Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

  ★★☆☆☆ First off, it's my bad that I mistook 'Run' for 'The Act', a TV series telling a true story of a daughter teaming up with her boyfriend to kill her mother who had been overprotective of her and even fabricating her illness and disabilities so as to keep and control her! 'Run' is NOT based on a single true event but a made up story of several real-life tragedies. Director Aneesh Chaganty has done something like this before in ' Searching ', which appears to be closer to real-life, less dramatic and thus more engrossing throughout than 'Run'! 'Run' only runs about 90 minutes so I expected it to be not a slow burn but its pace turns out much faster than I imagined as a matter of fact. It wastes no time taking you from the suspicion that the daughter has about her mother deliberately cutting her off from the outside world by lying to her about her illnesses, to the confrontations between the two! Things escalate dramatically, an...

★★★☆☆   I can't say that I'm satisfied with 'Last Letter'. It doesn't get to move me so much like I expected it should after all, but I can't say that I'm let down either, because under Shunji Iwai's direction, things have always appeared to be bright and benign, humorous a bit, warm to heart and hopeful. His films seem to have some sort of charm and beauty that you just can't turn down. There's often beams of sunlight cascading down or spilling from behind the characters that are somehow able to grin and bear their own mishaps and sorrows. There're streets and dwellings rather clean and cosy; soft breezes caressing tall grass, flowers, trees and pretty faces; beautiful, postcard shots of landscape on sunny or rainy days; mostly good-hearted, well-behaved people conversing gracefully... all those signature characteristics usually imbedded in Iwai's films manage to instill a sense of positivity and optimism into those, like me, gradually...

  ★★☆☆☆ I checked out 'The Eight Hundred' not because it's the highest grossing film of the year worldwide, or considered the most anticipated war film yet from China. I did just because of 'Mr. Six', the most impressive, outstanding work by director Guan Hu in my opinion. 'Mr. Six' simply stuns me as it's able to keep boosting my adrenaline and stirring my emotions without having to present one single bloody physical fight as it should've been expected in a gangster film like that. That's indeed pure magic of cinema. Plus, it inspires me to ruminate a lot on certain stuff that's supposed to make up a dignified and meaningful life! So instead of 'The Eight Hundred', 'Mr. Six' is easily a better choice if you expect to be thrilled, healed and encouraged in a sense! I'm not saying however, that 'The Eight Hundred' is a total failure. It should be praised in a way that it chooses to be historically correct in some p...

  ★★★★☆ This is a very beautiful film to see, as well as a very sad one, since it's pointing out the fact that Earth's dying because of us human the so called most intelligent yet the most selfish, destructive, aggressive therefore stupidest species on the planet. The film's Sir David Attenborough's witness statement and vision for the future of Earth and mankind. Frankly I've only watched a very small number of TV shows that he hosted about natural worlds and history, but I know well what he's been trying to tell and make us aware of, and what he's been standing up for. Still I doubt how much we've learned from the lessons he's given! Probably not much since Earth's seemingly dying much sooner than later! As a documentary, 'David Attenborough A Life On Our Planet' is absolutely magnificent and striking. Sir David's presentation is charming, logical, scientifically convincing and at times melancholy. He's even about to burst int...

  ★★★☆☆ 新加坡的雨季，雨每天斷斷續續下個不停，多少令人無奈躁動、煩厭鬱悶！在濕漉漉的日子，人又難免開始懷念明媚的陽光和乾爽的空氣。〈熱帶雨〉幾乎全程都在下雨，直到女主角最後放下她的執著和傷痛，回到馬來的家，溫暖的陽光才得以再次觸摸她微笑的臉龐。相比〈言葉之庭〉，同樣是雨一直下，同樣是超越年齡的師生戀愛，同樣是最後重現希望的陽光，不同的是，〈熱帶雨〉是比較接近〈 桃姐 〉那種寫實冷峻的作品，所以不要期待有如〈 言葉之庭 〉那般的浪漫情調和感人配樂，事實上，影片主要的配樂就只是雨聲！鏡頭一直都冷冷地跟著女主角，記錄她的日常，至於你能否從中感受到她內心的糾結，以及她在情感和理性間的掙扎，就見仁見智了。 寫實題材的電影需要一班實力派演員來演繹，而戲中無論是飾演老師阿玲的楊雁雁，或演學生的許家樂，或演中風公公的楊世彬，都是演技出色、不溫不火、恰到好處、非常專業，楊雁雁更憑此片獲得金馬獎最佳女主角。馬來台灣華僑阿玲嫁到新加坡，當上中文老師，遇到愛慕她的學生。教學、家庭、婚姻、生育等問題帶給她的壓力，讓她在面對學生偉倫對她突如其來、赤裸裸、無掩飾的示愛的時候，顯得欲拒還迎、不知所措，徘徊於感性與理性之間！她這種矛盾心理的產生當然是基於很多條件，其中之一就是她身處的新加坡，從各方面講，都是一個非常現實功利、缺乏溫暖和愛的社會。戲中的她時不時就默默凝望窗外，彷彿她的心早已不屬於此！只不過為了生計、家人，以及維持那段其實早已變質的婚姻，她不得不強迫自己習慣「熱帶雨」！ 偉倫最後抱著阿玲，對她說：我的心好痛，真的很痛。阿玲遲疑了一下，然後安慰他說：是這樣的，你以後就會慢慢習慣的。真的是令人既無奈又痛心的一幕！《妙法蓮華經》說「三界無安，猶如火宅，眾苦充滿，甚可怖畏。」佛形容我們居住的這個世界好像一座大火燃燒中的房屋，充滿困苦和危險，我們應當感到恐怖、決心逃離才是。諷刺的是，很多人非但不感到恐怖，反而樂此不疲，甚至反過來把想逃離的人視作「癡線」！輪迴不是最可怕，最可怕的是習慣輪迴！當你習慣了它，你就離不開它，漸漸的你也變成了它！試問，你現在有沒有感受到一種被火燒的痛苦呢？沒有，是吧？這就是你習慣輪迴的證據了！還好，習慣了「熱帶雨」的阿玲，最後依然能夠「發現」久違的陽光。

  ★★☆☆☆ I kept wondering, what the hell is going on here, and thought of quitting it from time to time while watching 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things', yet I managed to finish it after all. Then I thought to myself, what the hell is going on with me caring to check out such a 'clueless, mind-bending, tedious' film from director Charlie Kaufman who has created films so difficult to wrap your head around like ' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ', 'Being John Malkovich', 'Adaptation' and stuff. If you've happened to watch some of those like I have accidentally, you'd probably be ready to brace yourself for how 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things' is going to get you! Still I find it exceedingly long and exhausting, and definitely harder to digest than any of Kaufman's works before. The plot where a young woman is going with her boyfriend to meet his parents is constantly interrupted by seemingly irrelevant subplots that ...

★★☆☆☆ If you're not fed up yet with hitwomen and stuff, I kind of am to be honest, you can go for 'AVA' which features Jessica Chastain shooting, slashing, strangling, fist-fighting, up and side kicking guys that she's ordered to kill without being allowed to ask about them, though she's helplessly curious. What later on gets her down the bloody road is, as you might've figured, such dangerous curiosity of hers! Speaking of hitwomen, in case you're still interested, Last year's ' Anna ' is surely a better choice than this in light of storytelling and action choreography. An actress like Jessica Chastain I guess, is not cut out for action films like this. In spite of maybe trying her utmost to catch up with the nowadays action heroine Charlize Theron, the move that Chastain is making here is not eye-catching or slick at all. Plus the story's sort of a cliche about daddy issue, alcoholism, betrayals, breaking protocols, then to kill a...

★☆☆☆☆ 〈屍殺半島〉是四年前〈 屍殺列車 〉的續集，故事發生在朝鮮半島「喪爆」四年後。場景設定由一架列車擴大到整個半島，格局變大了，但故事卻單薄了，毫無感染力和吸引力，好似只是在看過關式打喪屍遊戲直播，時不時就飛車和槍戰，但又如何呢？沒有好的故事和立體的人物，所謂精彩的動作不會讓人有絲毫代入感，何況〈屍殺半島〉的動作一點都不精彩，甚至有點誇張和無聊。之前〈屍殺列車〉那種局促幽閉空間的壓迫感和恐懼感完全喪失，故事鋪排的轉折驚喜也完全欠奉，連那種意料之內的煽情結局也拍不出來。其實這部續集我都不知拍來幹嘛，可能純粹是為了大家要開工出糧吧！〈屍殺列車〉可以說是喪屍片中的佼佼者，因為它是一部充滿人性、有血有肉的作品，但這部所謂的續集，真的令人無語！ 不知為何，每次看喪屍片，都會聯想到「自由意志」這種東西。喪屍是失去自由意志的動物，它們一聽到有動靜，就只會一個勁兒向前衝喪咬，但又不知為何而咬，純粹是想咬就咬。那人到底有沒自由意志呢？好似有，又好似沒。很玄，很難說。佛教有所謂的願力和業力，願力就好比我們說的自由意志，而業力則是你過去種種行為所累積的一種慣性推動力，非你所控。當你做了一些你不想做，但是應該做的事情，這是自由意志在主導；而當你做了一些不應該做，但是很想做的事情，這是業力在作怪。人之所以感覺沒有自由（意志），是因為受制於業力，而業力則源自於我們對「我」和「我所」的執著。因此無私的人就是自由的人，因為他的願力大於業力，他可以隨順因緣去做應該做的，而不是想做的；而自私的人就好比被業力拉扯著的喪屍，喪失自由意志，只能想咬就咬，不知所然！

  ★★☆☆☆ 這部俄羅斯電影很難讓人不聯想起〈異形〉，但〈異形〉早已上神檯，根本不能相提並論。論題材，兩者是有點相似的，都是講人被異形附體，最大分別是〈異形〉那隻吸乾你之後，會破肚而出爆死你，但〈 Sputnik 〉那隻會跟你形神結合而共存下去，夜晚時分從你嘴裡嘔出殺人，但不是為了過癮而殺。為了甚麼？留待閣下自己去看吧，如果還有興趣的話。 如果說〈異形〉是一套純科幻驚悚片，那〈 Sputnik 〉則更像是一套心理劇情片，那隻怪物只是幌子，其實講的是人與人和自然的關係，但這種探討和描寫又好似不夠深入，弄得劇情既不驚悚也沒感染力！一開始以為是一部賣弄恐怖噁心的低級製作－－怪獸爆出殺人，然後經過一輪 carefree 追逐，最終女英雄搞定怪獸，完。好彩看下去不是那回事，這也許是我能夠把電影從頭到尾看完的原因吧。雖然整部戲沒什麼驚嚇，劇情也沒什麼驚喜，但你會想知那隻東西和它的宿主最後的下場和抉擇，而且女主角也算是其中一個亮點，非常有氣質。 人最大的恐懼是源於那些未知不可測的事物，但恰恰這個世界就是無常難以預測的。既然未來不可知不可測，為何恐懼？既然計劃想像的和真實發生的必有出入，為何憂心？既然人算不如天算，為何不好好活在當下？人就是不習慣活在當下，不是說做不到，只是不習慣！細心想想，相比不能挽回的過去，以及虛無縹緲的未來，當下不是更容易和更值得把握嗎？

★★☆☆☆ I checked out 'Project Power' because it's got stars like Jamie Foxx, and the theme's about men's super power, and so expectedly it should be an awesome action film that doesn't need me to wrap my head around nonetheless. Turns out it is brainless but not awesome at all except for the last scene that manages to give a little bit of excitement. Yea, just a little bit, that's all! In 'Project Power', in case you're still curious about it, guys take a magic pill that would allow them to perform some super power that only some other animals have like the power to camouflage, to be bullet-proof, to be able to twist their muscle and joints or to even turn themselves into an intimidating monster with tremendous strength, but for 5 minutes only. There's a risk however, taking such a pill that would either boost you up or blow you up, so good luck! The concept seems pretty okay but the outcome feels like roughly done and immature. The film...

★★☆☆☆ 最欣賞的新海誠作品，始終是他的處女作〈 星之聲 〉，和算是他最後一部短篇〈 言葉之庭 〉，特別是後者，個人認為是他迄今最好的作品，雖然全片只有短短的 45 分鐘。之後他創作的長篇〈 你的名字 〉和最新這部〈天氣之子〉，感覺篇幅越長，節奏就越拖，故事也略嫌薄弱乏味，只是靠細膩華麗的畫面支撐，其實看多了也不過如此。有人說新海誠是「新宮崎駿」，但論作品的想像力、題材的多樣和深度，我覺得新海誠還未能和大師宮崎駿相提並論。 和〈你的名字〉一樣，〈天氣之子〉的主題依然是死去活來的愛情！背景是雨下個不停的東京，一個女孩因緣際合之下變成能夠改變天氣的天氣之子，能讓日光短暫出現。但改變天氣是有代價的，女孩會慢慢變透明，最終要犧牲自己，才能換取真正的天晴！男孩不想失去女孩，硬把她從天庭拉回來，結果雨下得變本加厲，整個日本幾乎被淹沒，完！故事非常簡單，但卻拖個一個半小時多，其實縮成〈言葉之庭〉那樣的短篇，也不是不可，可能效果會更好也不一定。中間交代男女主角的背景和相識過程，感覺零碎牽強，印象並不深刻，導致最後應該有的高潮，變得平平淡淡，沒什麼感染力！這次依然請來樂隊 Radwimps 負責音樂部份，幸好歌曲方面沒有令人失望。 討論男孩是否太過自私，我覺得毫無意義，因為人根本就是自私的動物，站在佛的角度，人之所為不停輪迴，都是因為無明，無明通俗地講就是自私－－有我和我所的執著，所以由人產生的愛，必然也是自私的！口說的「愛你」，其實是「愛他自己」，執著愛和被愛的感覺，以及愛的對象！既然人不可能做到完全無私，那起碼在愛的時候，最好保持一定的理性，給對方一定的自由，別讓自己的自私無限擴大，最終吞噬自己和對方。如果有個人對你說，他可以為你犧牲任何東西包括他的性命，你不應該感到浪漫，你應該感到害怕才是！ 戲中的男孩最終「綁架」了女孩，妄顧了他人的感受和利益，電影卻為他的行為浪漫化地打圓場，為了浪漫而浪漫，其實一點都不浪漫！感覺好比獨裁政權，綁架人民的利益，美其名說是為了國家和全人類，其實……大家都知是怎麼一回事吧。

貴妃 她不希望她的未來的過去 只有海風 稻田 和一片她不以為然的天 朝朝暮暮 年復一年 她清楚她的夢想在哪裡 只是一張車票的距離 她排除萬難 獨自一人 栽進陌生的皇宮 究竟人要堅持生活多少年 才恍然那只不過是 另一座熟悉的迷宮 海闊天空的鳥籠 似懂非懂的貴妃 不在乎那些似是而非 她只想好好地活 可怎麽活才算好好地 當她思考著菩提 煩惱也越來越立體 這座宮殿早已中了毒 賺錢只是為了兌現痛苦 小栗子是份意外 不是她原本的期待 淚水淹沒回家的路 她想離開卻無法離開 也許某天 貴妃將懺悔 她的過去的未來 沒有海風 稻田 和一片一目了然的天 遲遲暮暮  度日如 年

★★☆☆☆ If you feel like 'Extraction' is your cup of tea, you probably prefer brawn to brains when it comes to films. Nothing wrong about that in fact, at a crazy, stupid time like today, I guess we'd rather choose to go blank for a while caching a witless, exaggerated action piece than be reminded of our miseries by some serious, emotional melancholies. 'Extraction' is nothing of a let-down as an action film that is straight-forward, fast-paced but not messy, and strikingly well choreographed. It's an eyeball catching, showy fusion of past well done actions, easily entertaining and exciting for time killing on a Friday night. The only problem however, that I have with it is, I don't fall for guys like Chris Hemsworth! The story reminds you of ' Taken ', which is, well, not worth a talk, and not at all important to pure action entertainment like that as all you tend to focus is the moves. Speaking of which, you'd inevitably compare it to ...

★★★☆☆ It's been quite a while since my last English post, which was more than a month ago actually. I guess I've lost some sort of motivation to keep it up, partly because of the coronavirus scenario which has worn off my mood and interest for films, but mostly due to lack of viewers to my blog. Well, that's the fault of humanity, the weakness of our mind, as a matter of fact. We often fail to keep doing things that we used to love doing so much in the first place without any expectations. As long as there're expectations, there're disappointments. So to defy that and take it as practice, I'm back here again! Right, 'The Invisible Man', as a horror as it seems initially, opens with a woman played by Elisabeth Moss (first introduced to me in 'Mad Men' series), trying to get away from a man in the middle of the night after seemingly having planned it for a long time! The mood's creepy and intriguing! The score's heart-pounding! Th...

★★☆☆☆ 其實在這個時候看這類電影，只會讓人更加質疑「人性本善」。但，作為佛陀的死忠，我依然選擇相信「人皆有佛性」、「自性本自清淨」，好比一件衣服，就算髒了，它還是一件衣服，並不會因為髒了就變成一條褲子。但衣服也好，褲子也罷，它也只是一個名詞或標籤，是人對它的執著而已，至於它的本質為何，在人相對分別的語言概念裡，是無從知曉和討論的！一切都建基於一個字－－「信」，「 we are what we believe 」，一切法由心想生，這是無法否定的事實！ 說回電影〈飢餓鬥室〉，以為是類似〈 Saw 〉那樣的燒腦片，但其實一點都不燒腦，故事平鋪直敘，沒有任何懸念或驚喜。設定是有點意思的，卻也有點離地，難怪要把它歸類為科幻。主題並不新鮮，過程是沉悶、到喉不到肺的！搞那麼一個大頭佛，最終還是那個老掉牙的問題：人可以為求存，去到幾盡？若聽過〈 天堂‧地獄‧筷子 〉的故事，大可不必再看這齣電影。記住，從來沒有客觀的事，只有主觀的心，所以說一念天堂，一念地獄。改變世界的唯一方法，就只是改變你對它的看法！

★★★☆☆ When I look at the title, I somehow expect it to be like ' Manchester By The Sea ', but no, it's not as heavy and sad overall. Rather, it's a bit hilarious at times though it inevitably delivers tears and bickering as a result of complaints and grumbles over marriage, family issues, individual needs and wants. In fact, this is a divorce story rather than a marriage story. The couple are getting divorced, having lawyers to represent them, fighting over things like the custody of their only son, the share of their fortune and properties, whose sacrifices are more or less, and stuff . But like I said, the mood's not as heavy because they seldom have chance to come face to face alone after the wife (Scarlett Johansson) decides to file for a divorce, for most of the time, it's their lawyers who do the talking! And when they finally do however, the one and only in the entire film, that scene really is something! The film reminds me of one of the famous...

★★★☆☆ Clint Eastwood's films have never been a disappointment, yet you never feel so excited about them. Most of them are not bad, like ' The Mule ', ' American Sniper ', ' Sully ', ' Hereafter '. Some are actually more than good, like ' Gran Torino ', 'Million Dollar Baby'. It seems that he's always intended to tell the story the way he wanted, not the way you want or expect. Some could be let down in such a sense, but it's never happened to me since I had no expectations for his films. Turns out it's the best way to appreciate them, or anything else indeed. 'Richard Jewell', too, belongs to the 'not bad' category among Clint Eastwood's films. And again, it's based on a true event where a security guy is seen from a hero who discovers the bomb and saves a lot more from being killed, to a bomber hero who actually plants the bomb himself to make up a good story to want to deceive and gain f...

★★★☆☆ As the title suggests, the event takes place in year 1917 during the period of the First World War, where two British soldiers are ordered to deliver a call-off-attack message to their front line forces to stop them from walking into a trap set by the German Army. The film's shot in seemingly one single long take, but I doubt it. There got to be some editing going on to make it up, but whether or not doesn't really matter. What's well done about it is, the one-long-take gimmick doesn't seem to distract viewers' attention to what's going on with the plotline and characters, even though the story's not strong enough to stand and move, and the characters are just paper thin! Compared with those one-take full length features that generally appear to be rather showy and nauseous, '1917' is relatively low profile with its camera work. Meaning it would not distract you from seeing what's going on there, but the problem is, what's goi...

★★★☆☆ 'T1' is a bomb. ' T2 ' is a nuclear bomb. And the rest are just like bullshit, except this one, which is considered the best thing to the franchise since 'T2', and yes, it is, in a way! Years later, 'Terminator: Dark Fate' finally gets Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the real soul of the series, and James Cameron as the producer, and of course Arnie all back together to make this 'genuine sequel' happen. If you're a fan of action films or 'Terminators', 'Dark Fate' shouldn't be a miss. In fact, it's even a bit better than 'T1', I guess. Some said 'T2' basically destroys the series because it's damn too good to be surpassed for its successors. This is so true that you'd better put 'T2' aside if you wish to enjoy 'Dark Fate'! The formula stays much the same: machines sent from the future, one to protect, one to terminate the mother of the savior of mankind. That is...

★★★★☆ 'Knives Out' is an intriguing, entertaining film with a very good intention, which is to remind that as long as you follow your good heart and do what it tells you to, everything will turn out just fine even if it looks bleak! It may or may not be so true but a film like that is certainly comforting and encouraging in a time like this where good people usually don't seem to get what they deserve! The film's as ingenious as how Detective Benoit Blanc played by Daniel Craig interprets the case, 'a donut hole in the donut's hole, but look a little closer, it's not a donut hole at all but a smaller donut with its own hole and the donut is not whole at all.' I'm not smart enough to get what he's saying though, but the thing is, it gets you so focused on what the right hand is doing that you miss the left. And when you think you have it all figured out, something just doesn't add up. You feel very involved watching it play out and i...