In the spring of youth...

Days of Being Wild (1990)
Director: Wong Kar-Wai

What is the thing that keeps a person plunge deep into a relationship so toxic and still longs to be embroiled in a never-ending imbroglio of heartaches and melancholy? Is it just physical attraction or a sense of achievement, a kind of trophy? Is it some kind of masochism or playing victim to gain attention?

Is this the same power of love that made King Edward VII abdicate his crown for a divorcee with two living ex-husbands? Is it merely a hormonal surge at the spring of one's youth or a debt that needed to be settled if relationships bring in baggage and its encumbrances?

Something that springs up quite so suddenly may fizzle out just as quick when the fluff disappears. Then what? Do it all again? But then, by then, there would come too many webs of entanglement and spoils of love that are just too difficult to detach. It appears that it is a play of time. Invariably, with the passage of time, the ludicrousness of all these may appear all so plain.

This film brings me to the time in my childhood when I used to watch those intense black-and-white Cantonese movies over the local telly. The only thing here is that this film is in colour. The same tight-knitted rooms and the narrow roads on hilly terrains were there.

In summary, the story, set in the 1960s, is about a philandering young man, York, with his upbringing issues. His adopted mother refuses to divulge the whereabouts of his biological mother for fear of abandonment. The adopted mother has her own problems, with the bottle and her frequent affairs with numerous young men. York's first dejected lover finds solace in the company of a foot policeman. York's second beau is an obsessive cabaret dancer. Their relationship is best described as predatory - each preying on the other for personal gratification. As York's adopted mother is about to leave for the USA with a new lover, she reveals York's parentage. He was born from a union of a prostitute and a Philippine aristocrat. York leaves for Philippines only to be ignored by his biological mother.

Work in progress?

Letters to Home (2016)
Young Malaysians write back
Edited by Ooi Kok Hin, Aish Kumar, Nik Mohamed Rashid Nik Zurin

Just when you had heard enough of whining, ranting, hurling of brickbats at the pathetic state of affairs that the country and possible failed nation status that we may plunge, out comes a book which tries to paint a blue sky, a new dawn and words of hopefulness. At an instance, when most disillusioned Malaysians are leaving our shores to graze upon lush greens elsewhere and when overseas-trained graduates find their comfort zone their Newfoundland, this book gives a glimmer of hope. It tells us that life in this country in the future may not be all doom and gloom.

This 234-paged book is a collection of over 30 authors who contributed to this uplifting experience. The writers are mainly millennials who were privileged enough to spend some time overseas in their pursuit of academic excellence, some through state scholarships. Many of them are envious of the ongoing progress abroad and yearn to bring home their skills. They long to have their motherland the same scientific and technological innovations that they had seen there.

The topics covered here are quite varied, ranging from affirmative action and Malay supremacy all the way to environmental degradation. Many government-sponsored students do not return home to pay back their dues to the nation, but the powers that be are quite lackadaisical in doing their job to gain returns from their investment of human capital. Malaysians who experience life as a foreigner in another country generally can empathise with the plight of the many low-skilled foreign workers found here!

In any country, the younger generation is typically vocal about current social issues. History had shown that the youth were the first displeasure when so many young Americans returned in body bags from Vietnam and when injustice prevailed in many despotic regimes in many newly independent post-colonial Africa and Eastern European block countries. Here, however, the wings of the university students are mostly clipped with the University and its amendments!

They go on to talk about Malaysia's brain drain problem of 10% which exceeds the global average. One author who hails from East Malaysia narrates her awkward moments of being treated as a green-eyed monster in the Peninsular as a student! The rise of religious bigots who treat women as second class citizens gets an honourable mention. The topic of living as a handicapped, growing as an orphan and the lack of social safety nets and the acceptance of intermarriage with its complex issues are discussed.

The best part of the book, I feel, is the lengthy discussion on the evolution of university life. From a firebrand force in the 60's which gave the government a run for its money, university students have all evolved to become meek apathetic domesticated pussies.

There is definitely lots of work to be done to bring the back the nation to its once promising start!

A swipe at McCarthyism

A King in New York (1957)
Many Americans look back at the early years of the 50s with much disdain. They had let the idea of a senator and politics of the time to go on a witch hunt on individuals based on frivolous hearsay. All in the name of nationalism and national security, many valuable man-hours were wasted. After all these, one would think that the general public cannot be taken for a ride anymore or can they? Based on turn of events of late, the hoodwinking continues.
Coming closer to our shores, people are being unpatriotic with same flimsy reasons with a hidden agenda behind them. It seem that we will never learn from history. We will have to endure the whole thrust of its mayhem before we look back at yourselves, in years to come, and hopefully laugh at ourselves!
The post WW2 years in America was tumultuous one. The Cold War had started and US of A had slowly taken the rein as the leader of the free world. Free they may be with their capitalistic market forces stance on liberty, the Government was hot under the collar with individuals sympathetic to the course of the left. Charlie Chaplin was one of the many performers blacklisted for being a member of the communist party. During a holiday trip back to his native England, his return visa was cancelled and lived exiled in UK. Anyway, he had not surrendered his British passport.
This last of Charlie Chaplin's film was a sarcastic look at the times that America was in. It poked fun as its anti-communist stance, the pop culture, the over glamorisation of youth, the invasion of privacy, the media frenzied population and the monetisation of everything. In a subtle way, the story shows how the old European values lose out to the demands of the American way of doing things. Chaplin also in a way, tries to re-live his youthful days in some scenes by trying to re-enact some acts from his 1927 'The Tramp'.
A deposed King Shadov of Estrovia, abdicates his throne and finds refuge in New York. Thinking that he could live in high life with his ill-gotten fortunes from his national coffers till the revolution in his country is over, he checks in to The Ritz with his ambassador. He is lured to attend a party where he is tricked to appear in a commercial. He was such a hit that the advertising industry wants more of him.
When he discovers that his fortune had been squandered by his trusted Prime Minister, he is forced to appear in commercials to pay his bills.
It is here that he takes a swipe at the public obsession with youthfulness and plastic surgery. He undergoes plastic surgery with disastrous outcome and reverts back to usual appearance!
He makes an official visit to a school. He befriends a child prodigy, Rupert, whose parents are being tried for involvement in the Communist Party. This child actor is Chaplin's son, Michael. Even though he showed so much calibre as an actor, he apparently went wayward later, living on dole.
Rupert later is on the run from the police for his parents' crimes. He seeks refuge with the King.
The rest of the story shows how the King is wrongly drawn in to the fiasco but is found innocent. He returns to Paris to be with his Queen.

Memorable quote:
"One of the minor annoyances in modern life is a revolution"

What is Scotland without whisky?

The Angels' Share (2012)
Whisky must be the single most important contribution of Scotland to the world. Forget short bread, haggis, shepherd pie, tartan and Sean Connery. But don't forget that the distillation technology was introduced by the Arabs to produce aromatic perfumes. Then of course, there is this debate whether it is 'whisky' or 'whiskey'. Generally the word 'whisky' is used by Scotland, Canada and Japan whilst 'whiskey' is used by US and Ireland.
They wanted to make a movie with Scotland in the background. What better way to showcase the country than to use whisky as the main theme? Put in a few tartans, show some picturesque view of the Highlands with a distillery to make you believe that God's land must be like this, sprinkle in some thick Glaswegian and Scottish accents, some youths with problems and viola, there you have it. A successful award nominated film! This formula works all the time. Remember '4 weddings and a funeral'?
This film brought in nostalgia of the time in autumn and winter of '94 when I spent some time in Edinburgh.
For the records, 'angel's share' is the name given to part of water and alcohol that evaporates during the ageing process of whisky in oak barrels.
Robbie, the hero of the film is a delinquent who frequently gets into the wrong side of the law. In spite of beating a guy almost blind, because of his partner who is due to deliver soon, he is given another chance. He is required to do community service. The officer in charge of the team, Harry, takes a liking to Robbie and encourages him. Soon Robbie's son is born and his wife, Leoni, makes it clear that their son should not a life as his father.
Harry invites Robbie to join him at a whisky tasting meeting in Edinburgh. Robbie's fellow members of the community service, Albert, Mo and Rhino, also invited themselves in. At the meeting, Robbie discovers that he had the nose to appreciate the intricacies of a vintage whisky.
One thing leads to another and we finally see the team of four heading to the Highlands to somehow lay their hands on a  newly discovered age old one-of-a-kind vintage whisky which is to be auctioned off. The rest of the story tells how Robbie and his crew hoodwink the distillery and the auctioneers to get a piece of the merchandise without anybody realising, just like the angel's share which goes missing and is unaccounted for.
With the money he acquired from the sale of the rare whisky, Robbie start life anew with his partner and son. The remaining of the gang decide to get stoned!

Nostalgia

Recently met a guy whom I last met more than 40 years ago. Yes, 40 years ago! When he was a skinny 20 something year old chap all sprung up to find a place for himself in the big wide world while I was also a skinny lad hardly able to read and write.

We were introduced to each through a common acquaintance and whoosh glazed the avalanche of memories like a flashback scene in  a movie! Of course the memories were patchy and sporadic. The more you tried to think about it, a few more just pops up. That chap was quite amused and sometimes embarrassed with some of the things that I remember about him during his weekend stay in my house.
They say that little things excite little minds, so the little things that he and my uncle did stick permanently on my mind. The sight of with face full of shaving foam was new for me then as my dad never used foam. They used to laugh a lot then while shaving. It was followed by a splash of aromatic liquid from a cute bottle which I came to know later as 'Old Spice' after-shave liquid.
For hair grooming, a little scoop of Tancho with the index finger, rub on the palms almost obsessively, slide over the hair, 10 minutes of grooming and viola you are ready to go. This part was just part of old memories of a bygone era as he had lost his prized crowning glory quite early in life. On the other hand, my uncle is still faithful to his Tancho Pure Vegetable Nourishing Pomade after all these years.
To uncle B, you sculptured the idea in my young mind of how a mach man should be - tall, intelligent, opinionated, articulate and suave!