Saturday, December 18, 2004
TEARS OF THE FUTURE
The Damage Report - Year 3 - Ending Week #24
Background Music: OST - 2046
NOTE: This is a weekly blog entry that summarizes a series of events of a finished week in and around La Salle.
LOVE TRULY is a matter of timing.
To recapture their lost memories.
Because in 2046, nothing ever changes.
Nobody can be sure that this is true.
Because nobody who goes there has ever come back.
Except for me. Because I do need to change.”
The story of 2046 follows a man named Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) who has turned cold towards love. He happens to be a writer and is inspired by the room number of an adjacent apartment which carries personal meaning towards him. He churns up pieces of his innermost thoughts and feelings about love into a dramatic novel of erotic stories of a train filled with “androids of delayed reaction” that leaves for 2046.
I haven’t seen any of Wong Kar Wai’s films yet and I believe watching this on the silver screen only stimulates the hopeless romantic in many of us. This wasn’t just a visually remarkable film that was delicately pieced together; this was a story of great depth and intensity in its characters.
Camera movement was wonderful. The angles used were striking and placed into focus two different time zones –the present 1966 and the futuristic 2046. Aside from the harmonious CGI scenes, I favored the scenes involving the tracking of the camera. One example was of the woman in black walking down the dark street and another of an android’s emotional response as she begins smiling while walking down the empty cabin of the ultramodern train. In other scenes, camera movement was simple because I believe the director/cinematographers focused on using specific angles in polishing the details.
The lighting was fantastic and helped establish the time zones. In 1966, it was kept simple with the rainy nights and the dim lighting of the apartment building. In 2046, the screen was alive with vibrant colors. The director/cinematographers also played with silhouettes and shadows to gently mystify each scene.
The costumes were classic. The flair and attitude of the bustling Hong Kong in the 1960s was seen in the lavish western-oriental dresses that the women wore. The costumes used in the futuristic setting on the other hand were very radical. Combs must have gone extinct in the future with their freeform hairstyles. The vibrant lighting in the train made the actors appear as if they were modeling down in modern Milan or Paris.
Overall the production design was a cut above the norms. Each scene was crafted with a certain mood that the main character was subconsciously expressing. The best scene in technical terms for me was the sex scene in 2046 and when the man shed his tears. Although it was part-CGI, the lighting, the camera movement, the expression on the woman’s eyes was just surreal.
I am inspired to watch other films that Wong Kar Wai has made. It appears that this man is a romantic director at heart and wishes to push his message on the complexity of love in his films.
2046 was intense with its’ stunning visuals and captivating storyline that I myself admit have yet to comprehend in its entirety. But that only fuels my thirst to watch 2046 once more and perhaps collect an original VCD copy in the future.
To me, Wong Kar Wai has vivid ideas that paint vague pictures left for audiences to decipher in the encrypted tales of love and destiny.
past will leave us one of these days.”
This was the reaction paper I wrote for Cinematography on "2046" which we watched on Tuesday at Festival Mall. I was with Leah, Tope, Arjay, Maycee, and Teenah. We had lunch at Kenny Rogers' Roasters and we all had time to roam the mall before the 2:10pm showing.
Maycee and Teenah sat down near Cinema Square and spoke for quite some time. Leah went with Arjay while I was with Tope. Tope and I went to the deserted arcades, it wasn't crowded at all, and went straight to the bowling alley.
I wanted to bowl but I decided that I didn't bring enough cash and I should just save for Starbucks later. Tope and I engaged in another talk about love and life in that empty bowling alley.
We watched the movie afterwards and I enjoyed it. It was really heavy, but I loved the visuals.
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Prelims
It was our prelims this past week and everything was written. This will be the only time things will be written because in the Midterms and Finals we'll be having productions to count for our exam grades.
I didn't take my REED105 exam along with Abbie and some other people in JOU3-2. Why? We all didn't study.
And in all honesty, I didn't study for any exam this past week. I just answered what I could answer. I know, it sounds so bad that I didn't even review. But given the circumstances of what's been happening with me in the past two to three months you can't blame me.
--
Jezire
It was Jezire's birthday on Wednesday and I joined her and a group of friends that I used to hang out with when I was still in First Year. We commuted to Robinsons' Imus to meet up with Joanna.
We ate at Pizza Hut and I bought my first pack of Marlboro Lights (the limited edition flip-tops) with Eric.
I bought Christmas cards and a gift for someone at National Bookstore and Video City. On the way to Joanna's house, Eric and lit up some sticks and smoked together for the first time.
I'm such a bad influence.
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Cards
I wrote my traditional little notes on Christmas gift cards and sent it to 20 people. Those include members of the Editorial Board of HF, an HF staffer, a former HF staffer, and towards Katz' and my gimmick company at the Mansion.
I also bought five cards of the same type for five people that are special to me recently. I then bought two additional cards for my best friend and for that special someone. And finally, a card for my brother and my mom.
--
Asthma
Tom was sick this past week from a cold. On Wednesday while I was in Robinson's Imus with Jezire and company he was going back and forth from the dorm and the newly opened University Clinic.
He suffered from one of the most severe asthma attacks he's ever had. The attack happened after his coughing and his allergies reached its' peak. I couldn't be in his room when he was coughing and having a hard time breathing. After his attack was controlled, he suffered from a fever.
It was also this past week that it was clear to me that he did have Asthma. I thought he had allergies but it never struck me vividly that he had a nebulizer at home and other asthma supplies.
He's the second case of asthma I've learned about recently. Get well, buddy.
--
Party
Talks for a Broadjourn party this Christmas was with Sir Rivera, our professor in Development Broadcasting and in Electronic Newsroom II. For obvious reasons, professors are not supposed to "mingle" or "bond" with their students. But Sir Rivera has been so down to earth with us. We respect his style and his teaching of the broadcast industry compares to no other professor we've had in the past few months.
Anyways the party didn't push through and instead a drinking session open for anybody in Broadjourn came into play. Tope, Keith, Eric (Katz' boyfriend, not Eric Nicole) and myself composed the guys at the drinking session. Katz, Kay, Apple, Arjay, and Leah composed the girls at the session. Ara and Upper were there at the start but had to go home.
We drank Emperador (Em-P or Empoy) with this mix of condensed milk, chocolate powder, and some water. The result was our own version of Bailey's. I was hesitant to drink Em-P after the first (and last) time I drank it at CK's dorm. The following day after that episode in CK's dorm, I had the worst hangover in memory.
It tasted good although some shots were really dense with Em-P (matapang). I was smoking cigarettes in-between some shots... and I finished the pack I bought with Eric Nicole the day before.
We drank Red Horse afterwards and when I was just starting to get tipsy we ran out of the Grande sized ones. Tope, Eric (Katz' boyfriend), and I walked down Villa Isabel and passed by some other classmates who were on the way to the Mansion to join us. They were Bianca (former classmate), Kate Quisumbing, and Alelyn Miclat. Jeremy Manicad, a classmate and of the Pointes 'N Flexes, was no where in sight.
The three of us commuted to 7-11 at the highway and bought four more Grande-sized Red Horse. We returned to the Mansion and the terrace area had a new group of drinkers... it so happens Broadjourn moved back into Katz and Apple's room.
All I can remember is that I drank one or two more glasses of Red Horse and then said "pass" to the succeeding tagays. I remember crawling onto bed next to someone and dozing off into dreamland.
The following morning I found myself being "harassed" (haha) by Melanie de Castro, my former classmate. She has a blog, look for it on my URL list. She was tickling my chest and some parts down there and she rolled onto somebody else and kept laughing.
The memories we get from these things.
I heard Tope was leaving for La Salle (it was almost 7AM) and I decided to jump up and join him. I didn't want to stay there in bed till the sun was scorching. I was dizzy but I still got up and walked outside greeting Leah on the way out. Leah was with Kay at the terrace basking in the morning sun. She didn't get any sleep I think. Tom wasn't around either, he was home... sick. And it was their 9th monthsary on Friday.
I went back to La Salle with Tope. He brought his tripod and this ENG to capture a time lapse of the morning sun rising to greet St. La Salle's statue at the rotonda. I was sleepy and dizzy so I just left him his Christmas card and walked down the road back to my dorm.
--
Dance
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Tears
The movie "2046" really hit me. It's just romantic in some sci-fi and maddening way that's just so hard to explain. The musical score of the movie just drew my emotions out. The passion and drama in it beating with the sadness of the androids of delayed reaction.
That's exactly it. Androids of delayed reaction. I smiled when the main character wrote in his erotic novel "No, she was an android with delayed reaction."
It sounded witty at the same time innovative. I pictured people in my head who could be androids with delayed reactions. That's why I smiled.
Someone told me this past week that one movie they watched recently was "Tears of the Sun". So I mixed that with the future scenes of "2046" to get the title of this post.
The future is in 2005. If in the past four months so much has happened to me that only a few people know about, I can only imagine what's yet to happen in the next few months.
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