Life's canvas

When it comes to movies I can be pretty picky about what I watch, depending on the mood of the day. Went to watch Final Destination 5 the other day with my two friends and was somewhat entertained due to the fact that I was looking to do no thinking at all after a long week at work. I know it's going to be able people dying horribly because Death doesn't like to be cheated, for some reason it was all right that evening because I switched off the need to 'feel' the movie.

Most of the time though I would invest my mind and heart into connecting with a film's character and/or underlying story, fascinated with the reasons that motivate them to do what they do. I have always valued storytelling above CGI graphics and explosions - a film can have absolutely no chase scenes or epic artificial constructs to awe me, just simple yet well-written plot and acting, the act of explaining an idea with its actors putting them to flesh.

Take for instance The Shawshank Redemption - routinely touted as one of, if not the finest movie of all time - a simple story of a wronged man's life, his friendship with the people whom were all stuck at the bottom of society's eyes, the many obstacles standing between him and freedom and the triumph of hope over adversity.

Then take a look at Pixar's Up, the story of an old man who lived his old life bitter and cranky about a lost love & dream, learning to open up and embark on an adventure of a lifetime as the chains of the past are broken. The eight minute speechless montage of Carl's marriage with Ellie is one of the finest bit of animation ever made - it was simple and sweet, equally poignant because we know people or even some of ourselves who have went through something like that before. You can't help but feel sorry for the old man, knowing how it would devastate ourselves if we were in his shoes.

The best thing about well written films is that they don't force feed you with melodrama - the honesty of the scenes slither itself into our hearts and tug at the strings, reminding ourselves of our very own disappointments and flaws as humans.

Many people I know would avoid such movies like the plague because they find it boring and pointless as the entire objective of watching films is to entertain oneself. That I agree, perhaps we entertain ourselves differently - some look for stimulation, the adrenaline rush and 'hell yeah!' moments, whilst others enjoy having a story being told to them on the silver screen.

I can remember the scene of deep night accompanied by the moonlit clouds and the Latin choir as the camera pans slowly down towards the city of Jerusalem under siege from Saladin's army in Kingdom of Heaven.

I can also remember the 'mental battle' between Jet Li's Nameless and Donnie Yen's Broken Spear in the first fight of the movie Hero to the background of an old man's zither and dripping rainwater in slow motion.

And then there is the part where The Girl's blind date recounts what Gyeon-Woo told him about keeping her happy, as she realised that he understood her more than she could imagine in My Sassy Girl.

I'm not saying that I don't enjoy watching Megan Fox in the Transformers movies, it's just that some times I'd like to go away from all the heavily marketed media that promises only visual excitement and take a walk with the characters as they go about playing their part as actors in the grand canvas of life.

I'm tired of visual excitement in movies!