Love Lives?
I spent this weekend reflecting, reviewing the FINAL manuscript of Capturing Sunrays in a Glass Jar, recording the cd version of said book, hitting the mall in pursuit of an AFFORDABLE messenger bag, seer sucker suit shopping, celebrating Easter with the family and contemplating my place on the planet when I came across a movie which ultimately changed my perspective of LOVE.
The movie is Memoirs of a Geisha. Now because I absolutely live to die for foreign films, especially, the ones which feature Ziyi Zhang (favorite Asian actress) like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers or Hero or the list goes on... I digress, the film
was beautiful, the story was fabulous--it made me think about the sacrifice involved in the pursuit of Love, the selflessness involved in order to keep Love silent though and about Love @ first sight. All of which I thought might have existed, but now, I KNOW they exist; I mean they'd have to in order to be portrayed on film? Excuse the ramble, but how does one see a woman for the first time, orchestrate a plan to keep her close to him (unbeknownst to her), continue to want her though his best friend has an obvious interest, lose contact with her for years, ask her to practically be a prostitute to a "possible" business client in order to restart his business and after all of this finally admit he has loved her all this time. Not to sound soft, but damn, I couldn't hold the tears back at the end. Again, it was the BEST love picture I've ever experienced, yes better than Love Jones and Sleepless in Seattle. I know, I'm typically the Anti-love to the 1000th power, but I believe this marks the beginning of the turning over of a new leaf. Anyway, the movie was the best, so good so, I bought it on DVD from Wal-Mart today!!!
posted by SLUMP FACADE at 11:19:00 AM
Man! What will we learn next!?!?!? I'm with you on the foreign films!!! I have every movie you just listed including Geisha and enjoy watching them. There is something about the love story, the story of honor and commitment, the dichotomy between the desires of the heart and the reality of the mind and the situations it has to deal with that that makes these films so awesome! I’ve just purchased Curse of the Golden Flower (http://www.sonyclassics.com/curseofthegoldenflower/) (Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Liu Ye, Chen Jin, Jay Chou). Have not watched it yet, but am looking forward to curling up somewhere and enjoying the story! I’ll let you know if it’s worth the trip to Walmart!
Thanks for sharing!
Now back to your regularly scheduled poetic posting please!
Love Jones is my all time favorite movie. I've never seen Sleepless in Seattle. Maybe I'll rent that or something since you say it's good. And I have not seen Memoirs of a Geisha. If you say it's good and you CRIED at the end, then I gotta see this movie, and FAST! I love a good love story...always have, always will. So I'm looking forward to checking this film out. Maybe I'll just go buy it instead of renting it. I'm glad you cried at the end of the movie. I would have paid good money to see that!! lol =)
I saw it today. I cried. Good movie.
This is also one of my favs...I have the DVD and also saw it in the movies. What moves me most though is her commitment to him despite all of the things she had to endure...becoming a Geisha was only an option for her because she knew it would afford her the opportunity to see him again. And although silent when she did see him again she loved him harder and stronger then any two people who are married and living together everyday. That is what I call love...it transcends the physical and is literally a spiritual and spiritfilled encounter between souls. Soulmates...this movie makes you believe in them. I cried throughout the film mostly because I long for that kind of experience. One that is patient and unconditional...and yet I think that this was possible then but the way the world is now makes it almost impossible. That's the part that breaks my heart cause anything other then this kind of love (for me) means I'm settling...yeah I'm settling!
I have always been into foreign films. My all time favorites happen to include another chinese actress - Gong Li. "The Emperor and the Assassin" and "Raise the Red Lantern" are two of my favs.