RIFLE RANGE BOY

Stalker (Russian, 1979) Director: Andrei Tarkovsky Now, what is the purpose of the arts? Are they there to entertain, to create an alternate universe for us to unwind from the real world. The world we live in is no pleasure cruise; hence an outlet is necessary to imagine something parallel reality in which we could star? Or is it a conduit for us to introspect what is in front of us, assess and make a better version of ourselves?  Judging from how all the powers-that-be are fighting against each other to the last breath wanting to control the media, the arts are definitely a powerful tool in skewing the masses' minds towards a particular direction. Hollywood, CCP and the mainstream media want to push us in one order, whilst the other, in opposition to the powers-that-be, would draw to another. That is until the opposition comes to power. Their roles and choices will reverse. I recently got introduced to the legendary Russian moviemaker and film theorist Andrei Tarkovsky. He is know...

Memories of Murder (2003) We look at things around us, and we get awed. We observe, scrutinise, see a pattern, try to connect the dots and suddenly be cocksure about something. We brag and gloat that we have cracked it like we had unveiled the secrets of the Universe. Then it would hit you right smack in your face - that something did not turn out as we thought it would. We are shocked. We deny it. Cognitive dissonance would set in. Our ego would not accept our failure. We would blame error in experimentation, that somebody had slept on the job, that it just cannot be. What we do next may make or break our civilisation. We can just deny that the whole thing did not happen and move on with life, content with our prior knowledge. We can tell ourselves that we have learnt everything already and that there is nothing more to earn. Or be a sceptic and retrace our every step and try to outline where and when and how things can go wrong. The former is the easy way out that maintai...