150 Million Miracles In Summer

The film “Summer Wars” is a Japanese animated science fiction film made in 2009, directed by Mamoru Hosoda, the mastermind behind Digimon Movies and One Piece series anime. The film was well received by the public viewers and earned 18 million dollars worldwide. It also won several awards in year 2010.

            The story starts with a high school student named Kenji, who is extraordinary well in mathematic. He also is the representation of Japan to compete in the Mathematic Olympic. During summer holiday, a female senior from the same school, named Natsuki introduces a part time job to Kenji, as a helper in her hometown for her great-grandmother Sakae’s 90^th birthday. Later Kenji finds out Natsuki’s family is the descendant of a famous samurai. During dinner time, Kenji meets with Wabisuke, the son of a mistress and he is Natsuki’s uncle. Natsuki idolize her uncle and she develops feeling for him since childhood. Meanwhile, Kenji receives an unknown e-mail with a series of digits. Kenji solves it and the multi-platform internet OZ is hacked with Kenji’s OZ account. This evil act is carried by an Artificial Intelligent (A.I.) developed by Wabisuke, who run away to United State ten years ago. The A.I. named Love Machine wrecks havoc in the OZ database creates major catastrophic events in real world with GPS false signal, traffic jam, fire alarm malfunction and water pipes leakage. Natsuki’s cousin Kazuma tries to stop Love Machine with King Kazma, an online fighting avatar, but he fails. Great-grandmother Sakae uses her prestige family influence to stabilize the chaos in society. However, she passes away when her personal doctor’s phone alarm did not activate when her heartbeat drops. Kenji teams up with Wabisuke, Natsuki and Kazuma to defeat the satanic A.I. Love Machine.

            The animation isn’t just a kid show filled with joy and laughter. The idea of contrast issues are heavily used in this film for the theme of east meets west, modern versus tradition and humanity versus technology. The story has a lot of depths to layer on this movie “Summer Wars” as the movie brings a tough question to the table. How could people of 21^st century control and balance between real world and virtual reality? Technology does provide benefits to humanity but it could be a double edge sword if we are not using it correctly. We heard news about people is getting addicted to the internet everyday yet we have no solution to this social problem.

            The film is very well relevant to our daily life as the invention of smartphone allows people to interact through internet everywhere and every time, yet at the same time it changes the texture of family and society. Human interaction is no longer the same way as we know. People are more comfortable to communicate via social network, rather than face-to-face. In the opening scene, the introduction of OZ webpage shows the rapid progression and development of internet. It combines multiple business industries to transform these companies’ products in online catalog for viewers to select. It also connects billion different users to interact in specific chat room of their choice. This shows how internet becomes an essential part of our lives as it manages and records our daily tasks. We are becoming the slave of technology, rather than the owner of it. Many studies show people who spent long hours in net surfing have higher chance to diagnose heart disease, eye-sight problem and communication difficulty. The worst case scenario, the might be dead for exhaustion after extreme long hours of net surfing.

            Next, Love Machine becomes stronger as it consumes others internet account in OZ webpage. Wabisuke says the hunger for knowledge is the sole reason of the evil plan Love Machine has carry out. The capability of multiple links to different sectors make OZ webpage becomes the primary target for Love Machine to hack. The multi function webpage is illustrated through the first battle of King Kazma with Love Machine. They are chasing each other in the internet while random objects are flying around. Human creates technology to satisfy their hunger by share the knowledge to the whole world via internet. The movie shows how the desire of learning backfires back to human as Wabisuke creates Love Machine, an A.I. who absorbs everything in the internet. This indicates we as human must be considerate when it comes to the exploration of new knowledge. We have no idea what of our new creation could be capable to do to our society. It symbolizes the constant debates of machine threaten humanity around the globe.

            Summer Wars also highlights the importance of family relationship in 21st century. When Kenji is arrested for hacking the OZ defense system, he confesses his feeling to the Natsuki's family for their kindness. He has a joyful experience in the house because he seldom spent time with his parents. Kenji's parents are busy with their work. This scene highlights the issue of parents' neglecting on their children. As the bond of family relationship is weaken, children have no choice but they turn to internet for attention. Like Kenji, he makes a mistake and the police is hunting for them. It symbolizes the usage of internet without parents' supervision could lead to bad consequences. In reality, we often heard news of children is kidnapped through the connection of internet.

            Natsuki's grandfather had a mistress and they had a child while they were still alive. The child named Wabisuke and he is considered the black sheep in the family. He took the money from great-grandmother Sakae and run away to United State. He wants his family to be proud of him as he invents the A.I. Love Machine. The clash of technology and tradition family value is showing especially in the fighting scene between Sakae and Wabisuke. He uses his expertise in technology to further advance his career but Sakae could not agrees with him. It shows the struggle of family relationship to stay together while the waves of technology constantly weaken it. Family these days are spending lesser time together as they rather swipe their fingers across the screen of a smartphone.

            However, it shows the bond between Wabisuke and his grandmother Sakae is deeper than what we could imagine. Wabisuke uses his grandmother's birthday as the password of his smartphone. As for grandmother Sakae, she writes a letter to advise her sons and daughters to tolerate and accept Wabisuke as a part of the family. Wabisuke uses technology as a way to convey the message of love to his grandmother while Sakae uses the traditional way to show her concern and appreciation of the existence of Wabisuke. The story shows generation barrier breaks away in 2 different way of communication. It symbolizes the combination of traditional and modern technology that keeps family together.

            Since this is a Japanese animation, there are many Japanese cultural references in this movie. First it is the introduction of a popular Japanese game named "Koi Koi" with hanafuda cards, Japanese version of poker cards. In the movie, Natsuki's family members are playing it as a leisure activity. In the final battle, Natsuki challenges Love Machine in a card game called "Koi Koi". However, she doesn't play with real card as the Love Machine resides in the OZ webpage. She has to connect her video game console to defeat Love Machine. Again, it shows Japanese people's passion to preserve their culture as they combine a traditional card game and video game to create a digitalize version of hanafuda. Japanese younger generation can learn better of their culture with the help of video game attraction.

            Secondly, the Japanese tradition architecture is beautifully represented on the background for this film. Natsuki’s home is an ancient Japanese house equipped with koi fish pond and Japanese garden. Also, the movie highlights the importance of ancient knowledge as Kenji and Natsuki’s uncles use the art of war from Natsuki’s ancestor, who is a samurai that defeats an army of greater number by locks the enemy in his castle. They team up to destroy Love Machine by lure it into a container filled with castles to drown it. As for great-grandmother Sakae, she senses the danger and calls any government departments she could reach out to keep public out of danger. These scenes change the perception of public on stereotype view old people are incapable to handle daily tasks, let alone giving guidance in critical time likes Sakae. It also redefines ancient knowledge would still as useful as in 21^st century.

            Thirdly, the cultural impact of west meets west. The battle of King Kazma and Love Machine symbolizes the clash of it. King Kazma is a representation of a modern teenager in the avatar of rabbit. He has equips with fist gloves, eyes protector, red jacket and jeans. He gives the impression of hip and fashionable with the attitude of rebellion. It shows his appearance design is heavily influenced by western culture. On the contrary, Love Machine is the representation of a Buddha warrior with twisted digital image. The flame crown oh its’ head represents his superiority while the sun behinds symbolizes the origin of life as sun gives life to earth with the light. The design of Love Machine shows influence from oriental culture. Love Machine plays the role of god while King Kazma is the warrior who challenges the god. The fight indicates the freedom fights its’ way to break free from the chain of superstition and history burden. It shows the acceptance of western culture to infuse in an eastern society would benefits more rather than creates negativity.

            For Natsuki, she joins in the last battle with a Japanese card game named koi koi. In her digital avatar, she is seen with fox appearance on her ears and face. It symbolizes the role of fox being a guardian in Japanese folk tales. She also wears traditional kimono with sakura petals to shows the beauty of Japanese lady. Later she transforms into a goddess-like fox lady with wings, it indicates her urge to protect her family as a guardian angel. The mix of western culture and eastern tradition could be seen from her appearance. While she is wearing kimono in the digital form, in reality she is playing the card game with video game console. Once again, it shows the perfect blend of modernity and tradition to preserve heritage with the bond builds with technology.

            In conclusion, Summer Wars is seriously a must watch for all anime lovers. The art style, theme songs and story would keep anime lovers mesmerize for a very long time. After all, it has 150 million miracles for a special girl to save the world.

References

Abel. J.E. (2011). Review of Summer Wars. Retrieved from

            http://mechademia.org/reviews/jonathan-e-abel-review-of-summer-wars-by-hosoda-mamoru/

Saltz. R. (2010, December 28). Young Math Wizard Stumbles Upon Oz, Deep in the Heart of the interent. Retrieved from

            http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/movies/29summer.html?_r=0

Thomas. K. (2011, January 06). Movie Review: Summer Wars. Retrieved from

            http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/06/entertainment/la-et-summer-wars-review-story

Schilling. M. (2009, August 07). Summer Wars. Retrieved from

            http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2009/08/07/films/film-reviews/summer-wars/#.Veh-4CWqqkp

Selubung

Selubung is a Malay film made in 1992. The movie is directed by Datuk Paduka Shuhaimi Baba, a female director. The story is revolving a group of Malaysian students who study oversea in Perth as they choose different paths of their lives after they see the video of Palestian war. Mastura decides returning to Malaysia to work in RESCAID, an international charity organization. EJ, Mastura’s best friend decides to drop out of collage and married to an Islamic leader. Another two of her friends, Halim and Wn Ng decides to join international medical team in Middle East to aid the refugees. Mastura is gaining success with her charity campaign while developing a romantic relationship with a divorced man named Kamal. One day, tragedy happens in their office but Mastura survives from it.

            The film has a solid plotline to connect all actors in various locations like Lebanon, Perth, Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu. Story itself has a lot of educational lessons as it highlights the negative consequences of war. The move has a lot of distinctive different characters like Mastura and EJ. Mastura represents modernism while EJ represents traditional Islam faith from the way they live their lives. There is no fine line between modernism and tradition as it is a grey zone that people constantly walk around from back to fort. The movie explores the theme of feminism and identity of Malay people in modern society.

            Color is an important aspect in the film. Director constantly uses the blue tint on actors and environment. The color blue conveys the feeling of depression, sadness and remorse. It is showed on scene in warzone Lebanon when a female soldier is holding gun to protect her child. It also used in hospital room when Mastura is hurt badly by the bomb explosion. Blue color emphasizes the emotion of sadness as war torture human for the rest of their lives. Secondly, blue color screen also suggests location shift and flashback. It is used as a signal to imply time distortion as the first few frames add in the blue tint before switch the location and actors. It suggests that people lives in different places, yet they are connecting with each other as the memory they share would bring them together in the future. It forms a connection to bond between two characters as an establishment of love and friendship.

            The movie starts with Malay musician are playing music with traditional music instrument, a drum named rebana. Also, it is played again when Mastura visits her father back in Terengganu. Music plays a big part in racial identification as it creates a common platform to share similar value and interest in a community. However, there are mostly old people in the musician group. The music performance sends the message of people should protect and promote their music to younger generation as it is a heritage would soon go extinct if nobody practices anymore. The existence of traditional music also threatens by the wave of western culture. Mastura’s friend who plays guitar is a Malay male who has long wavy hair and idolize the America rock band The Doors. He tries to copy their hairstyle and inspires to be a performer in music industry with rock and roll. This makes a contrast comparison as both musics give a different meaning to the identity of Malay people. Old people in Terengganu are playing music to preserve their heritage while Mastura’s friend eho plays guitar is trying to pursue his dream as a musician in music industry.

            There are various strong female characters in the film as the director highlights the role of feminity in Malay society. Mastura is the heroin in the film as she is an officer who works for RESCAID, a charity organization. She spotted with a ponytail hairstyle and business wears to give herself the image of professional employee with high education for a woman. She doesn’t cover herself with headscarf on daily basis as she has a modern approach to her identity. Her fashionable taste in dressing can be seen in the scene she is getting ready to a date. She is wearing black dress with accessories to meet with Kamal. The shows the power of knowledge empowers the role of woman in modern society as it gives woman more opportunities in career department. A woman should have the authority to choose what to wear regardless of religion and race.

            EJ, friend of Mastura and they both study in the same school. They are contrasting with each other as EJ is playing a submissive role in society. She is shy, soft-spoken and feminine during interaction with her friends and counselor in school. She is wearing headscarf to cover herself as she rediscovers traditional value in Islamic faith. She admires the leader of Islamic group, Brother Musa and married to him to become his second wife. Her marriage interferes to her study as she constantly skipped class to be with Brother Musa. EJ represents the traditional woman who follows strict Islamic rules with the influences from Brother Musa. The idea of balance in society with Islamic fate and modernism becomes a challenge to the Malay people.

            Dr. Sandar, a female profession who works in RESCAID. She is playing a sword and jokingly says she would go to war if she is a man. She shows the combination of masculinity and felinity as Dr. Sandar is a strong independent woman with a sense of humor to tackle her daily task in the organization. It is important to be strong in the society as softness could weaken the woman authority. She also gives opinion and argues with Mastura on the issue of money usage for charity campaign. It shows women who speak for themselves in order to defend their ideas. This symbolizes the challenge of being a female employee in a male dominant environment.

            Both Mastura and EJ are strong female characters in the movie. Mastura continues to organize the charity concert even though two of her friends, Halim and Wn Ng killed in the Middle East for humanity work. She also stands on her ground while she argues with Kamal, her boyfriend after she sees him with another woman. Mastura shows resilience and strong will as she determines to continue her job even though difficulty is ahead.

            For EJ, she suffers domestic abuse from her sister wife, Hani. Hani is a woman who suffers mental illness as she experiences racism violence in the mosque vandalism. EJ is asking for a glass of water after she gives birth to a baby but Hani refuses to help. An unforgettable tragedy happens as Hani kills the baby while EJ and Brother Musa are away. This breaks EJ’s heart and decides to leave Brother Musa to start a new life back in Malaysia. It shows woman’s strength in mentality as EJ tries to live her life by join in the organization. Woman doesn’t need to submit the idea of being a household woman as woman could happy and fine by her own self.

            The movie is an eyes opener film as it narrates a lot of social issue. It has a lot of heart-touching moment so girls don’t put on the mascara as it would ruins your makeup.

Reference

Sabrina (2011, November 14). Selubung. Retrieved from

            http://sabrinafilm.blogspot.com/2011/11/selubung.html

Brothers Love

Brothers Love

            Bunohan is a Malaysian drama thriller and it is directed by Dain Iskander Said. The film manages to win praise from audiences in Toronto International Film Festival for its' poetic narration and beautiful cinematography. The film won 8 awards in 25th Malaysian Film Festival.

            The story is surrounding the life of 3 half-brothers who share the same father with different mother. Adil, a Muay Thai fighter who falls into trouble after he flees from an illegal death match. Bakar, a teacher who resides in Kuala Lumpur returns home to claim his father's land. Ilham, a killer who hired to execute his own brother, Adil. 3 of them come back to their hometown, Bunohan to uncover a string of dark secret and family affair.

            The theme explores the theme of dysfunctional family relationships. Viewers would be confused to label this film as an action film with all the fighting scenes in the trailer. However, those action scenes are only a small part of the storyline. Director Dain Iskandar Said cleverly explores the dark side mentality of human nature in an artistic and philosophical approach, but not to lose the sense of realistic feel to the movie. This forms a connection with viewers as the theme of family drama is easily related to the audiences.

            The essence of masculinity is flowing thru the movie with intense fight scene and man-to-man family affair and business. Female character is reduced to minimal as male characters take the lead in the film Bunohan. The lack of woman’s existence in a family like the presence of a mother figure creates a dysfunction family situation as the brothers estrange from each other with their father. The movie explores different stages of life focus on the role of a man. The father represents the old generation with regretful past, Adil represents the youth with dream, Bakar represents a family man who struggles in the city and Ilham represents a man with twisted mind who challenge the society rule.

            Adil, the youngest son who estranged from the dysfunction family with only his father remains. He spotted to carry a slightly long hair with razor shaved on the side. The punk hairstyle is his way to express his angst and rebellion. Also, he is constantly wearing shorts as if he is ready to pick up a fight. This shows he is a person with passion for Muay Thai and aggressive in daily interaction. He has no choice but to hide in his hometown as he runs away from a death match. In the scene where he visits his home for the first time after he left many years ago, he opens a box with photos and letters. This indicates no matter how bad a family tears apart, Adil still loves his family from the bottom of his heart, especially for his mother. In the sub sequential scene, Adil has a conflict with his father. It reviewed his stepmother and elder brother had been constantly bullying him in the past. Adil is disappointed of his father for not taking any action as he wishes. This shows strong relationship of father and son, yet the painful experience have lead Adil to turn away from his father. Even though Adil still cares for his father, he could not forgive him. Father is an important role to a family as he bears most responsibility to shape his family. It would become a social issue if their children's well-being is neglected.

            While Adil is having conversation with his life saver, one of them quotes:" in darkness, there is brightness." The background is a wooden house after sunset, lights from light bulb creates contrast lighting effect on actors and building. Although Adil owns a lot of debts to the fight arena promoter, yet he remains focus to pay it back with another Muay Thai match. It reminds to audiences never give up too early as there are always hope around the corner.

In the final act, Adil is falling down on the arena as the poison tries to kill him, scene changes its' pace to slow motion with shaky and spinning camera ankle with silence in sound. This technique stimulates the similar nausea and uncomforted feeling from Adil's psychical condition. It creates a moment before climax scene as audiences are longing to discover what will happen next.

Bakar, the middle child in the family and a high school teacher who married with wife and kids. However, he comes back to Bunohan to persuade his father to sell the land to contractor for resort construction. He always well-dressed and wears a pair of glasses thru the film and it gives the impression of an educated citizen image. However, he is the mastermind behind most of the evil plans. In a traditional coffee shop, he will discuss his plan with the long haired contractor. The setup of coffee shop is sending message of plain and simple is the way of Bunohan as this town is a village far away from the city. The unbalanced development in both different places create riff and misunderstanding issue between city people and village people as it shows on Bakar and  his father. Their plan to sell the land turns into vain as their father refuses to obey. The father then lit a cigarette and blows smoke around himself while Bakar remains quiet. This shows the father is annoyed and discomforted to this idea as Bakar is feared for his father’s authority. At night time Bakar is having one-on-one conversation with his father. The setup is a room separated by a wall with one room switch on its’ light and the other one remains darkness. This shows both father and Bakar have strong disagreement ina very contrast way. The wall symbolizes the emotion barrier as they unable to having a normal conversation without getting into quarrel.

As Bakar is getting desperate, he pays money to Adil’s friend to kill Adil. A scene with fishes dead in the pond and the house Adil’s friend stays at is indicating he is a poor man who seeks for help. He lives with his sick mother in a small wooden house with no other houses around that area. This shows the isolation and desperation in a remote land as no one could reach for them. The betrayal of Adil’s friend shows the ugly side of poverty in reality as good people is forced to commit crime when they seduced with money in poor condition. The gap between lower class and upper class people are getting wider and more obvious, especially in a small village where job opportunities are rare and places are under-development.

In the final act, Bakar attempts to murder his father in a beach. Cloudy sky with grey tone to suggest something bad might happen. Crime scene is placed far from camera and cover in blanket with light comes from the lantern. This setting suggests focal point in the middle while allows audiences to interact more with the story as they would try to figure out what will happen next to Bakar and the father.

The character Bakar is a representation of our judgmental and prejudice society. People tend to label another person from their first impression, hence the mindset of dressing well equal educated good people. However, it is not the same case with Bakar as he tries to kill his own father. Family members are hurting each other when property is at stake. It shows how money could corrupt a person’s soul as it outweighs its’ value over family bond in the materialistic world we live.

Ilham, the oldest son is a ruthless and gruesome killer who slits his victims’ throat during assassination. Ilham firstly introduced to the scene when he kills his target in the shower room. It shows he is well executed in decision making and an experienced killer. For his second assassination, he kills the Chinese man who shares important information in the bird shop. Although Chinese man spills out the secret, Ilham still kills him. This scene shows Ilham is a cruel person as nobody could escape from him even when they beg for their lives. After he returns to Bunohan, he stays in a boat-like house. Boat is a symbol of freedom and journey for Ilham who leaves the village long times ago. A refurbish boat is a meaning of Ilham’s’ will to settle down in Bunohan so he could lives with his brother, Adil, his next target. Later, Ilham is walking on a sandy beach to visit his mother’s tomb. The bright sky landscape symbolize the good mood of Ilham while the white sand represents the mother image in Ilham’s mind, a graceful and mercy mother. It shows Ilham’s mother presence helps to calm his nerve. Near the river, killer initiates the conversation with a bird to confess his feeling as a killer. At night, he would dig the grave by himself at the beach. The gray tone of each shot evokes the emotion of sadness, depression and loneliness. He is finding his way to atone his sin as he feels disappointed for himself when he faces his mother’s tomb. He wishes he could be someone else besides a killer who kills innocent people as it would make his mother proud, but he is not.

On the beach, Ilham is hurted for attempts murder his half-brother, Adil. He believes Adil is the reason of his mother’s tomb being destroyed. At night after Ilham falls asleep, the old mini TV shows a bunch of random footages to suggest his mind in a state of confusion and chaos. The montage alike sequence allows audiences have a glimpse of the past of Ilham.

In the final act, Ilham tries to beg for Adil’s life to be spared. Unfortunately, the fight arena promoter’s bestman disagree and kill for not obey the order. Cloudy sky with dark night gives a touch of goth and devilish essence. Ilham is lying on the beach by himself as sea waves hit on his body. Perhaps this is the result he wants as he decides to protect his little brother till his last breath and a way of payback to lost soul he harms in the past. Ilham is by far the most interesting character as he demonstrates the evil of society. He choose the wrong path in his life after he neglected by his father who married 3 women. This fuels his hatred even more as his mother is dying alone. This shows the importance of human interaction on daily basis as no one should left behind.  The generation gap in family creates a serious problem if it doesn’t solve with communication.

For the father, he is a man who cherishes traditional culture and artwork. In the movie, he sews the Malay kite and plays with shadow puppets most of the time. In the crime scene, he is covered with cloth to entertain himself with shadow puppet at night. It is his passion to protect his culture. Also, Malay culture music in Muay Thai fight match in Bunohan is another highlight of the movie. The fast rhythm and high tempo music effect brings out the intensity of the fighting scene. The film shows appreciation to Malay culture and heritage to enlighten people more about the local art scene.

The movie is definitely worth to watch as the scenic shots of tropical jungle, sandy beach and crystal clear ponds would seduce the audiences’ mind to plan a trip to Kelantan for its’ breathtaking scenery.

Reference

Chew, J. (2012, March 7). Review: Bunohan. Retrieved from

            http://www.esquire.my/Entertainment/Film/article/Bunohan-the-review

Chong, C. (2012, December 3). Movie Review: Bunoohan (Return to Murder). Retrieved from

            http://moviebuzzers.com/movie-review-bunohan-return-murder/

Orlok666. (2012, May 22). A Return to The Roots. Retrieved from

            http://www.slashingthrough.com/reviews.php?id=130

Dreamlike Hong Kong

Chungking Express is a Hong Kong film made in 1994 by the famous award winning director Wong Kar Wai. The film is not a typical Hong Kong film industry has been heavily producing martial art film, gangster movie and cinema action thriller that dominants the cinema chart in 90 era. Action movie stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yan became extremely famous after they starred in action film. However, Hong Kong film industry isn't a one trick pony as there are many narrative dramas deserve a second look before we switch back to the action blockbuster film. For Chungking Express, there are 2 stories with similar plotline that the first one starred by Brigitte Lim and Takeshi Kaneshiro and the second story starred by Tony Leung and Faye Wong. Both stories have different background and actors as the only connection between them are the snack bar called Midnight Express to connect both stories.

            In a region of the east meets west and honored as the pearl of the orient for its’ energetic modern city and glamour night scene, Hong Kong. Strangers walk into other strangers everyday in this busy city. They are feeling lost as their loneliness have no one to speak to. Wong Kar Wai is telling a story of loneliness in the city from different characters' narration. Hong Kong film industry does has its' upper hand in the narration of police officer in occupation department as most Hong Kong movies featured minor or lead role as police officer to keep the plot interesting. Without coincident, both main actors in Chungking Express happen to be a cop with Takeshi Kaneshiro as  Qiwu, Cop223 and Tony Leung as Cop 663.

The first story began with Cop223 broke up with his girlfriend and had a hard time to move on. Meanwhile, a drug smuggling gone wrong had put the blonde wig woman in dangerous position. They met each other and spent time to rest in a hotel. Cop223 went into the snack bar again and bummed into Faye Wong. This is the starting point of second story; Cop663 also broke up with his girlfriend, a flight attendant. He met Faye in the snack bar and Faye fell in love for him. Faye took care of him by cleaned up his house and Cop663 found out. He asked her for a date in a bar named "California" but she didn't show up and flied to Caulifornia. She became an air-stewardess also and visited the snack bar which owned by Cop663 later.

Chungking Express is heavily influenced by French Impressionism, an avant garde style of filmmaking to create the effect of surrealism.  One of the characteristics of this art form is to convey the meaning and emotion thru actors’ suggestive behavior and interaction with the environment, rather than speaks out blatantly. The opening scene features blonde hair woman rushes in the street while Cop223 is chasing a criminal in similar location. The scene is blurry and shaky from a third person perspective that follows the same movement of the actors. This creates the feeling of being in a dreamlike mind state as we are sleepwalking thru the street. The dizzy effect from the shaky camera shots conveys the message of uncertainty in search for their love in a foreign lane. It is also filmed and edited for a slow motion effect to emphasis the feeling of lost and uncomforted. The actors are clueless and searching for something very important to them in an exotic foreign lane, Chungking Mansion, a multicultural marketplace in Hong Kong. This shows how city life could leads to depression and pressure with their fast paced lifestyle. It makes them unhappy and tired as they have no time for leisure and meet new people, as Cop223 says in opening line:” every day we brush past so many people, people we never meet or people who may become close friends. It sends the message for city people to break out of their comfort zone as they might share similar loneliness experience in the city of Hong Kong.

The technique of unstable camera film shots continue for the gun fight and street chase scene. Blonde hair woman is running for her life after she shots the Indian drug smugglers who betray her. As the high tempo Indian music is playing, it evokes the feeling of chaos and anger for blonde hair woman and the Indian gangs. It majorly focuses on the blonde hair woman as she is out of her comfort zone and desperate needs for help. Another shaky cam scene is the assassination of the Caucasian drug supplier. The camera shots from the blonde hair woman’s perspective to convey the feeling of bitter and anger for the betrayal of a former lover as she approaches him from the back.  It encourages viewers to anticipate and imagine what will happen to blonde hair woman as she seeks her vengeance. She is satisfied with the outcome, yet she is sad and worries that she might be killed by the Indian gangs. Jump cut is used on the makeover scene of the Indian drug smugglers transform into business men and how they hide their drug in shoes and luggage. The queue of multiple actions to compile this quick pace, rapid action and again, high tempo Indian music share the emotion state of Indian drug smugglers and blonde hair woman as they are excited for the lucrative money from this drug trafficking and eager to participate. However, they are scared to think that they might go to jail as they aren’t familiar with the Hong Kong’s law system.

Prop and time is an important aspect in this movie. The indication of time is being translates thru props like food can, clock and blonde wig. The clock starts counting at 9pm, 28 April and the time ends in 1^st May. It is the duration of intense loneliness of Cop223 as he broke up with his girlfriend, May in April fool’s day, 1^st of April. He will buys a can of pineapple everyday to represent the idea of longevity of the love relationship between him and May. This is because 1^st of May is an important date for Cop223, it is his birthday and he still hopes he can backs together with May. On 30 April, he has an argument with the shopkeeper who throws away all food cans with expired date 1^st of May. He scolds the shopkeeper is cruel and takes home all the food cans. This represents his anger and frustration toward May for breaking up with him. No matter how many times he calls her with the phone, she would not reply. This result brings Cop223 to experience the loneliness of being alone in the city. He desperately attempts to find a companion thru the contact list of his phone. However, his former female classmates and friends are either married or rejecting him. In the end he talks to his dog to express his sadness and disappointment for himself as he devour all the pineapples to indicate the end of the relationship when there are no more pineapple to consume.

The airport departure board is indicating the countdown for limited time to board the plane as blonde hair woman feels nervous and frightening for this drug smuggling plan might fails. The dilemma comes true as all the Indian gone missing and she desperately searches around. The date on an unopened can is the expiry date to remind blonde hair woman her life is in danger for not retrieve the drug from the Indian men. The same date of the can is showed again the scene of the drug supplier being killed, but this time the can is opened. It is a sign for the heart of blonde hair lady as she finally relieves herself from the grip of hatred and drug business trouble. Thru the movie, blonde hair woman only wears the raincoat and sunglasses. This dressing set up shows the insecurity and fear she faces when she dates the drug supplier. She relies on it to cover her identity being exposed. It is a long term relationship as she narrated she forgets how long she has been wearing the same outfit again and again.

As for the blonde wig, it is another cover up for the blonde hair woman. However, this one is special as it indicates the bond of love shared by blonde hair woman and drug supplier. We see drug supplier gives a similar blonde wig to the female bar owner. She lied to blonde hair woman that she doesn’t see drug supplier. Drug supplier put on the wig on the bar owner to indicate he finds himself a replacement after he betrays blonde hair woman. The song by Dennis Brown called “Things In Life” with lyrics like there are bad times and good times, so have a little fate….is the message of philosophy to deal with hardship in life thru the bar scene with blonde hair woman in trouble. It sets the melodramatic tone to the scene to make the audiences feel sorry for this unfortunate lady. In the end she takes off the wig after she kills the man who betrays her on 1^st of May as stated on an opened can. It shows she is being herself by letting her hair down and throwing the wig away. She regains her freedom as she no longer manipulated by the drug supplier, or the city itself, Hong Kong.

When Cop223 and blonde hair woman meet in a bar, he asks a question and says:” do you like to eat pineapple.” It is a sexual suggestive question as Cop223 is projecting pineapple as the meaning of love. Cop223’s sexual desire also illustrated thru the background atmosphere with rain and saxophone music. He tries not to put a move on blonde hair woman in the hotel as he distracts himself with from her body with random actions like watches dramas, eats French fries and polishes off her heels. On Cop223’s daily life, he is jogging to drain out his sex drive to avoid falling for the state of loneliness.

The second part of the movie is manifesting the theme of “Dream”, a characteristic of French impressionism film, which Tony Leong and Faye Wong displays charisma performance to portrait normal citizens of Hong Kong. The song “California Dreaming” is blasting thru the snack bar when Faye is working. It is her way to create a safe zone, relax mode and remind her of her dream.

During the flashback, Cop663 uses an airplane model to emphasis the relationship with his girlfriend as they both meet in an airplane. Cop663 describes an airplane with full fuel as long term relationship, he also indicates the end of this relationship as the plane changes its’ destination in the middle of flight. Cop663 happens to be a loyal man as he only orders chef salad from the snack bar. No matter what other food choice the owner offers to him, he will still picks chef salad. It shows he is a discipline man with a loyal heart to the relationship he once had. The breakup affects him even worse as he suffers loneliness that similar to Cop223.

Cop663 is expressing his loneliness by projecting his sadness in the objects around his house. A dripping wet towel represents his tears as he tells the towel not to cry. As he has no one to talk to, he talks to stuffed animals to encourage it to get better. Also, he tries to get back with his girlfriend when he talks to the closet. Theses behavior shows the typical citizen of Hong Kong where they are trapped in the concrete jungle as they have no way out of their personal problem.

Faye is working for a tedious job in snack bar. For a sense of adventure and likeness for Cop663, she decides to give Cop663’s house a makeover. She also talks to the stuffed animal to confess her feeling to Cop663. This shows she is shy and introvert for not tell him directly. In the process, she lied to her uncle to clean Cop663’s house and it shows she is rebellious and carefree when it comes to decision making. In the scene where she discovers a piece of hair from his bed, it indicates bad thing follow. As she bummed into a long haired lady who approaches Cop663, she turns suspicious and bitter. When Cop663 backs to his house, he finds his home is flooding. He thinks he forgets to switch off the water pipe. Faye is the opposite of Cop663, while Cop663 is falling for depression; Faye breaks free and does random things that make her happy. She doesn’t care about the others as she always listens to the song “California Dreaming”. Audiences can learn to loose and goof around as it helps to cheer and lift up people’s spirit.

Cop663 notices things around his house are different as he says there is having emotion. But the truth is he turns better with Faye’s care and eventually he finds out. He asks her on a date on bar named “California”. She is happy but she doesn’t go to the bar, but instead, she flied to California. California is not just a song or location in this movie; it is a dream, a place to discover and the love confession of Cop663 as he invites her to meet there. It serves as a huge influence of western culture towards the Hong Kong locals like Faye who dreams to travel to United State. Faye’s decision to leave and fulfill her dream as the importance of her dream outweighs the feeling of love, although she promises she would come back 1 year later. Many city people are afraid to choose dream over other important things in their life, but Faye does the opposite as she does what she feels from her heart. Meeting with Cop663 changes her life and triggers her passion to chase her dream to travel in California. It makes her to think deeply and consider her future in a serious manner.

The movie itself is largely using music theme from the western music artists and Indian music. It creates the spark of fusion and gives the dynamic touch to the city of Hong Kong to represent itself as a multicultural city of the east. Chungking Express is chic, timeless and modern with its' unique touch of film style.

Overall, the movie 2 part stories serve like a Yin and Yang combo. First story is my favorite with the seedy background and dark story as it represents Yin, especially it filmed mostly at night time. Second story is bubbly with the charming Tony Leong and Faye Wong as they are filmed in daylight. Both have their own supporters, but eventually they are complimenting each other in a contrasting way to tell the story of loneliness in Hong Kong city. Audiences could give it a try for this classic Hong Kong awarding winning film to learn more of the Hong Kong non-mainstream films.

Reference

Noller, M. (2008, November 28). Chungking Express. Retrieved from

            http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/chungking-express

Maslin, J.. (1994, September 26). Chungking Express (1994). Retrieved from

            http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9503E2DA133AF935A1575AC0A962958260

Not Your Typical Student

Not Your Typical Student

            3 idiots is an Indian comedy film with enormous success from film critics’ penned good reviews and box office performance reaches US 190 million, the highest box office film gross for a Bollywood film.

            The story is happening in a fictional college called Imperial College of Engineering where 3 main characters are the college students. Rancho, the protagonist of the film, is a very intelligent student who challenges the education system. Farhan, the narrator of the film 3 idiots, is aspired to be a wildlife photographer but his father wants him to be an engineer. Raju, a poor student from a under privileged family with a handicapped father and retired mother, he has pessimistic view on his life during college years. Rancho, Farhan and Raju become friends during their study life in college. They share their dream, struggle and emotion as they care for each other very much. The film singled out the society issue in negative effect of education destroys family relationship. Controversial topic related to this theme like suicide, estranged family and education crisis flow thru the story with various characters in different time zone. The film make history as it praised for many reason, one of it is because it touches people's heart by reflecting the students' feeling who go thru the education and inspirational to revolutionaries the education in our reality world.

            Life of Farhan is shaped base on the expectation of his father during the first flashback scene in the film. His father happily announces his son would be an engineer when he stills a baby. Viewers could tell that Farhan is sad and disappointed thru his moody tone of narration as he mildly complaints nobody in his traditional indian family ever ask him what he wants to be in the future when he walks into the college. The clash between two generations is a common scene for most family; especially it involves career and study decision.

            During the scene of college students meet with Mr. Viru, the college headmaster for the first time, Mr. Viru is giving speech of the competitive environment of his prestigious college. He uses the bird Cuckoo as a metaphor, survival of the fittest to remind them the high expectation and qualification of the college. To further reinforcement, he drops a box of enrollment letters on the ground to tell them they are the students chosen by the school over four hundred thousand candidates. The scene is a symbolization of Indian society's obsession for doctorial and engineer courses with the myth of bright future guarantee. After the speech, Rancho raises his hand and asks Mr. Viru to use pencil instead of pen in outer space can save cost of space pen’s development. Mr. Viru becomes nervous and the students laugh because of it. This scene shows the innovative and critical thinking to solve problem with alternative solution, which is the most important part of education, not just reads thru books and go for exam. Rancho’s desire for knowledge outweighed fear and humiliation, he would not hesitate to ask for clarification when in doubt, and even the person he refers is in a higher position as they are viewed superior in asian society.

Then, Rancho’s refusal to submit to the traditional method of study by challenge the authority when he asked to explain the definition of machine is another scene needed to be highlighted. He gives a simple answer to the lecturer by defines a pants zip as a form of machine. Fellow students laugh at him and his lecturer calls him idiot and asks him to leave the class. Rancho standbys himself and fires back to lecturer with complicate definition of a book which embarrass the lecturer and his classmates laugh at it. Asian education system im general doesn’t educate students, but to train a machine that gets grade A in the exam and it is the major problem of education. The movie shares a clear message of the traditional teaching method doesn’t work out, yet it destroys students’ spirit who wishes to learn new knowledge.

After the first dance sequence, Rancho sends a mini helicopter back to Joy Lobo, only to find him commit suicide. This scene is the first climax of the movie as the death creates shock value for viewers. Students commit suicide to escape study pressure is quite familiar in all level of institution. It is a plague that affects society that students face intense pressure everyday in school. In the funeral, Rancho points out Mr. Viru are the real killer in this suicide case as he is the one who gives Joyo Lobo harsh treatment. The headmaster is provoked and turns angry when Rancho offers alternative and flexible teaching style. This is a metaphor of our education for being old-fashion and stubborn to accept new idea for better learning environment. As a result, staggering figure of suicide cases would be the worst consequence if nothing changes from current situation in the school as Rancho points out the seroiusness of it in India.

In the scene where Farhan confronts his parents to chase his dream as a wildlife photographer, his father angered by it and Farhan shows his parents that he put their photo in his wallet to avoid suicide thought. This act deeply touches his father and he purchases a new camera for Farhan as a support. This emotional scene has a lot of meaning as it shows how parents could make a change to their children life to avoid suicide. Parents think they know their children by provide material fulfillment. But for their children, they only want to proof to their parents and wish their parents could understand them better in return. As a conclusion, parents need to interact with their children more, instead of blindly follow the society standard of what is best for them.

As a Bollywood film, the Indian culture is easy to spot in this modern comedy. While most scenes’ background is featuring campus and city, there are still many touches of Indian thru the movie, especially with actors’ costume. Right from the start, air-stewardess’s uniform is the Indian lady formal wear, sari. It is the first impression for viewers to acknowledge this incident happens in an airport somewhere around India. Next, Rancho with his gang wear pink neon turbans in the Indian traditional wedding also highlight the cultural reference. For the second wedding ceremony, Pia, the bride wears an orange bridal gown to run away with Raju till she meets Rancho. The gold accessories like nose ring and earring also compliment the bride in several scenes. On the other hand, we can see the traditional wedding clothes of the groom as it is the main prop of the joke in the marriage ceremony, not to mention the jasmine flower headpiece Raju uses to cover up his face. The brightness of color attracts the viewers’ attention thru the actors’ costume to reflect the beauty of Indian vibrant culture.

There are 2 dancing sequences with the first one to be collage male students dancing around in the bathroom. It is a common trait for most Indian movie to feature dance sequence while the actors lip-sync to the song, 3 Idiots is no different. The first one happens in a public bathroom as the guys sing their heart out with water splash and burst everywhere. The usage of water to convey the actors’ feeling is constantly featured in rain, drizzle and water fountain. For the second dance sequence, Rancho and Pia confess their love to each other in Pia imagination. It is the dance that showed on most Indian film as love theme is heavily featured in it.

For sound effect, the first introduction scene of Pia has the sound of woman’s soft hymn to enhance her beauty when she turns around. This is another signature style of Indian film, together with the hair flows with the wind. Another interesting sound effect would be the traditional Indian music instruments played at the background of Indian wedding. It gives an exotic touch to this modern film.

The movie 3 Idiots shines like a diamond in a sea of Bollywood films and creates phenomenon success. Besides having the charming lead actor Aamir Khan to play Rancho, the film success isn’t hardly to imagine as the plot tackles a lot of dark topic in society with the infusion of comedy to balance thing out. The movie is surprising highly entertain and inspiring for everyone who once a student for now or before. People who watch this film would have a better understanding the background of Indian society and appreciate the vibrant culture in Indian film.

Reference

[Somomon]. (1 April 2012). 3 Idiots.

            Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BauWuvgHHlI