“Love Cuts” Sharing Session

As promised, here’s the video that I took during part of the sharing session where the scriptwriters are talking about how this story comes about. There’s quite a few clever questions from the audience too, but I didn’t have it in the video. Ah wells. (Pardon my shaky hands here. )

“Love Cuts 割爱 (2010)” Sharing Session from LoveLivfe on Vimeo.

(Chinese Language)

Behind the scenes talk: Scriptwriters’ POV of Love Cuts. How male scriptwriters wrote the feminine-based movie “Love Cuts” and caught the eyes AND hearts of the audience.

No Comments / Sep 10.10 / Blogger Event, Featured, Movies / by LoveLivfe

Movie: Love Cuts 割爱 (2010)

To be very honest, I am not a very big fan of local productions. Not to be mean or too critical or anything, it just that sometimes… local productions give me a feeling that it is either 1) too artsy or 2) too crude and unoriginal. Hence, when I know about this movie “Love Cuts”, even though I am really very interested in the story, I was quite reserved about the movie.

Thanks goodness, it did not disappoint me. Well, the second half of the movie did not. Zoe Tay（郑惠玉） is really an awesome actress, I love Kenny Ho（何家劲）too; both of them (and their children in the movie) are really the souls and core of this whole film.

I find it hard to put this movie into words, mainly because it is really so much about cherishing life, which is like the reason that I want to set up LoveLivfe.com, and hidden meaningful messages in it. While you can talk about all the big words about philosophy about life, you cannot deny the fact that not everyone knows what is really the best for them until the reality smack them in their face hard and cold.

For a better breakdown, it is the best that I use the 2 ladies in this movie who contracted the breast cancer. Uh, yes, this movie is about breast cancer. If you were uncomfortable about this topic, well… I guess you would miss out a lot if you choose not to watch.

****SPOILERS AHEAD******

One is someone who is so amiable and nice to everyone, on addition, she’s a super talented seamstress who loves to make pretty clothes (and well, love to be pretty too). Devastated of knowing that her breast cancer is already at the 4th stage that is incurable even if the tumor is removed through surgery, she broke the news to her discontented husband who was once sweet and loving to her and thankfully, LOVE still gives us hope. Not only the husband changed back to the loving and caring one, his selfless love really touches my heart deep. What you and I, the healthy ones or those who do not have to take care of severely ill patients, do not know is the brutal truth of how hard it is to take care of these patients. Care and concern is definitely not enough, maturity and being mentally strong are the only ways to hold themselves and the patients up. Chemotherapy depletes her life energy; she looks older and weaker each day, bearing all the side effects of the therapy just to hang on a little longer to live and spend the rest of her time with her family. Her determination to live is truly admirable despite the hardships and the torment of the side effects. All she wanted to do is to just live a little longer. Imagine a woman who is vain and pretty to become into someone who looks old and ugly, how much courage does she takes to face herself just in order to live longer for her own family and friends?

Another one is a top model in the industry whose career is still skyrocketing; she is young, pretty and has a great body that every man loves. Her family has the history of breast cancer… so does she. Scared and terrified by the truth, she is devastated and thought of all possible measures to avoid removing the tumor because it would mean that she will lose her modeling career and her rich boyfriend who proposed to her as the factor that she has all these is because of her boobs. Well, that’s what she thinks. She met her and things starts to be different.

****SPOILERS END******

I cried. Hard.

This movie is definitely a tearjerker and with a lot of messages to tell.

****SPOILERS AHEAD******

I remember there’s a scene where Sissy was reading a story to her daughter which she says something like this, “Once upon a time, there’s a nation named ‘One-armed Nation’. The citizens there only have one eye, one nostril, one ear, one hand, one leg… All their body parts are in one.”

And her daughter asked, “Don’t they look like monsters like that?”

“Well, in their eyes we look like monsters too,” Sissy replied and both of them tease each other for being a monster.

****SPOILERS END******

What I have interpreted is… this scene is trying to say something about society perception. On how people view the others who are different. We are not monsters, we are just different. I am not going to elaborate on this and let you guys interpret the movie yourself. It’s really interesting to find the hidden messages.

Main point of the story? My POV:

• To promote the NEED of women to go for mammograms and health checkups.
• To promote about cherishing life (珍惜生命) <- My favourite point
• Selfless love gives us hope. <- this reminds me of LoveGiveMeHope.com
• In order to overcome an illness, one must be stronger than the ones around him/her because the people around will not be able to understand or take care of him/her as well as he/she did it for themselves. This is also to make the people around to worry lesser. <- It takes a lot of wisdom to be able to do this. Really.

Let’s be strong and love our lives.

It’s not easy with all those shit in life, but what makes our lives great is because of some people, some happenings, there is always something nice in our day happening EVERYDAY.

LIVE LIFE! LOVE LIFE!

Check out my next post up of the sharing session with the scriptwriters of this movie AND a very remarkable woman who overcame her own cancer too. By the way, THANK YOU OMY.SG AND LOVE CUTS FOR GIVING ME THIS CHANCE TO WATCH THIS.

2 Comments / Sep 06.10 / Featured, Life, Movies / by LoveLivfe

Movie: Vampires Suck (2010)

Yes, you did not read my title wrong: VAMPIRES SUCK!

Thanks to @NuffnangSG, I got a pair of free tickets to Vampires Suck at Filmgarde Bugis Illuma. ^-^

Warning: This movie is not for…

1. hardcore Twilight fans
2. people who can’t stand stupid shows
3. people who don’t like to make fun of others

Other than that, you will have a great fit of laughter when you watch this movie because it is just so over-the-top, filled with many “WTF(s)” and hilariously funny! Even though, I reckon there will be many who is willing to spend the money to watch this in the cinemas.

I don’t think I need to say anything much about this movie, right? It’s just basically a very funny parody of the “famous” and “popular” Twilight series (Disclaimer: I am not really a Twilight fan, book or movie) that tells the whole story of the 4 sequels in one extremely playful parody in less than 2 hours. Cool eh? I like.

Spot these funny scenes if you were catching this movie!

No Comments / Sep 03.10 / Funny, Movies / by LoveLivfe

Movie: Inception (2010)

How long has it been to encounter such an intriguing movie with such genius & creative story-line? Inception (2010) has officially ranked as my number 1 favorite movies-of-all-time.

I know I am slow at catching this awesome show and I am glad I still did before it ends its broadcast in the cinemas. No words can describe how thrilled and intrigued I was during this whole show. My body practically leaned nearer and nearer to the big screen to see carefully what exactly happened. A miss in any of the scenes is a wasted moment in life.

******* Spoilers ahead! ********

How to put this into words… The whole story is beautifully interlaced as a creative concept: Inception in dreams through dreams. Imaginative concept and yet it is logical, interesting and looks do-able. From the protagonist – Cobb‘s struggle within himself and the depressing story with his wife that leads to the dangers within the group’s actions in their projects. The inner struggle which no one understand at all was portrayed so well between Cobb & May relationship. It was creepy, uncomfortable and yet the most important factor of the whole movie.

The story starts with the scene where they are in their dreams inside dreams and how the already-dead May came into the dream through Cobb‘s subconscious and spoils the whole action. Sounds complicated? Yes it is. The complex of creating a dream or be inside of someone else dream is like a big scientific breakthrough! As the story goes on, you will know how these settings are created, through a dream architect, a fact collector, a forger and many many many detailed planning.

The truly awesome part? The journey towards an almost impossible mission – Inception.

From the planning to constructing to the struggle to the trust breakdown and the frustration till the end of true face of inception, it was totally mind-blowing. The relationships between each character is really the key factor of why I love this movie so much too. Simple, yet complex. Almost like an art craft masterpiece that you cannot figure it out despite understanding it (if you understand what I mean).

******* Spoilers ended! ********

As usual, blockbusters – Hollywood stars, best actors & actresses, fantastic visual effects, awesome sound effects, ULTIMATE STORY-LINE. What I can tell you guys is I am very anal about story-lines for movies. I simply love great stories like Inception (2010) that really blew my mind. If not, movie should at least be logically funny and entertaining.

Leonardo Dicaprio, a dazzling Hollywood star of this era. From Titanic (1997) to Catch Me If You Can (2002) and many more classics, his acting career went uphill to another peak due to this awesome movie of the year. Casted as Cobb in Inception (2010), the chemistry between him as the protagonist, the actors and actresses within the story is just tremendously interesting to see. Can’t help but to love his works in these classics, it is truly amazing.

And of course, whoever who wrote this script and the director are truly geniuses. They are the reasons why people are still willing to go to the theaters to watch their craft of art in the big screen. This movie is THE ONE to watch and I can’t imagine there is still anyone who has not even watched yet.

Last but not least, the awesome visual effects! Without it, the story won’t be complete.

LOVE!

2 Comments / Sep 01.10 / Movies / by LoveLivfe

The Battle against Sexism

Thanks to Nuffnang and POCC, I got the chance to watch Pope Joan Premiere screening at Shaw Lido Cineplex on 3rd August 2010.

Synopsis:

In 814 A.D. Johanna is condemned to life as a woman. Her life seems to be predetermined: work, have children and die young. But Johanna decides to resist – her strict father, the rules of the Church – for the sake of her conviction and her faith. Because she senses that her destiny is a different one, that God is showing her a different path. But the price she will have to pay is a high one.

Johanna attends the cathedral school in Dorstadt and meets Count Gerold, a noble man at the Bishop’s court. Their friendship develops into love. When Gerold goes to war, Johanna remembers her destiny. But she cannot achieve her goal as a woman. Johanna makes a decision that will have far-reaching consequences: she joins the Benedictine Monastery at Fulda disguised as a man, calling herself Brother Johannes, and lives there as a successful and well-respected doctor. When her real identity is in danger of being revealed, she flees to Rome. She meets Gerold there again and realises that there is one thing she can no longer deny: her love. Johanna continues to move up the church hierarchy and the danger of her being found out becomes greater and greater. She also increasingly feels the necessity to decide: does she want to give her heart to God or to a man? But then the decision is taken away from her: when Pope Sergius dies, Johanna is named as his successor. However, her feelings for Gerold are stronger than her fear of being found out – but Johanna’s enemies are just waiting for a chance to remove her from the throne …

Let’s not talk about the awkward editing of it, let’s not talk about the confusing scenes of it, let’s not talk about the illogical parts of it. And let’s not talk about the realistic violent scenes of it.

This movie brutally forces me back to the topic of sexism.

Do you believe that everyone has a path to walk and a destination to reach? Well, the end point of everyone’s life is “death”, but what kind of legacy have you left? Money? Fame? Knowledge? Respect? Something else to change the world?

There must be something that everyone can leave… A story to tell, it is just whether it is meaningful or not that it will translate into a legacy, like Pope Joan — movie adapted from the novel of the same title by Donna Woolfolk Cross. From an era of imbalance gender equality, females were in utterly lowest status that they could not decide any single thing without consulting their husbands/male member in the family. Women were merely a tool to give birth to more “superior” males, they were not even treated with the very basic respect that EVERY human deserves to have.

Hey! Some comments from the guys in this movie really boils my blood to the highest point and I cannot believe anyone with such stupidity will ever exist again in our era. What does it mean that “Women who knows how to read or write has a smaller womb”?! What does it mean that only guys can be of the highest rank as the Pope in the Church history?! Why is it that a female, so intelligent and so much wiser than others, cannot have the equal rights as the others?! How do you define the strengths of the both genders, or is the man the “only” good that is left in this world?! Can’t a worthy person, regardless of gender or race, be able to benefit the whole with a deserving position?! Why do women need to put up with all these nonsense and even get raped by her very own husband just because she believed in a god that he does not?! Religions, for goodness sake, is beliefs that changes people for the good but never ever meant for us to be twisted and torture others who don’t believe in it. EVERYONE has their own rights in believing what they want to believe in. HOWEVER! It does not includes harming anyone, mentally or physically insulting anyone, creates others’ inconvenience NOR forcing others under your beliefs. Seriously, be it your religion or how many times you need to go to the bathroom to shit is simply YOUR OWN BUSINESS. You are happy, that’s great. But never ever ever force (or “try to educate”) anyone else to convert them into another you. NO! It’s not right, they have their own thinking and you will never be able to control them.

And I am not even saying women should be superior over men, NO! I am not saying that. What I am trying to tell is, everyone has their rightful positions. If they have the abilities, then why not give them a chance and let them try, instead of discriminating them for who they are which demolish the chances for better changes that would be beneficial to everyone else?  Why do we need to disguise ourselves as someone that we were not, in order to be accepted and live “normally”? Is the discriminating looks of the others pressurizing us so much that it would actually endanger our own lives?

Think think think! Why would she even choose danger over a “secure” life under the “protection” of the men? Because it is not what she wants. She could do much greater without the men.

Up till now, the myth of Pope Joan is still remained as a mystery in history. Nonetheless, I adore women who believed and tried all their best to achieve what they really wanted. Well, maybe not only women. I admire anyone who dares to dream, dare to achieve and dare to “disobey” the “laws” of the society. If it was a right thing to do, it doesn’t matter what others think. They can be as ignorant as they are, but we cannot if we had the ability to make a change. Pope Joan actually reminds me of another woman – Coco Chanel, and there are numerous movies about her legacy too. Women, status viewed so lowly in the past, who were true to themselves and brave enough to withstand the hardships and dangers in their lives just to become who they want to become.

They left a legacy behind, what about those who objected/rejected/tortured them? They were simply not remembered at all, except the fact that they became the catalyst to create such legendary ladies.

If you get what I mean, don’t ever let any hardships bring you down. No matter what it takes, be who you are but do not ever harm anyone else. You can be greater than who you think you will be.

Cheers.

Love Life!

4 Comments / Aug 18.10 / Blogger Event, Featured, Movies / by LoveLivfe