyone around, taking control of the food supply,
which was the only power there...asking for money and belongings in return for food, later asked the women for sex in exchange...
the morals of the people in the cell decayed very quickly...
people doing what they desire without any boundaries when no one overlooking their behavior...

Julianne Moore, somehow the only one with the "clear vision" quietly observed, caring for all those around her...


The ironic thing is...she really needed to be the strongest one to survive as she can actually see the condition that they are living in, what everyone have become ...

This is really like how ppl nowadays seeing all the madness in the world, the loneliness and the struggles that they have, as no one else sees the way they see...
How can they keep their hope that one day things will get better??
What is the point of keep trying to change things when you are the only one who can see...
Has it become the burden to seeing then?
How will you use the power?
When will we be able to wake up and see clearly??


How did it end?? just go see for yourself...
in the meantime, just watch the trailer to get a taste of it...

Short Film: Snapshot

Starring Andrea Pressburger, Shaughnessy Redden

The story is about a photographer (Luc),
who has this theory that you only get so many chances in life,
just like in a roll of film, only get so many shots,
only so many opportunities in career,
people that are worthy to have a relationship with.

Luc met a philosophy and literature student (Angel)
while shooting for his exhibition,
whom he really have a connection with
through their discussions about life and death,
relationships, how to make choices in life...

Norah Jones - The Story (My Blueberry Nights OST)

Wow... this song is just so amazing...
love her so much.. amazing voice...
and to think it is with Natalie Portman and Wong Kar Wai, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law...
Just too crazy!!!!
Can't wait to watch it!!!

Lust, Caution

Meaning to writing this review ever since I saw it a couple of weeks ago...
It was first shown at the Toronto Film Fest with Tony Leung and the other actors coming, and we wasn't able to get the tix for it cause it was so much talked about...
so when it finally came out at the Vansity, I had to go see it...

This is one of the best films I have seen in quite a while and it made me believe in the power of movie again... how it is able to stir ppl's emotions, the power of story telling is superb, the acting is really really great, you can see so much depth and different levels from Tony Leung and also the new star Tang Wei...
Ang Lee was able to use the cinema language perfectly and so subtlety to tell a story that's so moving and touching, to reach into the depth of the soul to show how we are the same...

(Spoilers ahead...)

The story takes place in WWII when Japan was occupying parts of China and how a group of patriotic drama students decided to take matters into their own hands...
Wong Chi Chi(Tang Wei) found her calling in the drama club, as she is able to move audiences, and decided they had to use it for a purpose...kinda like "Heroes"
Their first target is Mr. Yee(Tony Leung), who is a traitor helping the Japanese ppl...closely guarded who won't go to any place that's dark and unknown..
So begins the task to seduce him...

There are a couple of key scenes, definite elements in the movie, one is when Wong takes the smoke from her friend's hands... the cigarette was first used during one of the scenes of acting and when she had decided to take up the role of Mrs. Mak, she took a cigarette by will and that's when the whole journey of "Acting" started...

In order to seduce Yee, Wong needed to learn some techniques, he had to lose her virginity for this "special training" as a big sacrifice and was looking helplessly to Lee Hong, whom Wong was in love with... but he just stood there without saying anything, as the only one from the group that knows how is a drunken bastard to learned his skills from some hookers...
There is a key scene where Wong just stood naked beside the window and looking outside... THis is very important, as it shows the state that Wong was in...
That the body is not really hers anymore and she is not afraid to show it, as she has already given it up as a tool for the "great cause"...it showed her determination...

But when they were notify that Yee had already left HK and went back to China, Wong broke down as she had lost her virginity for nothing and to a sick ugly little guy...and the group found how naive they were as their moves were watched by the underground gangs...so everyone needed to jet....

2 years passed and the chance came when Yee was spotted again and they can continue with their plan of assassination with the help of the rebels, Wong was more than happy to join in so she didn't sacrifice for nothing...

Sex Scenes

The sex scenes to me were there for a very good reason, as it showed Yee's insecurity as a person... through the body language and the face expressions, the state of the relationship between the two were easily uncovered...it showed how lonely Yee really is deep inside as he wasn't able to show it anywhere else... only when he is totally naked and vulnerable that he was able to be his true self...
In the very first "encounter", Wong was trying to play around with him and playing hard to get... Yee was very insecure and thought he was being rejected, so he got violent and beat Wong and kind of raped her...
In the sex scenes afterwards, Yee got a bit more relaxed but he never kissed Wong on the lips... cause that will be like giving out his real emotions... and it is not physical anymore...so it got more and more intense as they get more connected, not just physically, but by their body language...

There was a part where Wong had to meet Yee in a Geisha house...and ppl say that she was a disgrace to the Chinese as it was a place for Japanese to play with women and she went there willingly to be used by Yee...but just want to point out that the people who put her into the spot were the Chinese rebels... and she was doing it for the "good" of the country...not on her own will...

This is a great movie, great story telling with lots of hidden sentimental details...
which not alot of films can do nowadays... esp not with Hollywood anymore...
A must watch...
It is for mature adults of course....

Acting/Directing Class Part II

Finish the directing class a week or two ago...
For this term, it was even harder than last term...
Last term we had to learn to act, having to anayalses the script, personalize who each of the character is to you in real life...
It is very very hard work...
because sometimes you had to go to really deep and dark places of yourself that no one knows about...

I had to play a killer in "Get Carter" who this professional actor...
Then I had to ask myself, in what situation will I really kill someone in real life?
Cause if i don't get this clear, I will only be "playing" an emotion or action, which is the worst acting EVER....
and ppl who knows how to act can tell in an instant that you are faking it...
So I had to picture the ppl who are closest to me, my gf, my family, my best friend...
what will I do if they were killed and murdered and I had to get revenge for them??
Will I kill then? and that's not enough...
I had to even picture how they die... maybe got beaten to death? killed by drunken driving? the body got all cut up?
The emotions that was in you on your way to see the body? How did it look when you first see their body...
the deeper and more detail u pictured it to be, the more real and intense the emotions will be...

Also the bigger the stake are, the better...cause there will be way more conflict in the scene...
I had to do an activity where I had to picture myself to be preparing for an Across fundraising dinner...
and lots of guests were coming...and these gifts...the set of magnets were not sorted out yet...
and if i don't sort out all of them and put them in a set of 8 in a gift envelope in like 10 minutes,
The donors will not give any more funding to Across and we had to close down...
So I gone crazy doing it...
(even though there is no way to do it, and that's the point of the activity and I cannot leave this activity no matter what)
and then a classmate, whom is suppose to play my gf's best friend...
just come in and tell me that she just got into a car accident and is in the hositpal now...
I have to go immediately....
So the big big conflict and tension was created... as to what am I to choose...

Even though it is pretty painful sometimes to do these things, getting the emotions out is really tiring...
and sometimes tears comes out and the negative feelings stay with u for a while...
it shows me how much work a REAL actor needs to do and lots of respect for them...
and I am also thankful that I have lots of life experiences that I can use to fuse the emotions if I needed...

Directing/Acting Classes

I am taking this class that's suppose to be for helping you how to direct actors...
and they say, if you want to know how to direct, you need to know how to act first...
so that you will know how hard it is for actors/actress to express themselves when have to be on the spot...

well...didn't think will have any problems at first, cause i did have some drama experience back in the days...
i don't like to do any public speaking...let alone acting...
but then, cause the class is really small, it is different to act for a whole audience, cause u don't really see any of the ppl down there when the spotlight is on you...so i can be free and do whatever...
so...in this small room full of ppl of different race...it is pretty hard...
forcing you out of the comfort zone...

One of the excise that we learn that will help actors connect is call a "word repetition" game...
that's when two ppl sit opposite of each other, knees to knees, eyes to eyes...
to fully observe any details about the other person, and just keep repetiting the words till there are new observations...
like a ping pong game, bounce back and forth....
will be like "You are scared", "You are scared"....."You are tense", "You are tense"
back and forth...
the purpose is so that the words will keep the brain occupied while your true emotion will be able to come out without thinking it through...

it is pretty interesting...
cause through the games, i learn about myself and others as well...
i can see that the partner that i choose to do this game with,
is someone that i have confidence to "manage", that i can control the whole process without making a fool of myself in front of the class...
somehow, the teacher was able to see this, maybe cause my tone was there to "help" or "teach" the other person how to do this...
and she said "Being safe doesn't get you the best stuff, creativity wise"...
which is pretty true, for me,
i guess i do things the same in many areas of my life,
choosing to do the safest thing so no one will be able to comment on them...
but i think i have change bit by bit these couple of years,
cause i know that no matter what you choose to do, ppl will comment and critiize it no matter what...
so as long as you are true to yourself and do what you feel is right...

Another thing out of this excise,
is that, when the words or phrases are repeated too long,
ppl will try to "act", which means trying to play an emotion, rather than just let the emotion play itself out...
they want to make it to be more interesting...
and that's the worst acting, lowest form of acting there is, playing an emotion, rather than feeling the emotion and then use it to drive the action...
cause "the reality of acting is in the doing itself", truly doing the action with emotion droven...

Then the teacher say that...
we need to be confident that,
just by sitting there, being yourself, is already interesting enough...
don't need to make up other stuff to be special...

I think it is so true in life...
i see ppl around be very afraid of silence...
or afraid they don't have anything to say...
so will make up lots of things to say... try to be funny...
will talk about other ppl, or putting ppl down...
try to show they are superior or smart...
but lots of time, it is just trash that comes out of the mouth...
don't you know that being silent is a message in itself?

It is this feeling of wanting to feel special, trying to get peoples' attention that often hurts people around you.

Bright Future

First film that i did ever, which was back in 2003.
It was shot with just one roll of 8mm, with a very nice Super 8 camera from the UT Hart house.
It was shot for a Super 8 film fest at the time and there was a live band playing jazz to accompany it.

It was a time when i feel that i was struck in my job working in an office. Didn't my parents say that i will have a great future and a great job waiting for me once i finish university? Is this going to be it for me?
So this film was born...
I purposely shot it straight on, just let it run, to reflect and to show a sense of realism that is experienced in real life.
You feel that it is boring just looking at him work?
Well, aren't you doing the same thing everyday at your job?

Lady In the Water

Had been a fan of M. Night Shyamalan since his Sixth Sense movie and Signs...
cause his work is pretty orginial... don't really know what to expect in the end...

This movie's theme is that everyone has a purpose in the world, that we are all connected...
we may have doubts in ourselves on what we are to become,
"Who am I? i am nothing, i am just an ordinary guy, what talents do i have to change the world..."
But who knows... maybe we are not to be famous... but someone years from now will read or see our world and be inspired and make great changes around the world...
so don't give up...we are have our purpose and personal legends to chase after...

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24

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There are lots of symbols and myths in there which i like...
some role as the guild, the translator, and healer...sort of like an RPG game, need to find all sorts of characters before the mission can be completed...
but i guess we all need someone ot translate the symbols and signs of this complicated world and be inspired like the purpose fo the narf in the movie...

Don't go to see this movie if you are expecting a horrow /Thriller film. It has some parts that are inspiring and touching... but i suggest to wait for the DVD...

Scenes from a Party

Everyone has their own problems and struggles, from family, relationships, friends, work, loneliness, sickness. We all have our own problems but just not willing to face them, we just look for ways to divert our attentions. Going to parties, getting drunk, being surrounded by people, we can temporarily get away from it all. But when the night is over, it is just even worst than before, because you just have to face the problem all the same.

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Jerry and Jessica had just had a big fight before going to Alex's party. Jessica and Jerry get into Alex's apartment, pretend they don't know each other, and just walks around the room and greet their friends.
Even though they didn't say it, but each of them was observing what the other person is doing, eyeing whom they are talking to. ..

Then John arrives with a gloomy face, didn't say hello to anyone, just sat down beside the table, went for a rock glass and poured himself a glass of Jim Beam. Who had just found out that his father passed away today from a heart attack...

Jerry is hitting on Jenny just to make Jessica angry. Jenny knows she was being used, but what can she do, this is the only chance to be close to him...

Everyone have their own reason to get drunk....
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Coming soon....

Perhaps...Love? Perhaps NOT~

There were lots of different opinions about this film...
I wasn't going to watch this film in the first place cause one of my trusted movie watcher didn't like it... and our taste were pretty close...so i didn't really think about this film..
but many different ppl keep on saying how good it is..and i liked the actress in the film.. so i am like..what the heck...
the only way to find out is to watch it myself...

( Warning: Spoilers ahead... if you have not watched the movie or u have watched it and liked it alot...
Please do not read on!!)

The idea of the story is alright...
it is kinda like a <Day for Night> by Francois Truffaut and <Le Mepris> by Jean Luc Godard, where it is a movie about doing a movie production...
how the relationship of the characters acting in the movie have their relationship problems in real life and how the director had to deal with them...
However, in both films, Truffaut and Godard used that method to show the director's own personal reflections on making film..
to use it to rethink and mediate film as a medium...to show the reality of the illusion of the movie business... how chaotic and messy an actual shooting process can be...
to disengage the audience and keep a distance with the film so they can have a thinking space


Well...Peter Chan used this form to show love is kinda like the illusion as a movie production.. that it is not real...
and the story takes place in a circus to kinda reinforce that point...
there were lots of use of reflective surfaces..like the water surfaces..and mirrors...
so i thought..hm..ok..maybe it does have something to tell...

The movie tries to blur the boundaries of the characters' memories into the movie by intercutting between the story being shot and what actually happened...well...it did worked in some of the scene... like the scene where Xun Zhou was struggling whether to go with Takeshi... and all these other girls are pulling her back.. intercutting her own past where she had to have drinks with directors to get parts...

the editing wasn't done that well... too choppy.. i know what they were trying to do.. but just too disorganize.. didn't work.. just confused the audience.. and some of the scene didn't really cut together...
how come they had a little movie of Takeshi and Zhou Xun on the river hugging?? where did that come from??
it is like one of the key points of the movie..and just breaks the whole plot that was based on it...
Overall, all the characters do not have enough depth...too one dimensional...

most of the muscial scenes weren't done that well... the dancers wasn't really collaborated well together...the lighting setup have no mood or style...the sets in those scenes just too crap compare to the rest of the film... esp the last scene where they were flying in the air.. the background was just too fake...

and i think because film being shot was a musical.. it limited the power of those scenes..
where the lines..which has to be lyrics that is suppose to move the story forward... was limited because it had to fit the music and couldn't really go deep enough...
if it were just regular dialogues, will have helped build on the characters emotions much better...

if Peter Chan wants to show love as an illusion... that love is really harsh and unreal... please... go all the way...the ending really wasn't needed...
if u were firm enough to just have Takeshi walk out on Zhou Xun..taking revenge on her..
then i will be clapping my hands and cheering for you..cause u were brave enough to surprise the audience
not to have a happy ending as expected...
and u had made ur point...but no..it had to linger on...and on...and on...

However,
in the end..
i do have to give the director some credit..
cause he did try to do something new and be creative..
it was a nice try... but just have the form... not the content..
and please..the basics and little details are important....

Closer....Closer??

What does relationships means nowadays??
Do ppl really still look for one that lasts??

In Closer, everyone is just a stranger till the moment they meet.
How does two people meet??
Did YOU arrange it to happen??

"What's so great about the truth? Try lying for a change
- it's the currency of the world." - Dan

Relationships nowadays...
depends too much on feelings...
the feeling of "love"...one moment we can love a person to death, willing to do anything for them...
willing to make promises from the bottom of our hearts...
really sincerely hope that will be able to stay with this person forever...
But once this feeling is gone...
will want everything back from them...
all the love...all the presents and gifts...
if not able to get it back...
then will think that we have been taken advantage of....

Society and mass media has changed the definition of intimacy...
intimacy == sex...
that we often go too fast..
just wanted to be loved...
be intimate with someone...
but missing the build up time...
the foundation underneath...
so the relationship was thought to be intimate enough already,
but it is truly empty inside...

Therefore we feel unsatisfy,
thinking that we don't love this person anymore...
When there is an argument or a fight..
there is often nothing to fall back on...

"Where is this 'love'? I can't see it, I can't touch it, I can't feel it.
I can hear it. I can hear some words, but i can't do anything with your easy words." - Alice

We are all scare to put in too much effort into a relationship...
fearing that it will go to waste someday...
we are too economical...
if not making a "profit"...at least break even...
always want something back...not willing to sacrifice...

"愛總是讓人哭 讓人覺得不滿足
天空好大卻看不清楚
好孤獨
-天黑黑


We do not really cherish or value the relationship anymore because it is just merely another physical attraction, there will always be another person who looks as good or about the same waiting to happen...
The bodies have become one...
but the souls are like the distance from East to West...
so close...yet so far away...

Everyone is really looking for intimacy, the one person that we can share everything with....

Our Failures...
Our Imperfections...
Our ugliness...
Our Fears
Our Happy Days...
Our Hopes...
Our Dreams..

We really don't want to wear a mask in front of the person that we love..
but we are really afraid that we will get hurt..
so we build a wall around ourselves...
hoping to reveal our true self slowly..
breaking down the wall slowly until we feel safe and comfortable...

Decoding Voices Video

All the projects are finally done...for now...
When i look back to it...
Since the event of City mosaic last year, then it is Get It Right summer camp, then 927 fundraising, then 1120 fundraising...
wow...that's alot..and almost non-stop...
and finally get a chance to breath and rest...=P

Thinking back to the production of the 114 Video...
it was just after the 1120 fundraising event...when everyone was really exhausted and tired..
but cause there isn't much time left...only about one and a half month...
really tight timing...
and to have to come up with the script and do the shooting (during Christmas time), and do all the editing... sounded really crazy already...



I was really scared and had lots of pressure too...
having really done a long script before...
all i did before for fiction pieces was without lines..
shooting, writing, directing, editing, everything... all done...by myself...
so it is really crazy to think that having to lead a whole team to do this production...

and also at the same time...
it is like a chance to test myself..
if i really have a talent in this area..
i am really scare one day to find out that...hey... all these studying and watching film... is only good for watching film..
when it comes to actually shooting and directing a production..
i am no good...i don't have the talent...(i am not saying i am really good right now)
so it is kinda a time when i have to face my worst fears...
But thx for everyone's support...
giving me strength to go on...

When thinking about the script... the first idea was to do a modern version of the prodigal son... to give the msg of how youth today learned a set of values in church which they can't really apply to real life...
Then came up with the idea of setting the story in the future...
where we try to address the struggles that we have in our daily Christian lives...
with the two sets of rules...one being the church/parents..the other the world/mass media..
which later becomes the Gene Alpha and Rebel X system in the story...

Gene Alpha- i was thinking about Genesis... the beginning when everything God created was good... so hence... Alpha, the beginning of the letters...
So it kinda represent the church... as well as the parental voice as well...
ppl just knows a set of rules given by Gene Alpha..don't really know the real reason why they have to follow it...

Rebel X - we are at a time when God will be coming back soon... the end of times..
so i thought about Revel XX in the beginning... which sounded really out...
so changed it to being a REBEL...represents the mass media...
It posses the voice of each youth's fav. idol... which tells them what they should wear.. how they should live...
Isn't it true today as well??

If you notice in Samson's room...
there is always the poster of "Clockwork Orange"...
if you know the msg of the movie.. it really enhance the meaning of the scene..
where Clockwork Orange is about youths rebelling against the adulthood and they are programmed to have no evil thoughts and behaves as a perfect example of the society..
isn't the church kinda like that in a way nowadays??
saying u can't do this/ can't do that...
i mean... yes there are some things that Christians really shouldn't do..
but if u cannot give a good reason or the logic behind the principle...
it is really hard to enforce it...


As well... in Jessica's room...
there is the Natalie Portman's photo from Leon, the Professional...
which is again..a young girl growing up in a dysfuncional family... living in a violent society... trying to adapt to her surroundings...very ambitious..well wanting to become a professional killer one day.. that's pretty ambitious for me..
And Natalie Portman is always staring straight at Jessica in the last scene with the medium shots and close ups... comparing the 2 characters...

There were lots of arguments about the last scene and how ppl may not be able to get the msg of the film...
If we look at the purpose of the video for the whole event..
which is to just inspire audience to think about the issues of society and masses and themselves... and lead them towards Alfred's msg... then i have achieved my purpose..
but yes.. if it is to be watched alone..
then it will be stand on its own.. as it only brought up the issues without the characters really going deeper into it...

The film doesn't want to TELL its audience what to do..which is right/wrong...
which is just what the film is Criticizing about...listening to other ppl without thinking...
I think a good film... it is an interactive medium..
where it gives each audience its own meaning... draws them towards their own experiences and let them find their own meaning of the film...
i just provide a platform for them...

Someone says that i am too influenced by the French New Wave or European cinema.. to have too much style at the end... with the long shots and an open ending...
not caring about who my audience are...
Yes i agree that i am greatly influenced by those movements and styles...

However...
for me... i wouldn't really listen to ppl telling me what to do... so i don't think the youth or ppl today like that as well...
and we give them too little space to think about things today... not having enough faith in them...
so we tell the msg straight out everytime... this film's msg is about this this this...
why can't we give them more confidence in finding their own meaning and experience what a film should really be like??


There are still lots of area that can be improve in the video...
the lighting is Definitely one of them..
the coaching of the actors for me... an area really lacking..
the script can go deeper...
but overall...
i think the whole production team has given everything that we have in such a short amount of time and i am really proud of it!!!
-----------------------------------------------------
After the show...
Someone came up to me saying,
they didn't expect this kind of good quality in the Christian circle...
i know that he meant it as a good thing...a compliment...
but it makes me think...

Why can't Christians be serious about a production and give out this level of quality??
Isn't it a GIVEN that we have to work our ass off for God??
So if it is a church thing... then we can be more laid back and relax??

Lie With Me

I was able to get a free pass to see Clement Vergo's new film Lie With Me in the Film Theory class...
it was screened at the Toronto Film Fest..but since there was quite a bit of sexuality in it..so i decided not to go..however, after the screenings, the critics and audiences loved it...not because of the nudity, but cause it truly was a great film...so i had to see it myself to find out...


The story is about Laurie, a pretty, young woman who is looking for adventure...
she goes out to clubs every night..to dance with strangers and have one night stands with them...
or watch porn at home...stage play, give commands for the guys to do...
Laurie is not satisfy that only the men are having fun... leaving their "scent" everywhere...
so she kinda want to gain back the power...
her life goes on as usual until she finally met David, whom she loved and really want to spend time with...
but how will the relationship work out between them?? is it just a sexual relationship??

In this movie, the role of the gender is switched... or on a level playing field..
it is usually the man who goes out and finds pretty girls in most movies..
but this time, the story is told from a woman's point of view...
it is showing how the relationship between man and woman are down to just physical pleasure...
that they don't even have to know each others' names...
and that it is after the sexual act that they introduce themselves or have a date...
to go out for dinner or do something...

Shot right here in downtown Toronto, queen street...
the overall photographic look is really great...
the clothes, the makeup, the hair, the sets...are all really great...
because there a lots of hype on how much nudity there are in the film..
so the director just gives the audience the very thing that they want to see at the very beginning..lots of it too...
it is kinda to the point where...
ohh...ok...another love scene...um...already seen her naked several times...
um....anything else??
now that the audience is satisfy, the story can move on...
This movie is way more than just a movie with lots of sex..
is really beautifully shot...not like any old cheap XXX movies...
it works just like how the relationships ppl have nowadays...
have all the sex first...
then build the relationship or think about if he/she is the one that we love..
have all the sex first...
then tell the story...
and every sex scene that was in the movie, there was a purpose..
it advances the plot, builds up the relationship tension between Laurie and David..
gives more emotional depth to the characters...

Laurie says...
"It doesn't matter if it is a one night stand, had sex for a week, or 10 months or 5 years...it still hurts the body..."

It is really sad to see the message of the film...
and the truth behind it...
As the story advances...
Laurie really fell in love with David..
having come from a broken family...
but all she knows is how to have sex...and didn't know how to love a person
so when David is having problems and needs someone to care about...
she doesn't know what to do or how to handle it.. how to care for him...
all she can do is just give him physical pleasure..
which is not the thing that he needs...
she really do love him or care about David...
but just don't know how to express it...
and that's the saddest part of the movie..
which is also true to the youth today or society as a whole...
because of the causal relationships that the masses have in society...
they are only after the physical relationship...
cannot really connect with others emotionally...
and if they were not able to connect, then they will just think that just don't love the person enough..
so just go out and find another partner to fill the empty space inside of them...
with the only way that they know how...

There are several references with the characters looking at the mirror...
it is like the baby's first time looking at the mirror, the image of themseleves...
confused...looking for their identity...

I remember i was asked by some friends that..
why are you guys not talking about sex..
why are you guys not comfortable with sex?
it is our sexuality, we should be comfortable with it..

Then i answered...
it is because we do cherish it...
and that everyone in the society do it... or they tell you to do it..
doesn't mean that it is right...
and it doesn't mean that i am not comfortable with my sexuality..
i am very comfortable...
know what to expect or should treat a lady as a man...
i guess they are the ones who are not alright with their identity and sexuality, so that's why have have to look for these kinds of adventures to prove to themselves...

and i do think that it hurts a relationship alot..when it does happen so fast..
when the relationship is not even mature...
will just breaks it up...hurts both parties emotionally and physically...

This is a really great film..
but really have to watch with discretion and discernment

CFC Shoot: Anchor

I was really glad that i was able to go to a Canadian Film Center shoot the past week...
it was really fun and learned a lot of stuff..
the director was an Italian, and was really good.. he knows what he was doing and had great communication with the DOP...
the script was really interesting...
and the actors are really amazing performers...
one thing is that it was in Oakfield and was really cold...
the wind was blowing all day and had a really bad headache afterwards... >_<
Also, one of the hardest scene to do is that the kid needs to "catch" a grasshopper...
so we needed to smoked the grasshopper dead first...
and place it carefully on the rocks..
but since it was so windy... and the kid squashed like 2 grasshopper with the bottle by accident..
was the longest scene that we need to take..
a warning to everyone.. do not use another live insects in ur film...




The story is about a guy, Gene, wanting to commit suidcide, and was lying in the bottom of a swimming pool..waiting for the sky to rain.. so that he can drown and kill himself.. and can blame on God who have killed him...







this kid, Oren, came by and saw him..
told him that he is going to flow if it does really rain..
and he went and got lots of rocks and placed it on him..
so that he is going to die for sure...
the man was buried by tons of rocks on him...
it is pretty funny...and was really hard to actually bury the guy..
we had to have 9 bags of river rocks..
which is like about 80 pounds each...really really heavy..
took a long time to place all the rocks on him..
you have to imagine that we had to pick the rocks ALL BACK into the bags after the scene...
it was really a big mess..but it looked really great on film..
can't wait to see it...


One of the lines that Gene explained why he wanted to die was really interesting,
"Disease, Debt, and Divorce, the worst a man can get, the holy trility"
which is really true, where lots of middle age ppl have to face nowadays...
I guess we all have our own problems,
but i think that we do need to take control of our own lives and take care of our own happiness...
no matter how bad it gets...
there is always a way out..
so we should never give up on ourselves..
or let other ppl take over of our lives...