Bruce Lee Played Badminton Too

Directed by: Corrie Chen

Australia/14 mins

In this cute short film, Corrie Chen shows us Nic, a chubby teenager who is determined to play badminton and win the competition despite his father's negative comments about his weight and his ability in playing sports.  Well, Nic is a rare find, as he, unlike other teenagers, believes in his own ability and wouldn't let anything stop him.  Turns out, he is an impeccable badminton player and killed all the Chinese kids that are supposed to be good at playing badminton (racial stereotypes).  Even though he lost in the end to his crush and neighbor, Jenny, Nic has proved his ability to his father and the audience.  Someone big like Nic can play badminton, and can play extremely well.

Bruce Lee comes in as Nic's idol.  There are loads of posters of Chinese badminton players in Nic's room and the one that stands out most is the giant poster of Bruce Lee, with a badminton racket pasted onto his hand.  This is a juxtaposition, with a white kid having an Asian idol and living in a setting, a neighborhood of Asians in Australia.  The picture above shows Nic, a white kid, on one side of the bus station, and a group of Asian kids on the other side of the station. This highlights the contrast that the short film is trying to bring out.  Instead of having Asian/immigrants trying hard to fit it, Chen flips things over and have Nic, the white kid, jotting out weirdly among the Asians in the film.  

There is the scene in the middle of the short film where Nic's mother said, 'Being a champion is not about being the best in the game, sometimes the champion is someone who clears the way for the triumph of an idea'.  True, Nic doesn't have to win the match.  As cheesy as it sounds, Nic has already won by his his hard work and his proving of his capability, that he, as a chubby kid can play sports just as well as the rest.  

I find it particularly funny watching the Bruce Lee-esque movements of Nic's first component.  And the scene with Nic looking across the fence, peeking at Jenny is extremely cute.  Of course, being an Australian movie, it is quite natural (well, not really) to end the movie with a San Cisco song.  Cute.

Howl

In Howl, James Franco played Allen Ginsberg, the writer of 'Howl', a poem reflecting the way Ginsberg saw society from his point of view.  I have yet to read the poem itself, but from what is seen and heard from the movie, the publisher of 'Howl and Other Poems' was in court trial due to the fact that some people found the language, the imagery and the poem itself obscene and unsuitable for publication.

I guess the main debate in the court case of Howl is 'What is the definition of art?'  What is obscene and what is creative expression?  It has always been a debatable question and I don't see any answer to it, nor any point in trying to reach a conclusion to the question because, well, art is undefinable.  Everyone has his or her own take on any piece of art, on literature, on music.  Everyone has his or her own moral boundaries and own creative expressions.  It is unfair to classify others' works as obscene and inappropriate just because they do not fit one's own rule book.  And there shouldn't be any rules to art anyway. There shouldn't be any rule book to creative expression because if so, there wouldn't be artistic freedom, or any kind of freedom, for everything is art.  

One thing art is, as I concluded from the movie, is honesty.  Art, no matter in what form, is an expression of self.  Making art and presenting one's work is to share a piece of oneself for the world to see.  Art is a medium for people to tap into themselves, to sort out their insides; a medium of expressing what they think and feel.  Ginsberg is bold and honest in 'Howl', and frank in his speech and diction. He didn't hide away from nor conform to general literary and societal confinements on art and on expression.  He wrote true to heart, integrating and merging his muse with his friends, his family, his past experiences, his life, himself.  

The movie jumps between time and space, and is essentially composed of four settings.  There is the interview scenes with the older Ginsberg in his apartment; there is the black and white scenes depicting his past and his growth; there is the scene of young Ginsberg reading his piece with passion to an audience; and there is the court scene where the debates about 'Howl' happen.  It isn't difficult to follow, the jumps of time and space.  In fact, they serve as pretty nice cuts and chapters of the movie.  The film also implemented animated scenes during young Ginsberg's reading of his poetry, which I personally did not appreciate that much.  I feel like it broke the realism of the film.

Howl is a great movie and it is worth to watch, even just for listening to James Franco's vivid and passionate reading of 'Howl'.  I love it.

Shell

"What if we could remember things we didn't experience."

This is probably the first Wong Fu short film I've watched, if I hadn't remembered wrongly.   And after watching so many other short films from them, this still stays my favorite.   

The quietness and calmness in this video, with the silent background and the occasional piano background when Chris speaks his fictional memory, hits right on point and make the short film so poetic and beautiful.  Just as Wes said in the video's commentary, "the visuals we imagine are often more brilliant than truths and reality we experience."  The juxtaposition of the two locations, one in the city with all the metallic themes and city lights, and the other in the fields with the mellow and embracing sunlight creates a stark contrast between fiction and reality. And Chris's voice over is so full of emotions and the last line, "and then, fiction becomes reality..." just killed it.

This film is as if poetry in video form, and I enjoyed every single bit of it.  I felt as if I understood more and felt more, and even differently, every time I watch it.  It seemed so complex, the first few times when I watched this, but slowly, it all makes sense.   I really enjoyed the quiet conversation between Chris and Mimi, and especially love how the entire video is capturing just, perhaps, a single short and clipped moment in real life, but in such detail.  To remember things that never existed, and create memories that aren't real but wished they were?  It is such a beautiful, romantic and abstract idea, and yet it can all be represented in and explained by a shell; how people hear the waves of the ocean crashing ashore but never having been near to the ocean and know what the waves sound like.

This short is pure perfection and I hope you'll love it too.   Let me know below what you think about it, I'd really like to know.

The Spectacular Now

It sure was a spur of the moment decision when my sister and I decided to watch The Spectacular Now.  I was drawn by the poster, as any romantic will do, and in we went into the movie theater.  It is a great decision.  I enjoyed the movie.  I love movies that tugs at my heart strings slightly, and it is exactly what this movie does to me.  I give it a 4 out of 5 perhaps.

It was quite a lovely coming-of-age movie, with the mixture of modern day love and family issues, and adolescent innocence, as well as complications.  The movie depicts average life, and the little bits and pieces of hardships and miraculous moments among the average.  It captured the beauty of average and of love.  Miles Teller gives a wonderful performance of Sutter, a troubled teen trying to find himself amidst the many unanswered questions and insecurities in his life.  Upon meeting Aimee (Shailene Woodly, btw she's so pretty), Sutter started to figure himself out.  I was sucked into Sutter's journey of finding his true self, and during the process have experienced reflections of my own.

I am like Amiee, I think ahead.  Unlike Sutter, who have to learn to think for the future, I have to learn to live in the present, and embrace it no matter good or bad or just meh.  The Spectacular Now.  It is such a wonderful title for the movie, for any movie.  It is such a beautiful phrase, and it speaks the truth.  The present is spectacular, and as Sutter says in the movie, 'we will never be as young as we are tonight.' (it's something similar, I forgot the exact wordings, sorry)

This is the first movie I saw in the States, and I saw it with my sister, who I haven't hung out with for more that a full year.   I am in America, waiting for my new adventure to begin.  I have my family by my side, and my whole future ahead of me.  This is my spectacular now.

billy, oh billy.

I just watched ‘One that Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and I love it.  I didn’t really know how to feel right after I watched the movie, and I had to take some quiet time to settle down my thoughts.  I felt a sense of hopelessness, but then a sense of hope.  I feel down and heavy hearted, but then I feel that there is light.  It was as if everything was conflicted, and I guess that is what a good movie makes people feel, right?

I connected with the character Billy at the very beginning, and I didn’t know why then.  (Perhaps, it’s because I love his hair?)  But now, upon finishing the movie, I know.  I feel for Billy, for he is stuck in his own cage, unwilling to step out.  But given the stuttering that he has, it is easy for him to get stuck because his words and his thoughts are constantly stuck in his throat and he can never get them out.  I could only imagine the frustration I would feel if I am him, and I would be afraid to voice out, or step out of my comfort zone too. 

McMurphy is right, when they are discussing about whether the guys are staying in the hospital voluntarily or not, that Billy is young, and his whole future is ahead of him, he “oughta be out in a convertible bird-doggin' chicks and bangin' beaver.”  But again, perhaps Billy represent the very much oppressed children, or even groups of people out there, that is stuck because there is no way out for them, out of their own labyrinth.  He feared authority; he feared his mother and Nurse Ratched.  But doesn't he see that he himself is in control of his life?  

When I was watching the part where Nurse Ratched asks Billy if he is ashamed for sleeping with the girl, I was hoping that Billy will be strong enough to stand strong to his oppressors.  Him staying strong and revolting against Ratched will mean something to me, and hearing him say he wasn’t ashamed (and he did not even stutter) is a relief.  I was praying in my heart that he will continue on, but the next moment he is kneeling on the floor begging Nurse Ratched not to tell his mother, and another moment more, he is dead. 

Billy is so close to freedom, so close to making it out when McMurphy invits him to leave together, but he just blows it and says he isn't ready.  I am torn between whether I should blame him or not for not taking this step.  This decision brings him right to his death in the end.  But he seems to fully understand what he is doing, that he knows he isn’t ready to leave yet and he knows that someday, he will be.  I blame people for the reckless and thoughtless decisions that they’ve made, but not those who are sure of themselves, sure of their decision, even if the decision does not work out the way it’s supposed to in the end.  I wonder if Billy blamed himself for not leaving when he decided to kill himself.  I hope he didn’t.  I hope his last thought would be about the night he had with Candy, or the life he had before he was admitted into the madhouse, or the life before everything turned bad for him.

 I have to admit that I feel so strongly for Billy’s character because I feel that I am somewhat similar to him in some ways and sometimes (not totally similar, thank goodness.  I am happy most of the time and in no way suicidal, so don’t worry).  I am shy and I do get afraid of things and of people sometimes, that I don’t dare to push myself a little further.  I am young, like Billy, perhaps even younger; and I don’t want to be stuck inside my own shell and end up lost in my own maze, never getting out.  I want to leave with McMurphy and get out of the madhouse, of my own madhouse even.  This is the thing I set to work on now, and I do hope one day I will be able to push through my own walls, and be at the place where I want myself to be.  I am getting nearer, I can feel it.

Movie Monday: Now You See Me

So I just watched Now You See Me and I really liked it.  It has an awesome cast, and it has one of my favorite actor Mark Ruffalo in it (he is so underrated, I know).  I love watching magic and illusions, so a movie with a bunch of illusionist performing out of this world heists and stunts is right up my alley.  I was so awe-struck during the movie my jaw could only hang open.  The last stunt though, is not as cool as the two before.  It's still good enough, I guess.  I have to admit, too, there wasn't much development with the characters, especially with the four horsemen, that I'd like to see more of.  Lucky the plot has so many twists and turns that it covered all, or at least most of the flaws of the movie.  And also I have to make a note of Dave Franco and his magnificent eyebrows.  

movie time: Silver Linings Playbook

I just watched Silver Linings Playbook, as many people also did, I believe, and I enjoyed it a lot.  I mean, a movie with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro can't be bad, can it?  The movie is not just an ordinary rom-com, but an inspiring story of love, family, friends, understanding and acceptance.  This whole movie experience was an emotional roller coaster ride, as I get all laughing and smiling at times and then get all quiet and deep other times, feeling the hurt inside of these characters.  I also enjoyed a lot the witty dialogues between characters in the movies.

The way Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence portrayed their troubled and complicated characters, Pat and Tiffany, was intense and passionate.  This movie goes to show that Bradley Cooper is not just a pretty face, nor is he just an actor of comedy (queue Hangover series), but an actor capable of taking on serious and emotional roles.  Jennifer Lawrence also showed what she is capable of in Silver Linings Playbook (Oscars at twenty-two, I mean, you go girl!).  She not only can be the tribute Katniss who seemed kind of depressed and quiet, but she can also be the wild and quirky Tiffany.

I especially loved the scene when Bradley Cooper was trying to find his wedding tape and ended up causing a havoc, when he yelled "I'm not calming down. I don't give a fuck who hears me. I'm not calming down. I'm not ashamed of it, I'm not ashamed of it.  Let the whole neighborhood wake up. I don't care."  The way he acted it out, I am not sure how (I am no actor nor expert), but perhaps the way he said it, the way his face became, the tone he said it in, just made me connect with the character right that instant.  He seemed desperate and mad and lost all at once, and it all just touched my heart.  Seeing how Pat and Tiffany made it out of their mental disorders and climbed back up from the dark pits of their lives, makes me feel good, like, I can achieve whatever I want to do and I can find happiness too. (I don't have disorders, just to clarify)

Plus, the soundtrack of this movie is really good too!

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