Three (2006) A short, confusing review

I have just watched Saam Gaang or Three (2002) exactly 34 minutes ago. After watching it, I have observed that asian films (at least that have their own identity) rely heavily on symbolism. Also, they tend to begin in the middle rather than the beginning, deviating from the 'formulaic' hollywood theme of presenting a logical premise, and building on it. This film has assumed that the audience can think for itself, and presented the base and let the viewer think. I like it.

Three is actually three short films in one. The first is Memories which was directed by Kim Ji-woon from South Korea. It is about a husband and wife who got separated. What is peculiar about this story is that they can't seem to remember how or when they separated. The man wakes up in his house and the wife wakes up in a street and as they find their way towards each other, they begin to recollect their story. This film was so good because it employed some of the best photography I have seen. The movement was quite natural and I liked the actors' performance. It also had that "psychological horror" feel that made you want to turn your brains inside out from confusion (what happened? who is she? what is she doing there??!).

Second of these short films is The Wheel which was directed by a certain Nonzee Nimibutr from Thailand. I did not like this film at all and I felt a great dissapointment because the first film Memories instilled on me a certain expectation that this segment did not fulfilled. Well, this is about a cursed puppet and it somehow killing it's owners. Seems to me like a typical formulaic hollywood movie but in the end, the scene with the tree somehow creeps me out. The ending doesn't give a clear ending... get it?

The last segment was Going Home which was directed by Peter Chan from HongKong and it was kinda weird. A cop, Wai, was detained by a Yu because he saw what the Yu was doing to his wife. Yu was immersing his dead wife in a herbal solution because he believed that it would ressurect her and this kinda freaked me out. He also talked to his wife everyday because he believed that her soul did not leave her body. This kinda summarized my experience in chinese herbal medicine when I was down with the arthritis but this is way too... extreme...Then after three days when the husband was expecting the ressurection of his wife, Wai's comrades storm the place and arrest Yu. In this begun my unrest because I saw that Hai'er (Yu's Wife) was showing signs of life (yu's not crazy after all!). After a commotion and sudden turn of events, Yu was run over by a very stupid driver and was killed. Later in the film, we see that Yu and Hai'er had the same illness, liver cancer, and Hai'er used the same process to revive Yu because Yu was supposed to be dead if not for the herbal medicine! Then I felt overwhelmed by their love as a family. But there were still a few loose ends. Somebody enlight me on the film.

I cursed all the way to Korea while watching this film. It had so many moments that were so confusing, that I became aware that I was a viewer. I wasn't merely a passive observer, I figured out the events that transpired! This film doesn't give you everything at the table, you had to find the juicy bits for you to better understand this film. Actually I don't consider this film a typical horror movie. It's a psychological horror. It dredges up some unique ideas that are not formulaic. Finally, thanks to RPN-9 asian films are gaining recognition in the RP. If only the indie film industry in the RP is going to be this good, then we will laugh all the way to Cannes, trampling Hollywood along the way.

I'm having a great lunch! (and all that shit)

Three friends met at Greenwich festival mall Alabang in Filinvest. They planned to take advantage of the said restaurant's promo P99.00 Pizza All You Can! (I'm having a great lunch). Therefore, looking forward to stuffing themselves full, the three friends did not eat breakfast.

But imagine their disappointment when they observed Greenwich's ingenious strategy to piss the customers availing of this promo: they served a slice of pizza served by a roaming person wearing a funny hat resembling pompoms and cardboard signs saying "Pizza All You Can! (I'm having a great lunch!). The three friends we have here could live with it if their plate was refilled immediately but owing to the restaurant's single oven and their good ingenious strategy, it had an interval of 10 ? 15 minutes. So in turn, the three friends dissipated their annoyance and possibly, hunger, to the other customers. They annoyed the customers. They talked loudly, told mind-shattering jokes on the basis that they were soooo stupid, laughed maliciously and made eyes on the beautiful girls that happened by. It was a miracle they lasted two hours. In the end, they had a great lunch out of their P99 after all.

Atrophy from disuse. Bastards.

We're halfway through schoolyear and yet I can't find something to trouble myself with. I keep searching, but the problem insists on lurking on some corner that I would cross.

The way the things are going right now, I feel like I'm gonna have an easy life. A very easy one. If I'm some insipid tasteless person then it would have been alright for me but I'm not. I would like some conflict in my life because I feel that my brain is already reeking stench from all the disuse I put it through. There are no hardships; everything is convenient. All is in reach and you don't have to exert some special effort to reach that goal.

Even schoolwork is average, if not, mediocre. Yes, I don't excel but that is my reaction to the university's low standards. I don't feel like studying if I can't feel the prospect of failing in the end. What's the use of excelling if you feel that the object that you have excelled in has no effort? I would prefer that I come out of the battlefield bloody and wounded, having killed a small platoon than having killed an entire army and come out of it without a single scratch. There is no development, no conflict unto which you would learn some significant lesson in your war.

Therefore, I can say that my main motivators are death, failure and desolation. These are things you can't avoid but I relish these things. I perform really well when I am threatened by these things because these things leave a lasting effect on your life and knowing these, you would do everything, even exceed, in your own power to make a way around these things.

On a different note, what's this crappy little saying that if you couldn't achieve a thing then you should at least try??? WTF you shouldn't try! You should do it! These feelgood persons never achieve anything for they always try! If I have the chance to catch them in the act of trying something that is readily achievable but for the sake of their 'will' never commit themselves to this task then I will fuse their molecules with the pavement. Maybe they will be motivated...

At last! The thorns have been sheared off!!!

Now is the start of the true break. I have finally received the result of the countless hours of cramming, actual studying, cups of coffee and hundreds of cigs smoked in order to ward off sleep.

Fortunately, Fate had spared me from it's wrath and decided to give me another chance. I really feel it is the result of my prayers and God decided to give me another chance, because it would've been a great loss if my studying would come to an abrupt stop because of this... Think of all the souls that will not be saved... :-)

Therefore, owing to circumstances inside the sphere of my influence, I have decided to cut back on the happiness that I feel for I have long concluded that happiness clouds the judgement of man and should be regulated. I have also decided to discard some of my Trivial Pursuits, as they serve a detrimental purpose to my studying.

Seven days, so many could be done in seven days. Therefore, as advice to those who lost their path and searching for the right one to follow, I would say to you that time is really so short. Do everything you have to do now, don't substitute it for some crap that you will probably regret later. As an old saying goes "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow".

Everything should go smoothly on this day forwards. Applying this formula would require intense concentration to what lies beneath and onwards, but I will manage. Let's hope that Fate won't drop it's hammer on me. I hope not...

The end of a long comatose-inducing semester

A part of my life is over. But what I can only do is to anticipate the next one.Well anyway, I plan to begin writing my novel today and hopefully, it will be finished by around 2020 or so... I have to make so many many revisions to the plot and fix the rut I got myself in while writing it.

I am currently going out of the house as many times as possible, bringing along a pen and some paper and just walking. I walk to get ideas, especially if I brought some bisyo along. I observe other people, curious about the trivialities they consume themselves with. Well, to me it may be nothing but if they think that what they are doing have some weight in this world then maybe, someday it will.

Now, I fully feel my mind functioning as it was bogged down by schoolwork these past 4 months. There's always the prospect of doom waiting at every corner of the classroom, as with the deadlines and requirements looming over you. I can't seem to assign a proper beginning to things, as I tend to notice myself always in the middle of things. But what I can sense is the end, the end is what matters to me the most. As it will bring about the justification of your efforts, either if you begun bad or good, the end will always count on you.

But there will always be the end of this sembreak. All I can do is to make sense of the transition from beginning to the end

This is such a rewarding experience. Now you will grovel

See their seemingly persistent urge to stay as one.
The seeds of discord we have planted have started to bear fruit
Now, we'll see who will last to the end of all this.
For now, we'll wait and see...

~~

'So come on bitch, why aren't you laughing now..'

Five days, I finally feel refreshed

Finally, electricity have been restored to our little town called Muntinlupa. For Five days I have succumbed to the call of my vices. I did everything I knew to avoid the boredom that I know will affect my mood in such a way that I will suddenly go on a rampage, using my enemies as paper onto which I will write their sins. With a butcher knife.

Well, these days I have learned to stay catatonic and just stare at the flickering flame of a candle. Truly, one can achieve absurd feats in the face of boredom. I also had an obsession to write even if the words have ceased to make any sense. But one thing that occupied me is making eyes at the girls in the mall. Specifically, Alabang Town Center (ATC).

There are so many friggin' koreans there that I have named alabang 'The Korean Capital Of Muntinlupa'. Their fashion sense leaves a little to desire and sometimes it goes overboard but I managed to wipe the drool off my face when I slept at home. It also awakened longings long past but I drowned it in a torrent of smoke and alchohol. Thank God there were still cold ones around....

One may wonder where is this going but I really don't know. My hands have a mind of their own. I
still have a class, go read my other posts...