Heath

RIP
Heath Ledger (1979-2008)

Rebecca

reading My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier. it's a bit like Rebecca. the femme fatale, the sinister adviser, but it's written from a male perspective. One of my aspirations is to write from a male point of view, it should be really interesting.

have done my portfolio. ALL DONE! quite happy about it now.

wanted to re-watch Rebecca, but couldn't find the dvd anywhere. so i just went to youtube. hehe youtube's the greatest invention ever!!!
i have also ordered the umbrellas of cherbourg from hmv. get to watch it next week! hooray!

but just one more month and it will be our mock exam. wth. 70 days till AL. a bigger wth!

C'est la vie

having many days of holidays right now, but after that it will be horrid study time day and night. oh gosh... I really have to fulfil my new year's resolutions. i need to get into the unis in the uk!!! have to get at least 2As n' 1B < that's what my teachers predicted... hv to put more effort in it n' there's not much time left actually... but life recently is a bit relaxing and carefree, maybe cuz I'm trying to live loose rather than choking myself. anyway it's mid jan and exam will start in mar 31... so shitty now... dun want to ruin my life (as they say if u dun get into uni ur ruining ur life)

still having dreams and aspirations
-though i'm getting into law ... i kind of want to be a screenwriter actually. but since u can't really survive in hollywood now as a screenwriter, u need to find other jobs to do.
-want to take up a part time job after the exams n' then spend all my salary on things i want to buy in a day! or a few days...
-want to travel around europe, esp greece, rome, italy, france (st tropez, monaco, paris, provence, monte carlo), london, cornwall, denmark, milan, actually i wanna try going to siberia too. : P

sometimes i do believe in karma though i'm an atheist. but sometimes i think life is dependent on luck. really. luck plays a huge part in our life. (match point is a bit too dramatic, but sometimes u can't deny luck plays a part in ur life... many things are inevitable n' when they come either they are fortunate things or unlucky ones, it's depending on ur luck) but karma it's another thing. but sometimes things wont get back at you u notice. so i'm still confused with this philosophy.

c'est la vie. bonne nuit.

Atonement (2007)

the best film adaption of novel in recent years!!! Ian McEwan's Atonement is quite a tough job for directors to transform into a film and Joe Wright did it again!!! he's soooo brilliant.


the story about the disillusioned Robbie Turner who was falsely accused and stripped of his social status just because Briony Tallis told a lie.
"You don't have to be 18 to own up a lie." heard something similar in the film. and actually it's really a shame for her not to own up that lie until she's 80! the ending is sooo devastating both in the book and the film. I cried when I read the book and watched the movie, and the book is the first book that i've ever cried about.

"Dearest Cecilia, the story can resume. The one I had been planning on that evening walk. I can become again the man who once crossed the surrey park at dusk, in my best suit, swaggering on the promise of life. The man who, with the clarity of passion, made love to you in the library. The story can resume. I will return. Find you, love you, marry you and live without shame."

the music score is really nicely done. really want to buy a copy of it to fill up my emptiness before the DVD comes out. pls make it faster. i want to watch the movie again. apparently this kind of convoluted storyline is not welcome in hong kong because people don't have the brain to process everything. and what's more, there were more foreigners in the theatre than hongkongers. people simply don't have the patience or the depth to appreciate this type of film.

cinematography 10/10

acting/casting 9/10
music 9/10
ending 9.5/10
dunno who will win the oscars but surely since Joe Wright got so many nominations for this movie in the golden globe, he'll surely be among the oscars list!!!

end of 2007

time flies.
I actually think it did fly this year, passing really quickly.

watched the Golden Compass the other day. Brilliant movie, awesome cast, great cgi. this time I won't give a full review, it's too tiring to do so today.
going to watch Atonement, it's coming out tomorrow. Everything gets slower in Hong Kong.

I kind of want to watch St. Trinians', but it's something like the Mean Girls uk version, anyway blockbuster movies will be coming up soon, i.e. Sweeney Todd: the demon barber of fleet street, The Other Boleyn Girl, Charlie Wilson's War (not that I'm going to watch it...) and Bond 22 (coming out on nov 08)

actually Daniel Craig defines Bond of the 21st century. it's debatable whether he's really the best bond in the film franchise (Sean Connery seems to be the best in my opinion), but Craig is, well, certainly changing the image of men and what masculinity should be in the 21st century. Look at Pierce Brosnan, he looks like a sissy when compared to Craig's Bond. Sean Connery is this eternal symbol, but Craig is the new man, the 007 that people would want to watch nowadays - agressive, flawed, human, combative, stylish. looking forward to his upcoming films as well.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

another talented piece from director Anthony Minghella. The Talented Mr. Ripley tells the story of sociopath Tom Ripley who gets obsessed with rich boy Dickie Greenleaf's hedonistic life in Italy. He then goes to extreme to snatch Dickie's identity, all the while destroying everyone who gets in his way.

The film is painfully tragic, and made beautiful by the sun drenched Italy. There's an undertone of how fate rules our life in this film. Mr. Ripley is somewhat an opportunist as well as a strategist. He manipulates people likes chess pieces, however, unfortunate things may happen and threatens his dual identity.

The ending is quite unpredictable. Ripley even murders Peter Kingsley despite having inherited the fortune from Mr. Greenleaf and assuming his original identity as Tom Ripley. It is really sad to see such a person ruined by his obsession to possess people, an identity and a life that he has never known.

"Good things about Mr. Ripley? Could take some time. Tom is talented. Tom is tender... Tom is beautiful... Tom is a mystery. Tom is not a nobody. Tom has secrets he doesn't want to tell me, and I wish he would. Tom has nightmares. That's not a good thing. Tom has someone to love him. That is a good thing. Tom is crushing me. Tom is crushing me... Tom, you're crushing me!"

Psychologically thrilling yet an inner reflection of an everyman who has desires for fortune and vanity.

Sylvia (2003)

haven't been here for a long time. will be having a heavier and depressing start this time.

Sylvia is a reflection of Sylvia Plath's melancholic and tragic life. Despite being a renowned female poet and half of the greatest literary couple with Ted Hughes, she was constantly under pressure to break awat from the patriarchal society in the 50s. Although I am not too familiar with her life, the atmosphere of the film just exerts that air of the hauntingly beautiful quality of Plath's work. Strong theme of feminism as well as liberation in depicted in the film.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig are awesome and actually I think Paltrow looks a bit like Plath. : )

have to start my portfolio on the English Patient and the Painted Veil, but I'm still blocked. so maybe I'll go and have some sleep and start doing it tmr. : )

bonne nuit