Watch and Be Troubled

I can never be a film critic because I know nothing about the history or techniques of filmmaking. Not that I aspire to be one.

I can possibly be a film reviewer though. Most of us probably can. Then again, maybe not. To write/speak of what the film was about and who were in it is easy but to tell if it was good or bad is not. To say what is good or bad is purely objective. Most of the time I find myself concluding that what I recently watched was a good movie only to find out that most professional critics and reviewers say otherwise because they obviously know more than me.

But again, why bother? I'm not paid to write critics or reviews anyway. I'm here to watch and enjoy these movies and maybe eventually I will develop a better judgment of a movie's worth.

So last night, refusing not to miss out on the cinemanila festival, we were able to catch the one movie i was really aiming to see for the following reasons: 1) I am having HK movies withdrawal symptoms, 2) it stars one of my celebrity crushes, and (so as not to seem that my reasons are really shallow) 3) i've been hearing good comments about it since last year.

I guess after the success of Infernal Affairs, most of the HK movies (of the same genre) that have come out after will most likely be compared to it. If not, most movie producers or directors probably want to achieve (if not, to surpass) the success of IA. I don't think IA can be compared to One Nite in Mongkok though. For one, the latter doesn't only excite you, it troubles you as well. Sometimes movies are here to entertain us, to make us forget of our problems for a couple of hours. But sometimes, movies are like mirrors, they show us the real score of how life really is. Just as what one review said: If One Nite in Mongkok has a major audience deterrent, it would have to be that it's not the happiest film around. Justice is in the eye of the beholder, life holds no fairness, and there is good and bad in everyone. Evil is just a word, and people do what they have to do simply to hold onto what's dear to them.

I was thinking I shouldn't have seen it last night, not when some things have been getting to me these days (will post about it next). But heck, I haven't gotten a dvd copy yet so it was a now-or-never-moment yesterday.