Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Kiss Me with the Cherry Lipstick, Never Wash it Off My Face...
EXILS by Tony Gatlif - Best Director in Cannes 2004 (Commences Jan 6)
Today I am unusually tired, but I still managed to work and watch Exils with Sonic. (Dude you are the legend, thanks for showing up in the last minute)
It's another travelling movie, but this time they are going back to the land of root. "A Free-Wheeling, exuberant and heartfelt journey that swims like a salmon against the traditional migrant tide of the Franco-Algerian Community" (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian) Pretty much you can figure it out, it is a movie about finding home and self-discovery.
It is a French film that SBS definitely love to play in prime time, story related to race, culture and characters' inner selves. There are some filming techniques I really love, and the traditional dance was stunning. (It's abit like trance dancing plus some ritual exorcism) I personally think motorcycle diaries is better than Exils, not even mention the impact of the story is stronger. But overall it is very good movie, really get people to think too.
Here is some thought after watching Exils:
After the movie, Sonic asked me if I miss home of not. It's funny many people love to ask me this question, is it because I am an international student here? I glanced his face and said, "Define Home..."
Probably most of the people would say home is where you born, where your family is, where you belong to. Under this circumstance, it seems that Hong Kong is my home, and if I say it is not, everyone would probably think I am a traitor. People who know the background of Hong Kong would also pop up this question to me, "So do you like the British government or the China one?" And my head started to ache everytime I heard this, because it is more like a pitfall to trip me down.
My identity is quite complicated, you can say I am a British (coz I'm holding a British Passport); or Honky (well I born in Hong Kong); or Chinese (coz HK is part of China); or Asian (guess it's becoz I look yellow). To be honest, I am not ashame of who I am, but I want to escape all these identity. I hate to be specified, because it generalises me. If so, I rather being over-generalised, in other words, I am just a human. Then everything could be easier, I can define my home is the earth.
I can see myself lost the sense of national identity, people may think this is sad, especially my parent who would like me to be proud of being a Chinese. I just know that I'm not a Chinese, perhaps I should put it this way, I am not just a Chinese, and Chinese cannot simply describe me. Sounds funny, but see: A man is not a man when he is driving in the car, he is something cyborg-liked, the mixture of a man and a vehicle. And I never feel bad of losing the national identity.
Furthermore, it is even harder to define Australian. If you understand the history of the Aussieland, you wouldn't say White people are Australian. No offense, I respect that you love Australia and so proud to be in this land, but you are just not Australian. Think back your ancestor's history and find your root. However, the more you push your history, you may find that you belongs to nothing, coz there is no race back to many many years ago. And you just realise that race is just a ridiculous bullshit.
Ironically, we are just a group of smartarses, and most of the things in this world are bullshit.
P.S. I miss home.
[[audio: Jimmy Eat World - Work]]
EXILS by Tony Gatlif - Best Director in Cannes 2004 (Commences Jan 6)
Today I am unusually tired, but I still managed to work and watch Exils with Sonic. (Dude you are the legend, thanks for showing up in the last minute)
It's another travelling movie, but this time they are going back to the land of root. "A Free-Wheeling, exuberant and heartfelt journey that swims like a salmon against the traditional migrant tide of the Franco-Algerian Community" (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian) Pretty much you can figure it out, it is a movie about finding home and self-discovery.
It is a French film that SBS definitely love to play in prime time, story related to race, culture and characters' inner selves. There are some filming techniques I really love, and the traditional dance was stunning. (It's abit like trance dancing plus some ritual exorcism) I personally think motorcycle diaries is better than Exils, not even mention the impact of the story is stronger. But overall it is very good movie, really get people to think too.
Here is some thought after watching Exils:
After the movie, Sonic asked me if I miss home of not. It's funny many people love to ask me this question, is it because I am an international student here? I glanced his face and said, "Define Home..."
Probably most of the people would say home is where you born, where your family is, where you belong to. Under this circumstance, it seems that Hong Kong is my home, and if I say it is not, everyone would probably think I am a traitor. People who know the background of Hong Kong would also pop up this question to me, "So do you like the British government or the China one?" And my head started to ache everytime I heard this, because it is more like a pitfall to trip me down.
My identity is quite complicated, you can say I am a British (coz I'm holding a British Passport); or Honky (well I born in Hong Kong); or Chinese (coz HK is part of China); or Asian (guess it's becoz I look yellow). To be honest, I am not ashame of who I am, but I want to escape all these identity. I hate to be specified, because it generalises me. If so, I rather being over-generalised, in other words, I am just a human. Then everything could be easier, I can define my home is the earth.
I can see myself lost the sense of national identity, people may think this is sad, especially my parent who would like me to be proud of being a Chinese. I just know that I'm not a Chinese, perhaps I should put it this way, I am not just a Chinese, and Chinese cannot simply describe me. Sounds funny, but see: A man is not a man when he is driving in the car, he is something cyborg-liked, the mixture of a man and a vehicle. And I never feel bad of losing the national identity.
Furthermore, it is even harder to define Australian. If you understand the history of the Aussieland, you wouldn't say White people are Australian. No offense, I respect that you love Australia and so proud to be in this land, but you are just not Australian. Think back your ancestor's history and find your root. However, the more you push your history, you may find that you belongs to nothing, coz there is no race back to many many years ago. And you just realise that race is just a ridiculous bullshit.
Ironically, we are just a group of smartarses, and most of the things in this world are bullshit.
P.S. I miss home.
[[audio: Jimmy Eat World - Work]]
