Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★☆☆☆☆ ‘Truth Or Dare’ is preposterous! I mean who else knows if you’re telling the truth but you if it’s a secret you keep to yourself, and so what if you don’t do what they dare you to. All right then, to make it not so stupid, here comes the Demon or the Death if you will! And when you wonder, what if they keep choosing ‘Truth’ over ‘Dare’, then they don’t have to do dangerous stunts and get killed, there goes a new rule: there must be a ‘Dare’ after two times of ‘Truth’! Well, the more rules it sets up to execute those kids one by one to try to outsmart and thrill us, the stupider it seems. At times I wonder if I’m watching ‘Final Destination’ instead, which is much better than this in fact, because at least it doesn’t pretend to be as smart. Truth or dare is a stupid game already, and so is the film itself. I dare you to go catch it even if you’re a die hard fan of horror films. Haha!

★☆☆☆☆ I’ve been a fan of Tomb Raider games since I don’t know, probably ‘ TR4: The Last Revelation ’ back in 1999. Whoa, that was almost 20 years ago! It was such a long challenging game indeed that truly exhausted but also amazed me so much! Even the latest reboot of the franchise can no longer give me the thrills that I used to have while playing TR 4, which is the best of the best, hands down! Just because TR games are exhilarating to play doesn’t mean TR films are nice to catch. Like the ‘ Assassin’s Creed ’ film from two years ago that came with a very pleasing trailer but the film itself simply sucks. ‘Tomb Raider’, too, has a very exciting trailer but the film is not at all exciting like expected. The action scenes are casual and dumb. Lara’s change is sudden and awkward. The plot is by no means juicy! ‘ Tomb Raider ’ and ‘ Rise of the Tomb Raider ’ are definitely worth your while, but this film, to be honest, is too carefree to be watchable! ‘ Shadow of the Tomb Ra...

★★★☆☆ 不知那位翻譯戲名的仁兄有沒考究過「鳥獸行」的出處？《周禮‧夏官‧大司馬》：外內亂，鳥獸行，則滅亡。是比喻等同禽獸行為的亂倫。但這齣戲並非講亂倫，而戲中人的行為，我覺得又未達禽獸級令人作嘔，大抵只是各人各取所需罷了。或者你不明白為何他們如此玩殘作賤自己，情況好似明知前面是一幅牆，都選擇撞上去，就算頭破血流，也在所不惜、樂此不疲。這算不算自虐我不清楚，但我知道每個人的業報不同，對同一事物的看法感受也不同，你眼中的賤格爛渣，他人眼中可能是崇高偉大！ 這個世界有 渣男，當然也有渣女。基本上這是一個渣女的故事，她（蒼井優）如何渣，就留待閣下自己去看吧。其實令我覺得有點不舒服的，不是她如何渣，而是就算她渣到不可原諒，就算她的同居男友知道她是這樣，這位男友（阿部貞夫）都選擇對她不離不棄，呵護有加，包吃包住！聽起來是不是有點變態？更加變態的是最後揭盅的真相，以及他對她說的一番話：如果我不能讓你生下孩子，讓你幸福，那你就把我生下來吧。看到這裡，我是起雞皮疙瘩的。愛，有必要如此變態嗎？或者不是他變態，而是我們不明白他們之間的業力糾纏，正如我們不明白英國王子查理斯，當初為何會說，就算要他做情婦卡米拉的衛生棉，他也愿意！愛到盡頭是殘忍，執著盡頭是變態，人與人之間需要的是慈悲，而不是擁有或被擁有！ 愛和慈悲是有分別的。當你看到一朵花，如果你愛它，你會把它摘下來，據為己有；如果你慈悲，你不會想去擁有它、傷害它，只會欣賞它、澆灌它，讓它健康成長。慈悲是真正的「愛」，因為它沒有自私的成分，它給對方的是百分百的自由和幸福。或者你會覺得那位男友最後的做法好似也挺無私，但認真想想，其實那只不過是自私假扮成無私的狡猾而已！

★★☆☆☆ The film’s based on one of the ancient Greek plays where a family member must be sacrificed to save the whole no matter what. It’s like, to be or not to be, make the choice scenario. I don’t know. It reminds me of ‘ Mother ’, a film of religious symbolism that you can interpret however you want it, which is also why I don’t like it. ‘The Killing Of A Sacred Deer’ is much less head-scratching though! You may wonder at first, what’s going on between the doctor and the boy, but no worries, you’ll soon be told about that, and then be quite shocked in the middle to see how sinister and creepy the boy turns. That’s when it starts to turn me off then! What I don’t like about it is, it never explains how the boy manages to get it done (go check out for yourself if you wonder what it is that I’m talking here); and why he’s doing it seems so lame to me as a matter of fact! Maybe we’re not here to expect it to make any sense because we’re unable to make sense of anything after ...

★★★☆☆ I’m sort of immune to horror films. Most of them are like a comedy to me but not this one. ‘A Quiet Place’ is overall decent, sometimes terrifying, potentially a tearjerker to some who value the value of family! It’s more like a melancholy drama than a typical horror film out there. It’s got a smart setup like the one in ‘ Don’t Breathe ’, where you make sounds you get killed! So it basically plays out in silence with mostly sign languages plus subtitles, and very few dialogues. It’d better be seen in a cinema with lights out and respectful audiences around not making a single sound! The film’s overall watchable but there’re head-scratching flaws like how come a sister would carelessly leave her little brother behind to do what he wants without making sure that the toy is safe for him to play; why the parents are still risking to have a baby afterwards knowing that it would inevitably cause them so much trouble and danger; how come they even bother to take precautions wh...

★★★★☆ 這部俄羅斯電影確實令人難受。難受的其中一個原因是它的拍攝手法，有別於時下節奏明快、緊張刺激的商業電影。電影裡充斥長鏡，而很多長鏡都是長時間的寂靜畫面，煽情鏡頭極少，看似沉悶，但當你慢慢沉溺，細心感受的時候，你會驟然覺得震撼非常，情況好似漸漸失去麻醉藥效的手術傷口，開頭好像沒有什麼，但你會感覺它越來越痛！ 難受另一個原因是它的題材。故事講述一個男孩的雙親正在搞離婚，目的是為了落實各自心目中「真正的幸福」！男孩本是不討好的「意外產物」，在此情況下，他成為雙親的「氣袋」。在一次雙親激烈爭吵之後，痛哭流涕的他決定不再回到這個無愛的家。於是，本來已反目成仇的雙親，被迫一起配合警方尋找失蹤的兒子……我不知道過程中他們是帶著多少的悔恨，而最終的結果又為他們帶來多少的反省，事件有沒有令他們變成一個「比較好」的人……或者當你永遠失去一樣東西的時候，才來悔恨、才來反省、才來開始懂得珍惜，其實又有何用？ 導演運用令人難受的拍攝技巧，拍出一個令人難受的故事，抨擊了個人主義膨脹，缺乏愛和關懷的現代社會！就連電影裡頭那些本來可能會令人面紅耳赤的性愛鏡頭，看上去也覺得噁心。沒錯，的確令人有點作嘔的感覺，因為我看到的不是甚麼高潮或浪漫，而是悲慘和顛倒的輪迴！ 有時細心想想，就會發覺這個現代社會其實越來越畸形變態。你發脾氣罵人的時候，你又要求被你罵的人冷靜；你對人吝嗇，但你又想人家對你慷慨；你對人冷漠，但你又期望人家對你熱情；你自私，但又期望人家無私；你自己都沒有愛，但又抱怨這個社會沒有愛！人人都想得到幸福，但為何好似人人尋尋覓覓一生，到了最後一刻都覺得沒有得到？孰不知真正幸福的是在你放下「自我」和「貪婪」之後！有人說這是只有在俄羅斯才會發生的典型故事，但我覺得電影裡頭的那種冷漠是普世的！其實不是一個地方讓人變得怎樣，而是有怎樣的人就會造就出怎樣的地方！與其抱怨這個世界沒有愛，不如你先撫心自問：自己是不是一個有愛的人？ 這是一齣令人悲痛的電影！但悲傷的情緒是不是完全沒有價值？一味追求開心是不是就是正常？或者悲傷過，你才更加懂得珍惜開心的時刻，但也不要忘記，你之所以會悲傷，是你曾經開心過！悲傷和開心其實是一體的兩面，太過逃避側重一面都不是正確的人生態度。「悲觀負面」電影如〈雙親不相愛〉者，不是完全沒有意義的，至少，它讓我反省並下定決心，要做一個有愛...

★★★☆☆ Simply put, if not for money, nothing would’ve happened here. No doubt money would make you feel safe but it could also be quite destructive when you just want to keep it safe, or you feel like you need more of it than necessary. Some say money is the root of all evil, but you know it never is. It’s the way of thinking so that is! Nothing is going to hurt as long as you don’t feel attached to it. You use money but it’ll start to feel like the other way round when you get greedy! The thing is, you’re actually losing control when you think you have it! I don’t know since when Liam Neeson became an action hero! Probably since he was ‘ Taken ’. I don’t know why either, he’s been so addicted doing it ever since, as in fact he could pull off so well in serious dramas like ‘Schindler’s List’. I’m not implying that ‘The Commuter’ sucks here. On the contrary, it’s quite a decent piece of entertainment where supposedly an easy catch of cash turns out a pretty ugly conspiracy! The ...

★★★★☆ This is a horror film disguising as a love story! It seems romantic, graceful and elegant but the core of it is indeed very sick! Not that there’s any ghosts or spirits to scare the shit out of you, but as the truth gets revealed in the end, you’ll feel like throwing up a bit as it sort of contradicts what you think it is. It’s no doubt a perfect demonstration of madness and cruelty of love going pathetically extreme and dangerous, pushing the so-called S&M to a whole new level and therefore making ‘Fifty Shades’ look like child’s play! To be honest, if not for Daniel Day-Lewis, I wouldn’t have checked out such a film. ‘Phantom Thread’ is a story about a renowned dress designer who deliberately prevents himself from getting into serious relationships so as to keep his inspirations running, till later on he comes across a waitress who is destined to turn his world upside down and his guts inside out! I have a bad taste in fashion but the film doesn’t leave a bad taste...

★★☆☆☆ ‘Lady Bird’ is a coming of age story that well, gives me no tears or pleasure or anything that I expected from it in the first place. There’s a moment or two with songs playing in the back that seemed to be stirring up my emotions but it didn’t last long enough to allow me to feel it so. Again, I guess it’s not the film itself. It’s just me that my senses have been dulled by trying to stay in the comfort zone for too long, and keep up a decent life like I’m expected to! The film, though it seems totally irrelevant, reminds me of one of the quotes from ‘Fortress Besieged’, the one and only marvelous novel by the highly respected Qian Zhongshu, ‘Marriage (not just marriage as you might’ve already figured) is like a fortress besieged. Those who are outside want to get in. Those who are inside want to get out’. It’s a hopeless truth that we all kind of live in contradictions to and fro. We want attentions but at the same time we don’t like to be disturbed. We all want to be ...

★★☆☆☆ 一部 2D 國產動畫長片，說長不長，也就七十幾分鐘，就算剪成六十分鐘其實也無礙故事的表達。當中有很多靜止畫面，和一兩段令人摸不著頭腦的「無聊」過場，嚴肅得來帶點荒謬詼諧的對白，加上線條簡單粗暴至極的畫風，如此有風格的動畫，確實並非人人那杯茶！故事講述一袋錢引發的血案風波，交織幾個人物的命運，點出「你改變命運，還是命運改變你」的主題。 有人說這是塔倫天奴〈 Pulp Fiction 〉的動畫版，我覺得是名過其實。可能外國人喜歡，因為他們未曾見過這麼「有型」的中國動畫，而事實上中國又好似真是未曾出產過這麼「有型」的動畫。但如果你說〈大世界〉的背景很有中國特色，可能我有留意國情，也見慣不怪了；你說當中的對白很絕、很黑色、很幽默，我只是覺得無聊加無奈，而且真的很悶；你說敘事很巧妙，可能這類命運交集的劇本看多了，也覺得沒甚麼新奇。唯一欣賞其中的音樂和音效，在開頭的時候確實帶給我少許期望！若然你對黑色喜劇感冒，多年前的〈瘋狂的石頭〉你反而真的應該試試！ 電影裡頭說，當一個人貪念起，他就已經失去了自由！這是真理，當大家忙於追求自由的時候，都沒有覺悟到「追求自由」本身也是一種「貪」！越想得到自由，你就是離自由越遠。人人都想控制自己的命運，但就是這種「想控制命運」的「貪」令人反過來被命運控制。真正改變命運的方法，其實就是覺悟並沒有所謂的命運你可以去控制或改變。是不是覺得好像在講廢話？沒錯，真理就是如此簡單，簡單到大家都覺得很廢，因此人人都去追求複雜，到頭來就成為命運的奴隷，包括我！

★★☆☆☆ This is essentially a story of freedom of the press versus government security, set in the time of the Vietnam War, during which the American government, for fear of humiliations, kept sending thousands of young men to die in a battle that they knew they couldn’t possibly win! ‘The Post’, which has got great actors like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, and the skilled honorable Steven Spielberg in the director’s chair, seems like nothing of a letdown. If journalism movies concerning scandals, top secrets, conspiracies or stuff, are really your cup of tea, I’d recommend ‘ Spotlight ’ that is indeed more dramatic, emotional and provocative! When you expect there would be lots of intense arguments and confrontations, the entire film is in fact pretty quiet and restrained. Meryl Streep’s Kay seems quiet and restrained. So is Tom Hanks’ Ben. No one’s practically overreacting or going hysterical. You’d feel like watching a documentary that seems rather calm and lack of emotions mos...

★★★☆☆ A so-called motivational firefighters story is usually an action film, where the fires are actually the main character, and the firefighters are supposed to be underplaying! In ‘Only The Brave’, things are quite the opposite. The director makes sure that everybody has enough screen time to tell their backstories. This is a film of more than 2 hours. Conversations take up like 99%! The left 1% is the final firefighting scene that may not seem so spectacular to some but it certainly gives goose bumps as it might’ve kept you waiting for long! I prefer melodramas to mindless actions, so I don’t have a problem with it. If you’re looking for constant actions to feel high, ‘Only The Brave’ is more or less of boredom to be honest! The film is watchable thanks to its terrific score and sound effects in particular. It manages to help stir up your emotions a notch, and make the wildfires sound and look like a real beast. The story is nonetheless, a bit dragged out, and the conversa...

★★★★★ It’s really been along while since I last saw a great historical drama that is ‘ Lincoln ’ from whoa, 6 years ago, which helped Daniel Day Lewis grab his third Academy Award for Best Actor. In director Joe Wright’s latest ‘Darkest Hour’, Gary Oldman, with help of makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji’s amazing touch, totally disappears into Winston Churchill, a very honorable figure, and undoubtedly the most important during the Second World War, and probably even in the human history. Frankly speaking, if Gary Oldman’s not to win this year’s Academy Award for Best Actor for his truly stunning transformation in ‘Darkest Hour’, I don’t know who else would. This is the best performance he’s ever pulled off in his acting career, hands down. The way he walks, stares, and stutters, his whole body language makes you feel like there can’t possibly be Gary Oldman under the makeup. It’s purely magic and so convincing! It’s like seeing Winston Churchill come to life, though some of us may ...

★☆☆☆☆ The title reminds me of a song relevant not to this film but to another ; the story, of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, of which I’m not interested in checking out any version anyway, because I find the love between a beast and a beauty sort of weird and spooky and gross. So, there’s no romance or comfort or thrills for me in ‘The Shape Of Water’. Yeah, the close interactions between HER and IT are expected but it takes place all too sudden and easy. The final kiss in the final act, and a poem to wrap it up… phew… give me a break here! ‘Love’ is somewhat different than ‘compassion’. If you, say, love a flower, you’d pick it and take it with you and make it yours. But if you have compassion for it, you’d leave it where it is and nurture it instead. ‘Love’ is just another expression of selfishness and obsessions, while ‘compassion’ that is the manifestation of giving freedom and absence of judgment, is indeed what you should show when you really are not giving up on someone or som...

★★☆☆☆ Screenwriter-director Martin McDonagh has, I gotta admit, a definite talent in making black comedies that would make you laugh and cry and sigh over a bit at the same time! ‘In Bruges’ is certainly my favorite! 5 years after ‘Seven Psychopaths’ that is however, not my cup of tea, he introduces ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ that doesn’t really excite or thrill me in any way, but as a black comedy if you will, it does live up to certain expectations. The thing is, not every one could be in the right mood to get it or accept such absurdity while it seems to be making it a big deal sometimes. So I guess you’d either like it or hate it. There should be no so-so feeling about it! The story seems like a real case but if you lack a sense of humor, or get too serious about it, you’d be rather let down. This is not a crime story but a story after the crime. It’s not getting you to solve the case. Even though it’s about a gruesome murder, there’s nothing disturbing or...

It’s been like 10 years since I last took a flight. This year I’ve, however, taken two flights already, one to Japan and one to Taiwan, places where I never thought I would want to go. Like I said, to move on forward, you got to learn to let go of things that have kept you grounded. And you got to put aside your stereotypes and biases so as to be able to see and find out more about what life has actually got for you. That’s not easy of course. It takes a lot of courage and determination, and you might have to struggle hard with your past and shadows too, but I guess one step at a time is all you need. Love is indeed a great force that drives us forward, and keeps us hopeful for a better future, a better life, a better world, even though it might probably fail and hurt us over and again. A person without love and hope is basically doomed. As a Buddhist or not, we ought to be brave and fearless to love and care as if we’ve never been hurt before, like a Bodhisattva never giving upon...

★★☆☆☆ Whoa, I just figured I’ve already watched most of Darren Aronofsky’s films like ‘ The Wrestler ’, ‘ Black Swan ’, and ‘ Noah ’ before his latest ‘Mother’. Well, to me ‘The Wrestler’ is the best of all hands down. The rest all seem a bit too dark and bleak to be digested and appreciated. I had no interest checking out ‘Mother’ in the first place, but since there are pretty Lawrence and awesome Javier, and mixed critics saying you’d either love it or hate it, simple as that, so… turned out I’m one of the haters! For those who have watched ‘Mother’ but still can’t make head nor tail of it, here is mother in the film Jennifer Lawrence’s breakdown, ‘T he film is an allegory. It depicts the rape and torment of Mother Earth. I represent Mother Earth; Javier, whose character is a poet, represents a form of God, a creator; Michelle Pfeiffer is an Eve to Ed Harris's Adam, there's Cain and Abel and the setting sometimes resembles the Garden of Eden.’ Now you get it? Nope? ...

有些事情說了不會做，可還是做了；有些地方說了不會去，可還是去了。到底是我的心變柔軟了，還是願力始終敵不過業力，這個我不清楚，也不想去深究，但有一點可以肯定的，就是一個人必須放下過去的負擔，才能繼續往前走得更遠；必須拋棄固有的偏見，才能看到更多美好的風景！ 之前去日本京都，遊覽了很多簡樸古雅的唐代風格寺廟，令人印象深刻。這次去台灣，沒有時間去聖嚴法師的法鼓山，但還是特地去了一趟北投附近的 農禪寺 ！ 在台北乘搭捷運到達奇岩站，出站後跟著指示牌走便可 如果找不到，可以問問人，當地人肯定知道 出了奇岩捷運站，大概走五到十分鐘 就看到農禪寺入口 再往前走一段路就會看到正門 入寺需知，甚麼可以做，甚麼不可以，自己看 記得守規矩哦 一入門就能看到正殿 咦，我是不是來錯地方了，這裡是甚麼圖書館吧 參觀當天天陰下雨，人客稀少，難得「清靜」 農禪寺看上去真的不像是一所寺廟，摩登的外觀讓人誤以為它是一座展覽館甚麼的，但它確實是一所宏揚佛法的正信道場。簡單的外觀設計和建築線條，讓它別具特色，無論從哪個角度去欣賞，都頗具美感，三個字形容，簡‧疏‧美！難怪這裡是很多(偽)文青的打卡聖地！ 正殿對出的兩個對角荷花池 當天下雨，水漲了些，看上去倒像個池塘 也無法走近欣賞各色荷花 簡約有秩的美 法鼓出品的法寶 如果不夠看，隔壁還有個書店 裡頭有聖嚴法師的書籍以及紀念品 買些送給同修也是歡喜之事 外牆上有石刻的《金剛經》全文。「若以色見我，以音聲求我，是人行邪道，不能見如來」，《金剛經》的這段經文，如果仔細思索，確實是非常「嚇人」！它基本上就是說佛法其實只不過是安慰劑，它也許能安慰你受傷的心靈，讓你的生活好過一點，做人豁達一點，今生或來世福報多一些，但如果你以為這些就是佛法的全部，那你還完全不了解佛的本懷，以及甚麼叫真實如是。多數人拜佛所求的果，恰恰就是把他們牢牢綁在輪迴的因。「一切有為法，如夢幻泡影」，我們所經歷的，其實都是假，站在了義的角度，佛法也是「騙人」的，看到《金剛經》如此形容佛法，你害怕嗎？我反而是有無限的感動，因為它在嘗試告訴我們，甚麼才是絕對真實，而無論是絕對真實還是...