Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

Another year’s passed. One step closer to the end of a journey, as well as the beginning of a brand new! Good that I’m still alive and kicking. Bad that I’m still single and alone. Wait, is it really that bad? Every coin has two sides. You win some, you lose some! I don’t fancy relationships now but I don’t deliberately stay away from it either. I guess I’ll just learn to accept and even enjoy whatever life has to offer, good or bad! You probably think I’ve forgotten ‘ The Best & The Worst ’. No, I haven’t. I just had to see ‘ Arrival ’ to finally decide. Well, it’s good but not that good as I expected it to be. I’m more than okay with everything it delivers except for the role of China that apparently is lack of objectivity and understanding of Chinese culture. Usually there’s only one film to be ‘The Best’, but I find it pretty hard to pick either one of these two from last year to be so… The Best: The setup, the camera work, the long takes, the bear attack, the acti...

★★★★☆ In case you mistake it, ‘Arrival’ is not a typical sci-fi action blockbuster involving alien invasions. Yea, there are aliens, but they’re not here to terminate or befriend us. They’re to offer a gift to change the way we think, and therefore how we look at time and the Universe. The film’s in fact a quiet melancholy drama with a sci-fi backdrop that concerns grief over inevitable losses in life; humanity over conflicts due to fears of the unknown; communications and understandings beyond languages; and how it’s like to break free from time and space! Denis Villeneuve’s ingenious directorial skills are still intact. Plus the creepy score and the seamless editing, the film manages to keep intriguing throughout. It constantly plays with our concept of time that things must go linearly from past, present to future. The order won’t and can’t be reversed. Neither can you relive the past nor live the future. The opening of the film works like a trick because it makes you feel ...