Cool stuff. 
July 24, 2009
July 23, 2009
So this might come a little too late (two days screening and tomorrow’s already the last day!) and time is all the more inconvenient for many (during lunch hours) but thought I’ll do my humble bit to spread the news to the fans anyway. You’ll have shorts by BMW shorties and Da Huang Pictures – Tan Chui Mui, Liew Seng Tat… no James Lee’s latest??, coupled with animations and motion graphics by international and local talents as well.
Do drop by to check it out yeah. and do say Hi if you see me.
July 16, 2009
Read The Sun front page today that a famous conductor from Britain has decided to end his life for good, with his wife. They’ ve been together for 54 years! Wow.
More here.
July 16, 2009
Continue from part I
Meanwhile, the loan shark boss went curious why Ah Ngau had not returned from collecting debt. So off he sends another loan shark worker Ah Shu to check things out at Muthu’s place. So off Ah Shu went to find Muthu. Muthu once again finds himself in a compromising situation. Ah Shu questioned Muthu where had An Ngau been to, and Muthu pointed to the big case of plastic container. Furious Ah Shu thought Muthu is fooling him. Muthu opens the lid, insisted that Ah Shu should take a look at the container.
Curious, Ah Shu walked towards the container and that is when he saw his co-worker Ah Ngau, his dead body ‘preserved’ within the ice packs. No time to lose. Muthu stabbed Ah Shu’s back using the same ice pick used to kill Ah Ngau, and raged by the desire to kill he repeatedly stabbed Ah Shu until he’s sprawled on the kitchen floor motionless and died out of losing too much blood. Blood was everywhere, and again, Muthu finds himself whole night to clean off his murder scene, but he was glad to have found a solution to his problem.
Muthu’s ais kacang business went exceptionally good ever since the incident. His life is improving, and his love life has just started to bloom as well when he befriended a lady customer who often comes by to patronized his ais kacang stall. Soon, they became lovers *duh*. Muthu has quit gambling for good and has never felt this happy before his whole life. Everything went well, until one fine day, while Muthu and his girlfriend were watching pirated DVD movie at home, a stranger came knocking on his door late at night. It was the loan shark boss, Ah Bee.
Upon finding out it was Ah Bee, Muthu freaked out and demanded his girlfriend to hide in the room and keep quiet. But instead, the girlfriend opens the door for Ah Bee and reluctantly stood by him. Damn, Muthu had been cheated! In rage, he hurled whatever things at reach towards both of them as he ran into the kitchen to grab the ice pick. I must kill them, he said, I must!!
Both Ah Bee and the girlfriend trailed after Muthu to the kitchen and…
… to be continued. Major headache.
July 16, 2009
Departures.
Posted by _butt under movies, reviews | Tags: art, death, departures, encoffinment, Japan, joe hisaishi, masahiro motoki, okuribito, yojiro takita |Leave a Comment
Not a straight-up review but bits and pieces of my thoughts on the film instead. I’d actually finished writing this during working hour but decided not to post it until I got home hehe…
**
Directed by Yojiro Takita, Departures or ‘Okuribito’ literally awakens the art of ‘encoffinment’ in Japan to life. It was mentioned that the director and actor took a year off to learned the steps from a mortician in practice, along with the production of the movie – 10 years in the making! The film is loosely based on Aoki Shinmon’s autobiographical book Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician. Basically, the art of encoffinment is similar to cleansing ritual for the ones departed, hence the movie title Departures.
Ex-cellist Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) moves back to hometown with his wife (Ryoko Hirosue) and stumbles upon a job at what turns out to be a funeral home that performs encoffinment ritual for the dead. As the story unfolds, his life takes on a turning point that transported him back to the childhood days playing cello at his dad’s old place while beckoning his failing memory to recall the estranged father who’d left him when he was little.
The never-seen-coffin-before Daigo soon learns that not only death is inevitable and leaves behind a nasty-smelling experience, but it also creates a devastating trail of ‘unfinished business’ that revolves around the affair of the departed with closed ones, and as Daigo reflects on his job at end of the day, his non-existent relationship with his father had taken on the same route as well, or is there hope left to mend?
Supposed, it was the leftover anger that overshadows the image of his father at the back of his mind and that impression alone has kept him from remembering a loving family he’d once knew. The pain of being left alone still lingers throughout his life even after he is married to a loving, supportive wife. But for what Daigo lacks in terms of feeling, his dutiful wife stepped in to offer unconditional love and watches over his back as she silently prays for better days ahead.
Although Daigo grew up from a broken home, he appears to be optimistic and hopeful, far from feeding the cliched storyline of some egoistical former musician going through the emotional crisis of his life career. Altogether, Daigo’s light-hearted character and fellow supporting casts provide enough warmth to make the movie a little less depressing. One memorable scene that garners much public attention on Daigo and laughter from the audience is the one where he unknowingly volunteered to act as a corpse under the procedure of encoffinment in a DVD (much to the dismay of his wife later).
On the job, Daigo carefully ‘prepares’ the dead for the wake, washes them, dress them up and apply their favourite cosmetics before the presence of mourning family members who sat down and witnessed the whole ritual in between quiet sobs.
The whole 10-minute process could’ve taken more than 30 minutes in real life, but the pace is just right for me, considering this is a more than 2 hour running film and with multiple international awards won to boot. There’s a good sense of timing estimation; of what the audience should expect and anticipate, how long it should stay before what comes next.
There was also a lot of moment of silence in the movie which connects our personal contemplation as an audience to the mark of respect we gave for the ritual to take place. Strange enough, despite learning about the ritual for the first time, the foreign-ness and the awkwardness of it becomes far from foreign and awkward. I was awe-struck instead by the beauty of such ancient ritual of the Japanese, one which even most of the younger generation in Japan never knew until this movie came along.
With each step that Daigo took to clean the body, the silence grew even more intense among the bereaved family members as he gracefully carried out the ritual with the finest touch and precision of each step taken. It looks intricate at first glance, yet as classy and minimalistic as the Japanese tea ceremony. And with such delicate ritual carried out by a charming-looking man makes it even more fascinating to watch for some strange reason… OK, maybe it’s just me and my fancy for anything sleek.
One thing’s for sure though, fans of cello music cannot afford to miss this divinely beautiful Beethoven-inspired musical piece by famous composer Joe Hisaishi
And I have to give credit to the film’s subtle disclaimer as well during the first 10 minutes of the opening that ‘one should judge beyond the cover’ ahem. 
Hilarity of it aside, the scene staged a significant beginning on how Takita would portray Daigo’s story in the reflection of death in his film. Departures wraps up with a heart-wrenching closure; Daigo met his father and at long last able to recall how he looked like, but that was the first and final look that Daigo would remember for life as he performed the encoffinment ritual for his father…
That’s enough sobbing to do for now. Okuribito reminded me again that death sometimes is not the end, and so this movie begins with no assured ending. Aptly.
July 11, 2009
While working on overtime, a 10 digit number sent me a random text message late last night:
10-Jul-2009 23:42
“I love you a lot and I miss you.”
Sweet. But to come across a message like this does bring up a frown on your face, because you don’t know who the hell that person is. So I replied instead with:
11-Jul-2009 00:02
“Thanks. Same to you.”
Of course, we’ve all heard about EFNBTD (term originated from Doc Chen I think Lol) people who’d randomly key in numbers to send anonymous messages to victims strangers. So like-wise with this particular stranger, it doesn’t take long to find out what he/she is up to because the following day (which is today la), I was asked to identify myself, to which I pointed out:
11-Jul-2009 09:40
“Check your number next time. You’ve texted wrong person last night.”
11-Jul-2009 09:43
“No. I text correctly. Actually I just key in a few numbers and see who replied. Can i please know who are you? At least let me know who are you. Do you want to know who am i?”
Case in point.
July 6, 2009
You know it’s not working when you go all out to support a crumbling cookie only to find yourself start missing home so bad. That, even though you’re already home.
There’s only so much a friend who calls herself a friend can do for you I guess. I certainly can’t expect them to be around when I need them just because I’d possibly can, vice versa. But why didn’t I see that then?
June 25, 2009
Initially, I didn’t understand her persistence to watch this film when everyone else raved about the other much-anticipated blockbuster opening last night. And because she’s always been indecisive about everything else. Well, almost everything but Okuribito. It’s a rare occasion to see her so adamant about it, so I know this has got to be a good catch for an award-winning foreign film. Thank you.
I’ll write about it soon. Go watch while you can.
June 16, 2009
SINCE WHEN TELEPHONE SURVEY BECOMES A PART OF MY JOB DESCRIPTION???????????????????????
Blardy fucking pissed. Period.
June 13, 2009
A friend recommended me to Kelly Clarkson’s Cry. Listening to it cuts my hurt even deeper, though in the irony of it all, I need it badly to soothe the pain I’ve been through lately. Yes, truth hurts. But I need it to grant me strength to face my own demon.
I hate you. Because I need to get over the fact that you won’t budge an ass to make the move, so I’ll hate you. So badly wish that you would come up to me and say something that would trigger a slap on your pretty face. But you didn’t.
So I kept this anger to myself and it turns into this evil mirror ball that gradually sees me transformed into a wishing lamp at hand, where I could take chances and make the world turn against you. Yes, my mind has entered the ‘bitch mode’ during its recovery process. I was close to mix work with pleasure, inducing your guilt conscience for this hurt of mine. That icy stare at your timid puppy eyes is one of those things. That smirk at your lame intelligence display and your jackass laughter. I wondered who’s the lucky apple in your eye. Your favourite billboard model or some classic chick in high-couture fashion magazine? Grow up, dude! I couldn’t stand how you can be so calm and collected about the whole situation. Is that what guys does best? I wish you would have tendered your letter then and sayonara. Even better, I wish you didn’t exist! Poof!
Truth is, I must have cared about this relationship so much to the extent that I cry over you when it’s over. But I wouldn’t have learned about what it takes to be ready if I didn’t take the first step to fight for it, will I?
And truth is, I know that I must move on now. I just need time to get through this phase; myself. Probably the hardest part is to allow myself known already that whatever the outcome may be out of this pain, it should never ever change the love I have to give for self and others. At least I know now, what I really want that would otherwise not have worked with you.
The times I’d always ask find myself asking, when will I be ready? God showed me the answer, but I suppose I could learned a lesson with this one. Truth is a teacher that gives lesson before it teaches. What I’m learning now is this. You.
