Avalon

四方盒的Hangover

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Having the luxury of time encompasses many possibilities. Sometimes I just hope that time can be really saved and deposited, to be retrieved at will when one needs them. But of course, somethings exist as fantasies. 妄想が現実にならない。

Firstly I will like to share about this show Maou 魔王, a Japanese remake of the popular Korean drama "The Devil". I remembered seeing posters around the train stations when I was in Japan back in July when it was aired. It is a psychological thriller about this two-faced lawyer who quietly executes his revenge under the guise of a kind protector of the weak, all the while being tracked down by a detective with a dark past that was central to the whole plot. It definitely sounded abit like a cross between Death Note and Code Geass (if you have no idea what these two titles are it's ok... just think of a vast complexity of mind games, abit like The Departed or 无间道) but above all, I think the emotions are much more comprehensible, and it is easier for audience to empathise with the characters and the suffering and repression they are experiencing. The same underlying messages disseminated in many other drama with vengeance as its main theme are perpetuated here, which is that ultimately, enmity, vindication and revenge will involve innocent parties and once it is in full swing, it is a road of no return, even if there appears a tinge of hesitation or regret.

Another is a Korean movie "A Man Who Was Superman", which is actually quite a recent one starring Jeon Ji Heon 全智贤. The film turned out more thought-provoking than the title suggested and as the plot unravels, a new light is thrown on all the seemingly disjointed and meaningless pieces and melded with the Korean brand of sentimentality, it leaves one with a warm and somewhat enlightened feeling after watching it. The abnormal, erratic behaviour of a grown man who goes about helping strangers in an almost comical way while claiming to be Superman who has lost his superhuman powers but not his desire to help others. The cynical, unimpressed reporter adopting the bystander attitude whose sole interest is to use him as a source to produce a hit documentary. And their interaction reveals this: that apathy is too much ingrained in everyone that the power of goodwill has been forgotten. I am reminded of a book I read titled K-Pax, about a man who claimed to have come from the planet K-Pax and provided purporting evidence for that claim, and how he went on to help many psychological patients face their own problems in the hospital he was admitted into.

力量并不能打开最坚实的铁门，一把小钥匙却已足够，而每个人心里都有一把钥匙，只是还没察觉。超人只是一个幻想，是普通人心中对于不平凡的盼望。影片的最后，我却看到超人的遗骸，凡人的姿态。看了不禁让我想起，荧幕上，荧幕下都是许多人心中永远的超人的Christopher Reeves.

Envoy of the Stars @ 10:50 PM
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