watching the legend of tarzan

i went to the cinema to watch the legend of tarzan yesterday. it's the third film i've watched alone at the movies and i'm really loving it. i hate when people talk to me when i'm watching a movie, and sometimes, if i'm watching a film i'm really excited about but the other person isn't, then i start to panic that they'll be bored, and then i can't enjoy the film anymore. which sucks.

i can't really say i love the film (all my favourites so far have left me with a hollowness as the credits start to roll - i think it's the feeling of having been too engaged in that alternate universe and the difficulty of extricating myself from it at the end. and with the legend of tarzan, that wasn't the case). but i enjoyed it nevertheless. it's one of those films where you have to force yourself to ignore the fact that the plot is as shallow as a kiddie pool, and just sit back and marvel at the special effects. it also helps that alexander skarsgård and margot robbie are such good-looking people (seriously though margot robbie is probably the coolest human alive).

one thing i was very angry about, however, was the fact that the sex scene and the final, epic kiss scene between jane and tarzan at the end were censored – because apparently malaysia is still stuck in the 1920s. this never used to be the case. why is an act of love being censored?? i really can't even fathom why anyone would deem a kiss "inappropriate". i'm positive there's a religious reason behind the decision, but it still doesn't make sense to me, and i'm still angry about it.

over and out,

moodboard + other obsessions / ii

i like pink. there's something about the colour that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. it is summer nights and cotton candy sunsets and anxiety-free days. it is the feeling of being drunk on happiness and the sound of laughter. i think these are things everybody needs to enjoy, and for me, the colour pink represents all of these. which is why it irks me to the max when people scoff and say that pink is just for girls – apparently in our society today, colours have gender. but that's a whole other issue. i'll leave it alone for now.

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below is a compilation of some things i've been obsessed with this past january:

films –

brooklyn

i watched brooklyn only a few days ago and the thing i liked most about the film was the soundtrack. i don't even know why, but in the end, when the credits began to roll, the orchestra that was playing sounded so beautiful and it worked so well with the cinematography of the film that i was just hit in the feels. it wrapped up the whole thing so perfectly.

also, domhnall glesson looked hella fine in the movie. 

nightcrawler

this film isn't new (it came out in 2014), but that doesn't stop me from including it in this list of current obsessions. nightcrawler is pure genius – jake gyllenhaal pulls off a brilliant performance (which i think has been completely overlooked) and the cinematography works in tandem with jake's transformation to give off this Really Creepy Vibe. it's intense. really intense. but that's why i love it.

music –

winner released a single on january 11 and i love it to bits. the fact that it's written by mino and that mino actually god damn sings in this song makes it 1025 times better. 

people –

amandla stenberg in teen vogue. need i say more?

and a quote by her that really resonates with me:

"here i am being myself and it's definitely hard and vulnerable and it's definitely a process, but i'm learning and i'm growing."

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that's all for this post.

over and out,

longboarding on a sunday

usually, on a hot summer day i just stay indoors, where the ac is always on and episodes of the mentalist are always playing on my laptop. but my longboard has been sitting in my wardrobe for more than 6 months, and i thought it was about time i took it out. i went skating with a friend, and this is what came out of it.

till next time,

alexius.

the journey

having spent nine years away from malaysia, and spending only an approximate two months every year for the holidays, i don't get many opportunities to feel very malaysian. oftentimes, when i return home, events are happening that i'm not aware of, people are speaking in dialects i am slowly starting to forget, and that in itself makes me really sad, because malaysia is supposed to be my home, yet it is growing into something so different from what it previously was before i left. it's growing into something i am unfamiliar with.

which is why watching the film 'the journey', directed by a local Chiu Keng Guan, made me so extremely and irrevocably happy. every single thing, from the malaysian lingo (pancit tyres, yes) to the little details (how we buy clothes at street markets), had me feeling so much at home.

every time, after a line is uttered by someone onscreen that perfectly portrays the Malaysian society and lifestyle, there would be roaring laughter from the audience, with people repeating that particular line to a friend, a lover, a relative, or even a stranger sitting beside them, as if by repeating it, they could embed it into their brains to remember for a future conversation. it felt amazing, sitting there in this big and dark cinema, bonding unconsciously with people i've never met and might never meet again after we leave that place, and in those two fleeting hours, i felt more at home than i have felt in a long, long time.

this film is a local film, and it's only showing in local cinemas. a part of me wishes that everybody else outside of malaysia could watch it, but they would never understand it, due to the multiplicity of languages and dialects spoken (dialogues are often said with one speaking cantonese and the other speaking chinese). places where us locals laugh would probably be greeted by silence if viewed by somebody who wasn't malaysian. i just wish they could see how amazingly diverse my country is. even so, i guess the fact that this film might never be watched (or understood) by non-malaysians can be a good thing, because this is something that only we will ever appreciate. a sort of inside joke, if you will.

i've spent half of this post praising this film, but that's not to say that there weren't flaws. there certainly was, from the occasional cheesy lines delivered by the lead caucasian male to the fairly predictable plot line, but it was all in the tiny details, as well as the fact that it resonated so well with the people in that cinema and beyond that makes it, in my opinion, one of the best films i've seen in years.

till next time,

alexius.