Mamma Mia, Lust Caution, and Burung-burung Kertas

These days I should be working and finishing a piece of work, but instead I went crazy for DVD hunting and film screening. Last weekend I finally got a chance to have fun watching Mamma Mia in theatre with the girls, we sang along with Meryl Streep (I can’t believe that I still remember all those lyrics from, like, a century ago, LOL).  Funny thing was when I spontaneously noticed the blue and yellow banner on the boat as the Swedish national flag, the home of Mamma Mia’s band, ABBA. “Just turn off your Swede-consiousness, please, “ Nicky who sat beside me said with a big grin. As you may know, Homer, Nicky always believes that I had a crush with Swedish best product; from (Sony) Ericsson to Roxette. , can’t wait to travel there sometime, eh, Nicky?

 

By the way, the movie was fun, I did enjoy it although Mbak Sima said she felt like having a Bollywood movie instead. Heh heh heh. Later the afternoon an old pal came and I got a chance to chat with a politically correct discussion (Ouch!). The topic, among those, was the controversial Pornography Bill. People says the legislators forced to make it legal by the end of this month because their parties need it for their campaign as the 2009 presidential election is coming, and the Bill says that everything that has (a part of) nudity is considered as a prohibited act. Said this dear friend, “Before they make me a criminal just for having the R-rated version of Lust Caution’s DVD, you all should take a look at it, and then tell me whether the sex scene in this movie was simply a pornographic material that fits me for being labeled as perverted criminal, or there was a bbbig reason why Ang Lee had to made it there.”

 

As a professional filmmaker, heh heh heh, sounds sophicticated and cool, eh Homer? , I got to take that chance, watching the movie. Oh Ang Lee (you know, the oscar winning director who brought you Crouching Tiger and Brokeback Mountain!) is playing his wonder as usual, bringing you a beautiful, complex, and full of detailed shot of a great human tragedy concealed as love. I prefer that term, human tragedy, to refer its story where beautiful Wong Chia Chi (played by a new star Wei Tang), an innocent university student and almost unwanted daughter, fell in love with a handsome hero Yu-Min (Lee Hom) who endlessly fought for his country. The magic of love, of being needed and adored, made her dramatic choice, to finally do what she had done, she was willing to sacrifice everything she had simply to please the man of her dream. But he was so young and naïve, and didn’t see it coming, and that was the tragedy because there was another man, the mighty Tony Leung as the big fish Mr Yee, the target of her disguised love, a love affair that was planned perfectly by the hero himself as the only way for them to win the war, and winning back their country, and finally winning back the love of the girl.

 

Somehow it was too late…Oh why all those great love stories I have known, had unhappy endings, by the way?

 

“Oh stop the crap, Rita, and just go on to that eleven-minutes-long sex scene on it! Why on earth it HAD to be there?” It was my friend, yelled from the distance of the phone. I promise her, I will write it down here in my blog.

 

 <SPOILER ALERT> Well Honey, I understand perfectly why Ang Lee had to do it, because he needs us to know where it was coming. Without that eleven-minutes-long-bed-scenes, you will not understand the decision Wei Tang took at the end of the movie. See, the first sex scene between Wei Tang and Tony Leung was very rude and violent, he didn’t even need to look at her and just did his business as if she was not even there. But Ang Lee put a twisted ending after that violence, where Tony Leung sat silently, just watching her sleeping. That “watching her sleeping” thing was not a part of any sex-for-sale activity where those two should have known and had, it simply led the pair into a more than just having a physical encounter, which shown later in their very famous almost-eleven-minutes-long love scenes (see, I have stopped using that term, sex scene, and replaced it with “love scene” here, because that was what I saw later).  So yes, in my opinion, those eleven minutes are very important to understand this tragedy. We, grown ups, can always learn from tragedies in the past, right? Just make sure this R-rated DVD safe from the reach of your children, okay Dear?

 

After crying along with Ang Lee, I ended my weekend with this sweet work of young Indonesian students (and filmmakers )in Sydney called Burung-burung Kertas (Paper Birds). At first I was not so impressed with it, I mean the way Dewi Liyanto Lie (the main character) had her close-up- yawn in the opening of the movie, for example, was made me thinking “what the..#*@! It was too much and far from being interesting for me (not to mention that I just had Ang Lee’s piece of work earlier!!!). But a minute later I simply hooked at it, the story was simple but sweet and later it just became cute heh heh heh. I like to quote what the leading man, Eros, said in the ending, “A good timing is very important in love, and I am always late”.  Actually this, “the importance of timing in love” is also the basic idea of Ang Lee’s Lust and Caution, plus Mamma Mia. Interesting, eh? Well, I did have a good time having Burung-burung Kertas. It felt good to finally see this movie flows and has a beautiful and also powerful ending, so far away from any Indonesian romantic comedies I ever had. Well done guys, you made my day!

 

And now, it’s time for me back to work, argggggh……L