Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

Who: Blur Where: UK What: Indie/Alternative Rock When: 2015 Don’t judge by its cover. This is not a Chinese album. ‘The Magic Whip’ is Britpop legend Blur’s new full-length studio album in 12 years, and the best, I guess, they’ve ever come up with. I don’t like the label ‘Britpop’ on them coz what they’ve been doing is nothing pop, and some of which are completely alien in fact. You see what I mean if you try ‘13’ and ‘Think Tank’. People usually compare them with Oasis, but there’s nothing incomparable really. They were more daring and insane to be avant-garde while Oasis tended to stay in their own comfort zone. This album’s inspired by the city Hong Kong where people ‘live in tiny houses of their own mistakes’. Sad but true! HK made this much long-awaited album possible, but it’s not just about it for sure. Try it

Who: Amber Run Where: UK What: Indie/Alternative Rock When: 2015 New is not necessarily good, but Amber Run, a British new band, is certainly good enough to make a spark, at least in my heart, with their debut album ‘5 AM’ that lacks no melancholy addictive songs like ‘I Found’, ‘5 AM’, ‘Just My Soul Responding’, to make one sad and weepy indeed. Thought they’d be either too deep to catch or too shallow to stick around, but they took me right out of the blue! Try it

★★☆☆☆ 戲中的蒙古人有個傳統：人死了不埋葬，要把屍體還給「自然」，因為他們生前吃了很多肉。有點類似西藏的天葬，但天葬的出發點是「看破、慈悲」，而蒙古人處理屍體的方式是出自一種贖罪的心態。話說狼是蒙古人的天敵，歸根究底不過是大家爭吃的問題，人搶了狼的獵物，狼就咬了人的生畜，怨恨累積，因此互相恐懼。狼吃肉只是為了生存，人吃肉是為了享受，其實我們不吃肉也死不了，吃了肉，也還是要死！明知肉債要還，但我們依然放縱，就這點來說，我們跟狼一樣，都是難以馴服的畜生！ 電影改編自同名小說《狼圖騰》，將略有名氣的文學影像化，向來是吃力不討好的工作，這部電影也不例外。除了戲裡那些狼稍微有點「戲」演之外，其他角色都顯得蒼白，可能要像〈與狼共舞〉一樣，剪個四小時的版本，才足夠去發揮。故事本身沒甚麼追看性，場面不宏偉，動作也不可觀，那場「狼逐群馬」，在夜光弱的條件下，算是拍得有條不紊，但絕對算不上精采。當中有關人與自然的一些道理與反思，都要靠男主角的獨白去硬邦邦地說出來，手法有點低。不過話說回來，不這麼直接，或許我們都不明白：為甚麼人天生就怕狼，而狼天生就喜歡跟人對著幹！