Sunday, June 28, 2009

Movie Mania

Ever since I've enlisted into NS, I've watched movie after movie. There were X-Men: Origins of Wolverine, Star Trek, Watchmen, Rachel getting Married, Valkyrie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, Lezioni di cioccolato, Bride Wars, Princess Mononoke, Ghost in the Shell, Laputa, Departures (jap movie), the wind blows round, nobody to watch over me etc. After watching all these movies of different genres and studios, i've become pickier with my choice of movies. I've grown tired of hollywood films for their same old storylines- bad guy comes, good guy gets hurt, good guy gets saved (by some external help) and bad guy loses in the end.
So quite recently i've been acquiring (or least trying) a taste for foreign films. In no way am I attempting to promote foreign films as I do admit there have been misses for foreign movies (don't watch the absurd nobody to watch over me (jap movie)). Yet, foreign films come across as avant garde as they offer a different perspective and style to movies. "The wind blows round" (an italian movie I watched during the Italian film festival) introduces culture and how complexities can emerge from the simple farm communal life. It was about a French goat cheese farmer and his family and the trouble they faced in integrating into an Italian village in the pyrenees filled with an ageing population. Discrimination, gossip and even politics in this village stirred up contention in the tiny community. That picture drawn up is somewhat recognisable and reflected in society today although the background differs. Xenophobic Singaporeans and their fear of foreign talent and labour. We find it hard to come to terms with the value of their skills and expertise. And when there is trouble, it's only natural it'd be ascribed to the other people.

I appreciate Studio Ghibli films especially Princess Mononoke, my favourite Hayao Miyazaki animated movie. I like movies which feature characters with pros and cons, characters who are heroes to some and villains to others. Take lady eboshi as an example, a leader to the women in her town and a caretaker of the lepers but hated by the spirits of the forest (and princess mononoke) as she destroys the forest for the town's industry. That's reality. I've observed and learnt in the army that everyone's wants can never be met as people would have conflicting opinions. And would satisfying the majority be the right solution? That's what I like about noteworthy films, they raise those familiar questions of society.