Recently, I have started spending my spare time ( spells ALL THE TIME) watching films. Since, I am not doing anything productive and I just discovered the wonders of torrent, I decided to download (yes, I know it's illegal, sue me) films to make myself ignorant eyes/mind cultured in a way. The first film that came to mind was a Japanese film that my student recommended to me. It won the 2009 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. It was well worth it, probably one of the best films I have ever seen.

t starts with the story of a cello player whose orchestra got disbanded because of declining viewers/show-goers. Left with a huge debt for buying his cello, he decides to sell it, move to his hometown and start anew. His wife, who was a computer programmer, passively agrees with the decision in a move to "support" him. Back in his hometown, Daigo (the protagonist of the film) started scanning some classified ads in an attempt to find a new job. He found a job advertisement that said "Assisting people in their departures" and thought that it was a job posting for a travel agency.Desperate for work, he decided to go to the agency for an interview and was unceremoniously hired by the owner after asking him just one question " Will you work hard?" Daigo was very surprised that he was immediately hired and his shock grew more when the owner told him that he will earn 500,000 yen a month. Wondering about the true nature of the job, he asked the owner what the job description really was (suspicious as well, seeing that the office has a display of several coffins in a corner ). The owner answered that the agency dealt with the "departed" by conducting the encoffining ceremony for the funeral. Troubled by the job description, Daigo insisted that the job advertisement said it was about "departures" and the owner revealed that there was just a mistranslation in the job description. Hesitant at first but left with no choice, Daigo accepted the job and went home to find a surprised Mika (his wife) who asked him if he got the job. When Mika asked Daigo about what the job was, Daigo answered it was just for "ceremonies".

Daigo's first assignment is to pose as a corpse for a "company DVD" which is basically a guide to encoffinment. This DVD serves as a pivotal point in the story when Mika finds this object in Daigo's desk and leaves him because he refused to leave his job. Words began to spread about Daigo's job and people started to treat him as a pariah since most of the townsmen shun the topic of death. This view is further reinforced in a scene where he encountered his childhood friend who advised him to "find a decent job".

Mika returned to him announcing that she is pregnant and insisted that it should be a motivation for him to find a proper job. Daigo answered back but was cut off when someone called him to tell that the owner of the bath house where he used to go (the mother of that same childhood friend he met earlier) died and that he had to go to perform the encoffining ceremony. He obliged, bringing Mika with him. He lovingly performed the ceremony, even donning the old woman her favorite scarf before putting her in the coffin. After the burial, Mika and most of Daigo's close friends (including his childhood friend) began to understand his job and started to not view it innocuously.

The climax of the film happened when someone informed Mika about Daigo's father's death. Daigo was then left with a choice of whether to go and see his father's corpse or not, while still clutching on the grudge he felt for his father for leaving him when he was young. The story ends with Daigo coming to terms with himself and deciding to perform the encoffining ceremony. Daigo started to cry when he finds out that before his death, his father was clutching the stone that he gave him when he was little, proving that his father never stopped thinking about him even before death.

What I loved about the film: I think the main attraction of the film is the subtle realism that is embedded in the solid story that tells us about the inevitable end that each of us must have to face. Most of us, not only the Japanese society, find death as a taboo. I, for one, am scared to touch a dead person, associating them with "dirt" and "sickness". The film shows us a new perspective on death, how beautiful it can be and how goodbye, painful as it may be, is just the beginning of a whole new adventure in the "other side".

Each scene was poignantly made and one cannot help but shed tears as you watch each twist unfold while realizing how brittle our existence is. The music perfectly complements the story, causing us more unimaginable sadness which leaves us helplessly bawling even hours after the film. Joe Hisaishi proves once again why he is master of music as the main theme of the movie conveys to the viewers all of the messages that were left unsaid by the characters.

One of the interesting thing about the film is how it ironically poses thecharacter in a situation where he makes a living out of the dead. This paradox was tackled even deeply in the film with the death of the bathhouse owner and the scene where the cremator, who was her friend, admits how remarkable it is that he serves as the guard of the gateways between two worlds: the dead and the living. Funnily enough, it presents to us the harsh reality that we have known for so long and yet refuse to accept : WE ARE ALL BORN TO DIE. We have no choice but to welcome death in our arms and stop trying to evade it because whatever we do, it is something we cannot really escape. People die but we have to move on. (To be continued)

Want to hear the emotionally captivating them of Okuribito? Click here.

For more info about the film, click here.

For the trailer, click here.

Japan has a special place in my heart. Maybe it's because I talk to Japanese people every night and I consider most of them as my friends.That is why when I heard about the earthquake and tsunami hitting about, I was terribly worried. The images they showed on BBC and CNN were so terrible that it can't be impossible to have many casualties. Although it's pointless to hope that nobody was hurt after the deadly disasters, I still hope that the number of victims are kept to the minimum.

Dear God, please keep everyone safe. :( 

This year, me and my bestfriend have agreed to visit as many places as possible. Our adventure for this year should have started with a Laoag trip which I booked last October with Cebu Pacific's Piso Fare (free plugging pa..). I was able to get us three one-way tickets for a total of 336PhP but unfortunately, due to some constraints at work I wasn't able to go with them.

So, instead of enjoying Northern Luzon, our adventure started here in Manila. I haven't had time to hang out with my best friend since the start of the year because we were both busy at work and so, since both of us were feeling gung-ho about travelling, we grabbed the chance to spend a weekend afternoon exploring one of the tourist destinations here in our very own polluted and congested capital. 


We met up at around two in the afternoon and proceeded to our destination, Neil (my bestfriend's boyfriend) tagging along with us. After two jeepney rides, we arrived at a very crowded Luneta Park. Honestly, I was quite surprised that there are still a lot (and I mean A LOT) of people who choose to visit and stay at the said park given the abundance of Henry Sy's malls in the metro. Blame it to lack of money perhaps, a huge number of people were strolling around the park; lovers, families, old school photographers and streetchildren. 


We walked our way to the Quirino Grandstand where the entrance of the Manila Ocean Park is located. It was sweltering hot, we felt like ice cubes melting under the heat of the sun. I kind of regretted wearing a pair of shorts as my skin easily gets tanned.  One friendly advice, don't go there in the afternoon or if you have no other choice, just bring an umbrella and a water jug and also, don thin apparel. (Do not wear sleeveless shirts or shorts if you plan to watch the Sea Lion show unless you want to get a tan.)

The entrance of the park is located at the back of the Quirino Grandstand. One can easily reach it because there's a huge sign on the road indicating the way to the entrance. Upon arrival, we decided to buy our tickets at the booth outside the building. Some attendants advised us to watch the Sea Lion show first as the last show is at 4:30pm. We obliged. 


There were several promo packages available for the summer season. We availed the Marine Life Encounter which originally costs PhP700  but we were able to get it for only PhP500.  It's a considerably good deal because we were able to save 200 pesos.  You can still avail the promo until March 31st. Want to know more about it? Click here. 

Here's their poster. Click the image to visit their official website. 

That's my ticket!

As I said, our first stop was the Marine Show (Sea Lion Show). We had to wait for almost 20 minutes under the burning heat of the sun before the last show started. I had no idea how I was able to enjoy the show because it was seriously scorching and I was so scared of getting nognog in an instant. Nevertheless, I had no choice but to deal with it. Good thing Robai brought an umbrella. 

That's me, my bestfriend and Neil while waiting under the heat of the sun. 

 The show featured two South American Sea Lions, Icis and Yeni (I don't know if I got their name correctly), together with their trainors Mark and Eric. The trainors explained how sea lions are different from seals like the former having bigger flippers  and longer whiskers than the latter. They also explained the normal activities of the sea lions, their natural habitat and their different ways of swimming. I did not understand what they were saying though because the audio sucked and my brain was fuzzy because of the heat. I enjoyed watching those adorable sea lions though. They knew how to clap their flippers, dance, scratch their heads and bow. They even know how to make  inarte. Haha. If it wasn't a crime to have them as pets, I would certainly want to. They're like dogs, only cuter and smellier. 

The show lasted for 30 minutes which, in my opinion, is not worth the money we paid but then again, I had to understand those poor sea lions. They must have been having a hard time because of the unforgivable climate that our beautiful country has.  After the show, the trainors announced that audience can have their photos taken with the sea lions if they wanted to but for an extra cost. I think that's just a ploy for them to earn more money. Haha. I personally would like to hug them but then again, I was afraid of getting wet so I just decided not to. 


If you're interested at how much a photo with those cutesy-patootsie sea lions costs, it's about 300 pesos for a 3R picture. That's the same cost that you have to pay if you want to claim the   hard copy of the supposed "free-shot" that each guest was entitled to upon entering the vicinity of the Sea Lion show. 600 pesos if you want some silly sea world designs on your photo.  Cheap, right? (insert sarcasm)..  :)

After that, we decided to go to the Oceanarium which is basically the main attraction of the park. We walked into the Amazon section, a room designed like a tropical South American rainforest with tree vines hanging over our head, man-made waterfalls and huge aquariums containing giant Arapaimas, Arowanas and other fishes which name I no longer remember. According to some people, there were supposed to be piranhas in that section. Unfortunately, we did not see one.   I tried to read the descriptions at the side of the aquariums and it was a little bit funny that every time I do, I keep having flashbacks of Harry and the boa constrictor in the Sorcerer's Stone. Hihi. 

I have no idea what that tree is called but I'd like to put one inside my house someday. 

Yes, INSIDE my house. :) (Kanya-kanyang trip lang yan..)

Sorry for the crappy quality, I was only using my trusted mobile phone (and boyfriend) Aleckses, a Nokia 5630.

 It was amazing how big those fishes were. I could not put it into perspective. That fish could eat an entire baby alive! Aside from those fishes, we saw a small turtle cohabiting with other white fishes. I tried to take a picture of the turtle but the other visitors were blocking my view so I just moved on.

After that, we climbed a set of wooden stairs and reached the section of the sole crocodile. It was uneventful. His habitat looked dirty and he seemed miserable. Maybe, she (or he) was looking for some company... (whuuuut!!). 

A man-made falls was situated opposite the crocodile's habitat. It would have been beautiful because it gave the jungle-y feeling but if you come to close, you'll smell something nasty. I think it wasn't being maintained well but it's good enough for taking pictures. We went down the other side of the room. I had my picture taken beside an anito. That's an Ifugao statue believed to stand guard at your house or any special location. 

 On the other side, we saw huge aquariums containing kois (which did not smell good as well), giant catfishes (scary hito...), starfishes, eels, manta rays, black knife fishes, goldfishes and bamboo sharks. I was able to hold one starfish. It was amazing. (coz i'm ignorante...haha).

A Black Ghost Knife Fish and small turtle

Bubblehead Goldfish!

the smelly Kois. 

(I don't understand why people like to put them in their ponds)

Mama shark and Papa Shark

I held it! I held it!

Scary Sting Ray and pretty starfishes

A park attendant is guarding the aquariums, fending off people who were using flashes on their camera or people/children who were trying to put their hands inside the aquarium. One thing you have to remember (and I think we owe it to the fishes given the cruelty that we are putting them through), do not use your camera's flash while inside the Oceanarium. It scares the pretty little fishes and give them trauma. 


After the Amazon section is the Bahura section. The name is quite interesting because Bahura, in my hometown, is a name of a famous (and high-end) resort. I believe the word bahura literally means sandbank/sandspit or in Filipino, pilapil ng buhangin. (thank you Wikipedia for the info)

This section has several aquariums containing hundreds of fishes that are believed to be living in the shallow parts of the water. The fishes varied in color, sizes and appearances. There were also eels, barnacles and corals as well as two tanks containing dirty Manila Bay water. If you see those tanks, you'll wonder why there are still people who find it enjoyable to swim in the Manila Bay waters. It's disgusting. Below are some of the pictures I took. I only posted those fishes that I liked. 

Yes, I found Nemo. Or should I say, Nemos?

The birth of a bamboo shark. 

It's amazing coz you'll really see the baby shark moving inside the egg. 

(It's that orange thing on the wall)

Lionfish minding his own business

Pufferfish withot spikes 
(This is something I learned from Feeding Frenzy)

creepy spotted garden eels are creepy. 

I can't still get over how weird (and scary) they are. 

Eels

The most kikay fish of all. 

They have lipstick and eyeliners. I swear.

Bowtie fish

After this, we walked into a section with several enormous (and when I say enormous, I mean it) containers. You can see giant (literally) fishes swimming in what seems to be a habitat designed after a shipwreck location. I figured this was the section for deep-sea creatures. Those fishes were SCARY coz they were bigger than a six-year old kid. 

We did not stay there for too long. We proceeded to one of my most favorite places in the park, the Living Ocean (Buhay na Karagatan) tunnel. lt was a way for us to see the fishes and other sea creatures up close . Sting rays and sharks were swimming over my head, it was so fantastic. It was like scuba diving minus the oxygen tank, nasty overalls and exorbitant fee. 

Yes, that's a ray swimming over my head. 

It was a short tunnel though. It's over before you even begin to realize it. We reached the Shark and Manta Ray sections. Huge aquariums can be seen on the side housing several types of sharks but I forgot the names. Up above, you can see the glass ceiling is actually another aquarium for Manta Rays. They were large manta rays, probably as big as I am. 

We went past a small science activity center for kids and went up the second floor. On it was the Fish Spa which you can avail for 120 pesos or free if you availed the Sun-up Saver or Ultimate Adventure package. We didn't. I actually wanted to try it coz my feet are nasty and callous from four years of wearing slippers in UP but we were pressed for time so we just moved on. Aside from the footspa, you can also see the entrance to the Aquanaut adventure and the Glassbottom adventure which are both costly. The former costs 995pesos per person for a ten minute experience inside the Living Ocean while the latter costs 180 per person per hour. I think they were unnecessary expenses if you are working on a tight budget but if you have money to spare, then maybe you can go for it. :)) 

After the Oceanarium Adventure, we bought tickets for the Musical Fountain Show. On normal occasions, it will cost 300PhP per person but they have a promo right now so were able to buy tickets for only 99PhP. (We saved 201php :)) The show starts at 6:30pm and we were able to get inside just in time. I did not take a lot of pictures but I took a video of the entire show. It lasted for 30 minutes. 

(video will be posted soon, I am encountering some technical problems with my uploader)

I posted it just in case someone is interested to watch it. Sorry for the quality though, I took it using Aleckses again. 




After the fountain show, we decided to go to the Jellies because it was almost 7pm and we were afraid that we might not be able to make it. Fortunately, the guy at the entrance booth allowed us to go inside albeit grumpily. 

The Jellies is my favorite place in this park because the jellyfishes indeed looked fantastic. There were hundreds and hundreds of them and since they are transparent, their color changed as the lights inside the aquariums changed. Vivaldi's Four Seasons was playing in the background. It is the perfect place to bring your loved ones as the ambiance is so romantic :) 

The trip was so exhausting. We went straight to Pancake House and had dinner. I ordered a Pan-fried Chicken Set while my  bestfriend ordered the Hamburger Steak. Neil ordered the Pan-fried Chicken Set too (gaya-gaya) and we spent a good 30 minutes bashing the woman on the next table who was scolding the waitress for a misunderstanding that seemed to be her (the woman's) fault. (see another entry for the story) 

All in all, Manila Ocean Park is okay. It was not as spectacular as I thought it would be but heck, it was able to make the best out of the resources available to them. It just pains me that it does not give justice to the beauty that is the  Philippine waters but then again, what did we expect? Haha. 

Will I go back here again? Perhaps. I'll bring my baby brother here if he ever is in town. I think he'll enjoy it coz he's only six and when you're six years old, things like this are absolutely amazing. 


If you want to have an idea how much I spent for this evening, here's the breakdown

Jeep from Pasay Rotonda to Luneta --15

Entrance (Marine Encounter promo)-  500

Musical Fountain Show - 99

Coke --  45

Food (Pan Chicken Set) -- 245

Jeep from Luneta to Pasay Rotonda -13   

Total: PhP917

Now I'm planning our next adventure. Potipot, here we come. :) 

*Sorry, this post is crappy. I'll improve the words next time. I'm just sabaw right now. 

Once in a while, that familiar feeling of insecurity creeps inside me whenever I check Facebook and see most of my batchmates from college busying themselves with law or sharing an experience about how wonderful their job is.

Once in a while, I stumble into someone's wall and find out that that person is already working or travelling abroad and I begin to ask myself what the fuck am I doing with my life.

Once in a while, I question the path that I have chosen to tread and wonder what's in store for me up ahead. Did I make the right decision? What should I do to succeed and get what I want? Where will I be 5 years from now? 10 years from now? Will I still be stuck in the same rut that I'm in? And if so, what should I do?

I actually do not know how to answer these questions. My short-term goal is to earn enough money to travel and buy what I want. Be satisfied with what I have and be able to say that I am perfectly happy. My long-term goal is to be successful but I don't know the very essence of that word. Do I equate it with money? Do I equate it with the amount of happiness that I am experiencing and the contentment that will fill my heart? I want to be successful but I don't want to have a stressful life. How is that possible?

I am actually scared that my laid-back attitude will get me nowhere. It seems that in this life you have to choose two paths. One leads to success and richest at the expense of having time at your own disposal. The other one leads to a life where you have all the time in the world but you cannot do what you want because you have no resources (READ: Money).

I fucking hate life and what we humans made of it.

This is totally incoherent.

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) is a dramatic romance directed by Alain Resnais and written by Marguerite Duras. It is set on World War II Hiroshima after the fatal atomic bombing that took away millions of lives in Japan. The movie begins with pictures of the war, most specifically the remnants of the Hiroshima bombing, along with the discourse between the two main characters playing on the background. The woman ( Emmanuele Riva) tells the man that she had seen the war and its effects on people. The man (Eiji Okuda) refutes her and tells her that she has not seen anything at all. After a night together, both characters fall in love with each other. The man persuades the woman that to stay in Japan yet, their pasts come before them, making it hard for them to be together.

For someone who is used to linear films with a beginning-climax-end pattern, Hiroshima Mon Amour may prove to be a strange and unfathomable film. It focuses only on the two characters, a French actress and a Japanese man, and their carnal encounters as they face the demons of their pasts. It works on a very slow pace, often leaving the viewers puzzled and wondering what is really going on. Moreover, the two characters converse in such an unusual way as the woman tries to relate her personal experiences and her fears of facing these experiences.

The film’s central theme is about memory and the pain that comes along with remembrance. The contrast between Nevers and Hiroshima tried to show the important role of our experiences and how these experiences comprise our identity. It tries to impress to us that the sum of all the events in our past is actually our totality. Simply put, pulling away any one of the incidents of the past will have a great impact on who we are in the present. Forgetting may be convenient for us because it takes away the pain and sorrow that we have to face but it is also dangerous because it takes away a part of us – the part that really matters, that which makes us human. Every memory, may it be private or public, is significant. Take for example Hiroshima; forgetting what happened in Hiroshima may also lead us to forgetting the ability of men to commit such atrocity, which in turn may result to a similar situation happening again. On the woman’s case, forgetting Nevers may take away all of the lessons that she had learned from the agony that she suffered from her first love and first heartbreak.

The beautifully crafted conversation between the two characters makes the viewer grieve for the woman as the message subtly creeps to them that whatever pain falls upon us, whatever misfortune we encounter, we will eventually move on and start a new beginning. The film tried to deliver this message when it portrayed the budding of a new plant from the ashes of the war. It signified a new life, a new beginning that may equally reachable for us if we only learn to come to terms with the past.

Shawshank Redemption can be considered as one of the better films in Hollywood, not only because of the beautifully written plot but because of the way it tries to deliver a certain message to the viewer using abstract concepts of justice, power and redemption. Darabont's ability to focus on one of man's greatest needs (freedom), combined with the film’s brilliant musical score and Red’s (Morgan Freeman's) excellent narration made the film so touching, it can drive the viewers to tears. This powerful combination was able to make the audience feel exactly how the characters in the film are feeling, making them understand how it is to be caged and bound for the rest of your life. 

   

Corruption, one of the biggest problems in society, is one of the underlying themes of the movie. Warden Norton (Bob Gurton) exemplified your typical politician, resolved to doing anything for power and money. He made, profit out of the prisoners’ labor and ordered Andy (Tim Robbins) to launder money using a fictional identity. It also showed a subtle critic of the government when Andy needed to persistently write to the US Congress just to be able to get a decent budget for his library. It deals with the fact that sometimes we forget that criminals, despite their sins, are still human beings who are entitled to facilities that can help them reform and improve their lives. 

Social justice is also an underlying concept in the film. Several times in the movie, prison guards are shown as maltreating prisoners, putting them in the “hole” for an indefinite period of time and treating them as vermin. The murder of Tommy (Gil Bellows) just because he was ready to tell the truth regarding Andy’s case makes the viewers think of the injustice that usually happens in society whenever a person gets in the way of powerful personalities. Honestly, it reminded me of the Ampatuan Massacre where innocent people were killed just because a politician wanted to maintain power in Maguindanao. The power structure in the film prods the viewer to think of the existing status quo in society and the serious problems that come with it.

It also deals with institutionalization and how people eventually rely on it in the long run. Brooks Hatlen’s (James Whitmore) touching story of life outside prison is an allegory of the sociological concept of “anomie”. Brooks was so used to an institutionalized life where laws are laid down before him that when he was freed, he found it hard to adjust to the sudden change in surrounding which ultimately led to him taking his own life. 

One of the uncanny things that I noticed in the film is the symbolism in the way Andy carried himself. On the earlier part of the story, you can see how Andy differed from the other prisoners because of the way he buttoned his shirt, closed and corporate-like, a symbol of how he kept his dignity intact. But as the story progressed, we can see how Andy slowly becomes part of that society as he changes the way he carried himself. He became more loose and relaxed. It reminded me of how a person adapts in a new society and tries to find his own function as a part of that group.

The beauty of the film lies on its ability to show tough criminals as being actually capable of real human emotions. It makes the audience reach out to them despite the horrors that they have done in the past. It displays a quite accurate picture of what reality really is: a hard and brutal arena where you have to battle your own inner demons in order to be emancipated. It gives the viewer a familiar feel of your typical prison drama where the hero always gets the better of things in the end but it's blunt predictability makes it so unpredictable and original that even after the movie the viewer's will be left thinking of the message that it tried to convey. The movie may have given off a certain feel good feeling because of the resolution of the issues but it did not fail to spark hope in the hearts of the audience that in the end, it is only ourselves that can set us free.

'...what this world offers me...is the struggle.’....

-Internet Movie Data Base *

In this life, men are born with different coping mechanisms when it comes to dealing with the harshness of reality that we call life. Some men opt to escape and immerse themselves into their self-created fantasy of a world while others choose to stay behind and battle on. One can never tell which method is right or wrong because it really depends on the person’s preferences. This is what the film “The Kiss Of the Spider Woman” tried to convey.

The 1985 film that was based on Manuel Puig’s novel of the same title (Spanish: El Beso de la Mujer Araña) dealt with men’s constant battle between reality and fantasy. The two characters, Molina and Arregui represented two ends of the spectrum, each with their own reasons why their side is better than the other. As the story progressed, we can see the gradual change in each of the two characters as both influenced the other. Molina, who represented escapist fantasy, eventually learned to “spin the spider web that he has kept to himself for the longest time and interweave it with others” and Arregui who represented harsh reality found himself pining away in his own fantasy symbolized by his death and reunion with Marta.

 

The film tried to show the contrast between fantasy and reality so strongly that the viewers cannot help but be captivated with the plot as Molina relates the story of his life through the film. Although set in  a very small prison cell, the characters in the movie were able to explore the wonders of humanity and the imperfections that each person possesses through the narrated  stories that tried to explain each character’s personality. 

The imagery of the film was quite convincing. The use of the “movie within a movie” tactics made it even more effective in conveying the message because it exemplified the central theme through the juxtaposition of reality (i.e., the prison cell) and fantasy (i.e., black-and-white movie). Moreover, the movie was able to show what Molina really felt through the use of Leni and the Spider Woman. He was indeed a woman trapped in the body of a man, bound by society and his own restraints. The spider woman represented Molina being trapped in his own web of fantasies and the former’s escape was Molina’s redemption from the strings that stopped him from discovering a greater sense of purpose in life, which perhaps was the joining in the resistance outside. The softening of Arregui’s resolve on the other hand, was a product of his interaction with Molina. He was able to see the relevance of leaving the real world behind at some time and immersing himself to a self-made reality where all struggles do not exist and happiness is the only known emotion.

The film moves in a very slow pace, carefully sending the message to the viewers that the answer is not really choosing one over the other but learning to strike a balance between the two and knowing when to use which depending on the situation presented. Too much of each option may have harmful effects. Too much of reality may make you a cynic and hopeless that may lead to your destruction while too much of fantasy may eventually lead you to helplessness. 

*http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0089424/usercomments?start=10

2:09 AM

• Like
• ·
• Comment