Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

  ★★★★☆ 先解下題。 Mauritania 、即是毛里塔尼亞，是西北非一個信奉伊斯蘭教的國家。 The Mauritanian 、毛里塔尼亞人，即是戲中主角 Mohamedou Ould Salahi 。他在 911 恐襲事件之後，被美國人抓去位於古巴的關塔那摩灣軍事監獄，懷疑他是恐怖份子，背後有份策劃襲擊。如果你上網搜尋下關塔那摩灣軍事監獄，你就會知那裡是一塊法外之地，被美軍抓去那裡的囚犯，是得不到如同在美國本土的應有法律保護。 Mohamedou 在那裡坐了十幾年的冤獄，由始至終，美國政府都找不到實質的證據起訴他，只能付諸非人道手段逼他認罪就範。後來 Mohamedou 把自己這段痛苦經歷寫成書，本片就是根據他寫的書拍成的真人真事！ 影片節奏緩慢，真正的戲肉要等到最後二十分鐘，前面的個半小時都是在陳敘和鋪排，文戲為主，如果你抱著一個獵奇心態，想看美軍如何虐待囚犯，我想你多少會失望。事實上，美軍的虐待手法很多不是肉體上，而是意志上的摧殘，影片也運用了一些意識流的手法去表達 Mohamedou 受虐後的精神狀態，看的時候要多加點想像，才能感受到主角所承受的那種精神上的折磨，而不是單純直接的感官衝擊。如果你「捱」得過前面的所謂「沉悶」，最後的二十分鐘會讓你頗為揪心和感動兼無奈！文戲需要好演員，本片有久違的影后 Jodie Foster ，以及昔日的男神今日的演技派 Benedict Cumberbatch ，分別扮演辯護與起訴律師，精彩對戲場面雖然是無，各自也沒有太多空間發揮演技，但也令人看得信服。最令我印象深刻的始終是 Tahar Rahim 飾演的 Mohamedou ，特別是他最後那段視像作證，甚是感人。 Mohamedou 相信美國是一個法治國家，而不是人治。他也提到阿拉伯語的 free 和 forgiveness 其實是同一個字，他選擇寬恕囚禁虐待過他的人，因為那是他信奉的真主－阿拉－要他做的正確的事，而他也不希望自己真的失去「自由」。我不肯定真實的 Mohamedou 是否真的如此寬宏大量，但片尾的真實 footage 讓我傾向相信他確是一個感恩慈悲的人，真的做到了寬恕與放下，他臉上燦爛的笑容是最好的證明。懂得寬恕的人猶如聖人是可敬可畏的，因為寬恕從來都不是一件容易的事！試問如果你現在是緬甸的抗爭者，你會不會、可不可能寬恕殘殺人民的軍...

  ★★☆☆☆ I'm not really into superhero stuff to be honest. As ' The Amazing Spiderman 2 ' is my goodbye to superhero films, I haven't checked out one single typical, commercial superhero film ever since. I know there're two gangs of heroes, Marvel and DC, but I don't know who's dealing with who, who or what they're up against, and which belongs to which! Still Zack Snyder's '300' is one of my favorites, and 'Superman' is part of my unforgettable childhood memories, a reminiscence of my dear mother taking me to the big cinema when I was small. So when Zack Snyder decided to cut his version of 'Justice League' featuring also the Superman, though his ' Man of Steel ' kind of sucks, I felt like I wanted to give it one last try! I didn't check out 2017's 'Justice League'. I don't know the difference between this and that but like expected, Snyder's cut is dark, stylish and of decent touches of slo-m...

  ★★★☆☆ 'Boss Level' is surprisingly more exhilarating than I expected. It's got stars like Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts, and long-time-no-see Michelle Yeoh but stars are never the point. The setup is, where a guy gets to die hundreds of times before he finally gets to find out why and how he's supposed to get out of the loop! That's obviously a bit cliched and senseless of course, but... wait, come to think of it, this sort of setup is not the point either. The point really is, the way it plays out those 'hundreds of deaths', which manages to get you gripped and make you laugh from time to time. Take it a comedy like ' Groundhog Day '. Take it easy. Then you're going to receive a 100-minute runtime joyful experience from an action film that you probably never thought would be capable of delivering so. 'Boss Level' truly feels like a video game as the title suggests, in which our hero keeps fighting and dying over and again till he learns en...

  ★★★☆☆ Trust, as you know, is hard to earn and keep. It takes quite a lot of time and effort to build it bit by bit, but it can be all gone in a flash! And there's no way to regain it intact because once it's broken, there's always going to be some doubt involved. Yet the world as you know it that seems to be running without a problem is, as a matter of fact, built on trust. Without it, things like relationships, love, families, commitments, religions, agreements, deals and stuff, are all going to fall apart. So yeah, trust issue really is a big deal in human world. 'Raya And The Last Dragon', the latest animated feature from Disney, is a film about that if you're still wondering! As you might've figured, things by Disney tend to be too good or ideal to be real, which is different from those by Pixar that tend to be cruel and telling the truth. Set in a fantasy world of Kumandra, 'RATLD' is made to 'educate', that it's not that the wor...

  ★★☆☆☆ 換作昨日的我看〈孤味〉，也許會同悲同喜，甚至淚流滿面，但今日…… 孤味－－獨孤一味，原指餐廳只提供一種食物、一種味道，寓意專心一致，把一件事情做到最好。但，一心一意、專心致志、忠心耿耿、不摻雜的做人做事態度，又有幾人能夠貫徹始終、一生秉持？人心就好似一隻坐不定的猴子，整天跳來蹦去、心猿意馬！之所以有〈孤味〉裡面發生的一切，都是因為秀英（陳淑芳飾）老公的勾三搭死、不能「孤味」！秀英那麼賢慧，為何她老公還要選擇離開，堅持逃避？純粹因為錢和尊嚴？後來的那些藉口和解釋會不會牽強了點？ 〈孤味〉是一部節奏緩慢的劇情片，故事性不強，追求寫實，所以要「戲精」充場。戲中飾演秀英的陳淑芳憑此片金馬獎封后，其演技當然無容置疑，但個人覺得，比較有感染力的還是飾演大女兒阿青的謝盈萱。阿青像她不能「孤味」的阿爸，追求自由沒束縛的人生。她背後的故事和秘密比較多，伴隨的無奈和煩惱也不少，因此她的發揮也比較有空間。不知是否礙於篇幅或故意為之，各人的故事其實都是講點不講點，有些人物明顯只是過場或點綴，例如三女兒阿眉和小女兒佳佳！ 〈孤味〉是一部不折不扣的女性電影，女人站中間，男人全靠邊。別誤會，我不是大男人，我對女性電影無既定立場。我只是不太明白，面對喜歡在外面搞三搞四的老公，秀英為何能夠忍完又忍、不離不棄。最後老公「走佬」，她依然選擇不離婚，好像一個寡婦，獨自養大三個女兒。在老公的喪禮上遇到老公的情人，她也好像沒有絲毫怨恨。最後還跟情婦和解，讓小三「坐正」！而女兒們對此的反應更令人匪夷所思。我不是說人不應該學會「放下」，但這種反應和轉變，不是有點超現實，就是我真的不理解那個年代、那個地方的女性的想法了！ 〈孤味〉的味道其實並不「孤」，反而有點「雜」、而失焦，加上很多交代得不清不楚的因果關係，讓我很難有代入感！但我們都應該學秀英那樣，無悔自己的堅持之餘，最後還能豁然放下，雖然現實比較難做到！衡量一個人的成敗，不是看他一生有擁有幾多物質上的東西，而是有幾多的「無愧」與「放下」。放下，除了是放過別人，更是放過自己。因為恨－－如佛陀所說－－好比自己喝下毒藥，卻希望他人死！ 今日的我，經歷過種種傷痛，會時刻提醒自己－－不要對任何事物滿懷憧憬，也不應對任何人過份期待，因為那樣會給他人造成壓力和傷害，也會給自己帶來失望和痛苦。或許因為如此，〈孤味〉對我來說，並不催淚，...

  ★★★☆☆ 'Palmer' is easily a must-see if you like emotional stories of troubled souls seeking to straighten things out. There're dramatic elements to either warm or break your heart, depending on what you've been through, and how you associate it with experiences of your own. It's basically not a bleak dark story though Justin Timberlake's short-tempered Palmer does seem to bear a lot of hardship growing up as he considers himself an abandoned kid, like the boy next door named Sam he later has to cope with. Like any other films made to encourage and inspire, the formula for 'Palmer' is apt to be more or less the same, where troubled souls usually with a problematic background, going through phases of understanding, are then saved by some other necessarily or not troubled companions, and finally come to realize some truths that manage to get them peace and help them pull through. Such stories are hard to fail unless the director and the cast are a total...

  ★★★★☆ What makes 'Promising Young Woman' special and engrossing are its restraint from delivering what you think it's supposed to at certain points, which keeps you wondering instead what's happened before and what will happen next, and also its magic of making you feel intense and jumpy while you're supposed to feel easy or the other way round. It's got a very intriguing opening, and a rather shocking ending that might be considered anti-climax, but to me, it's absolutely an out of the blue, off the wall scenario, which is kind of cruel but pretty romantic. And it manages to hold your attention all the way. That's rare and difficult as y'know we're all running out of patience nowadays! The film is Emerald Fennell's directorial debut. You may feel familiar with the style she adopts here if you've watched the award-winning TV series she's involved in, 'Killing Eve', which appears to be bloody slick when it comes to violence...

  ★★★☆☆ Pixar has given me a lot of good memories, warmth and encouragement ever since ' Toy Story ' series, though its mother company Disney has been such a hypocrite apparently praising morality and humanity over interests and benefits in films they make on one hand, while on the other, just doing the opposite! Pixar's ' Inside Out ' and 'Finding Nemo' are the most incredible to me. 'Soul', their latest effort, is not really about music or Jazz so you don't have to worry that it may turn you off if you're not into stuff like that. It's in fact about the things you crave for, your dreams, goals, targets, ambitions, resolutions and so on and so forth, and how you should look at them. Yet I don't think it's going to turn you on so much either, because the journey itself doesn't seem that exhilarating and imaginative after all, compared with what they've already done before. Still it's a decent treat to kick off 2021 b...

Year 2020! I don't know. It just makes me wanna shout out loud at all the absurdity and damage done by crazy, power hungry, heartless lunatics, and those selfish like me who have been turning a blind eye to them, intentionally or not! We reap what we sow! I blame no one but myself for what I've had to face and deal with, this madness and insanity introduced by a regime so ruthless and evil; this highly contagious virus from a country where freedom and the rule of law are unheard of among its people; and all these crackdowns and lockdowns as a result. We've been feeding a monster just to satisfy the monster inside of us! And look, what a monstrous world it has been! Only days to go before 2020 a very ominous and frustrating year comes to an end. But who knows how long before a real safe vaccine for the China virus finally arrives? How long before we get to take off goddamn masks? To see and hug our long-time-no-see friends and lovers? To dine out, to go to gigs or cinemas ...

  ★★★☆☆ Like I said, I'm kinda immune to horror films featuring any sorta ghosts, spirits, demons or stuff. It's not because I don't believe there's such a thing or disrespect them. It's because I feel like human are, judging by what we've done so far to ourselves and each other, somehow more vicious and demonic than any other creatures or beings in this realm or dimension. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. I do believe there's some other beings existing around. We don't usually get to interact with them because us and them are not connected. And it takes certain causes and conditions to make that happen. But I don't recommend you trying because I don't think they'd like to be bothered by you just as you don't like to be scared by them. If you happen to have to communicate with them by any chance, respect and humbleness are all you should have I guess. In 'Host', terrible things start to take...

★★☆☆☆ To survive 'Tenet', you'd better first, have enough sleep the night before; second, have been a fan of Christopher Nolan's films and got the hang of his style and pattern of filmmaking; third, be quite into stuff like time, time travel, or sci-fi stories of challenging puzzles; fourth, have a little bit of knowledge of physics like 'entropy'. But you know what, it doesn't really matter! 'Tenet' is still going to intrigue at first, then ridicule and confuse, and at last, inevitably, turn you off! If you're too embarrassed to say you don't get it, I'm not at all. I wished to enjoy it, not to survive it. I wished to be uplifted, not to be given a real headache just trying to figure out what the hell is going on here, and what the point is! 'Try not to understand it. Feel it'. Okay, but feel what? We're told in the very beginning that there're inverted objects travelling backwards from the future. That you don't ha...

  ★★★★★ 獲獎無數、真人真事改編的〈舒特拉的名單〉 (Schindler's List) 原來已經是二十幾年前的舊戲！接觸這部戲的時候，我應該還在讀中學，電視上播的。當年看，懵懵懂懂，感覺裡面發生的事距離自己很遙遠，電影也很長，過程頗悶，只是最後那幕有點感人。但現在重看，雖然電影長達三個多小時，但感覺很快過。過程卻令我非常不安和抑鬱：猶太人面對任人宰割的那種驚恐和無助；納粹軍官那種瘋狂和殘暴；那些地獄一般的景象；很多時候我都不忍直視，眼濕濕！最後那幕，猶如片中的舒特拉，我也同樣情緒失控，淚流滿面！ 由只是「有點感人」到「淚流滿面」的轉變原因，我想除了人大了，閱歷多了，對那段二戰歷史的了解加深了，還有就是自己跟電影裡面發生的悲劇距離拉近了。因為自己所居住的這座城市－－香港－－眼看好似也漸漸變成一座「集中營」！以前我覺得政治關我屁事，只顧自己生活多賺錢就好，但現實是，政治跟個人生活根本不可切割。你不犯它，它都會來搞你！現在我們每天都要戴著口罩，很多個人的自由都要被迫犧牲，這就是政治影響生活一個最好最近最諷刺的例子！ 其實一切都是 Karma ，有因必有果，香港、甚至說這個世界、走到今時今日這個可悲可憐的地步，都是我們過去有份種下的惡因所造成的惡果。過去我們太過功利自私，目空一切，為求金錢利益最大化，對一些不公不義反人類的事情隻眼開隻眼閉，甚至縱容包庇極權的滲透和洗腦！「惡魔」非一朝一夕形成，滋養它的是我們無盡的貪婪！雖然這個世界還有一些有良知的人存在，但畢竟是少數，「別業」難敵「共業」，最後清醒的少數都要被迫和醉生夢死的多數一起「埋單」！ 「 The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history 」人類總是不斷重複過去所犯下的錯誤和罪行。電影片未字幕說二戰期間，德國納粹政權屠殺了六百多萬猶太人！這個數字實在令人咋舌，太恐怖！想像一下近乎所有香港人口死清光的情景！點解人類對人類可以做出如此殘酷冷血的暴行？主要原因就是那班所謂的人類，已經不視另一班人類為人類，而只是一些卑劣低等的物種或甚至是毫無價值的垃圾！只有視對方為垃圾或可惡如害蟲之類，你才能堅定地去剷除他們而覺得合理！過去香港的街頭抗爭者被當權者視為「甴曱」！有些人對踩死一隻甴曱不會有任何愧疚，反而...

  ★★☆☆☆ 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！