aida

tf kinda name is teacake

this felt like a gut punch to me. movies where not much *happens* but you feel SO MUCH are everything to me and this was exactly that. I love living in the subtext and this honestly became more and more difficult to watch as the film went on, and I started to piece everything together. it felt very real in such a quiet and understated way. I don’t think I will ever be able to listen to under pressure again without getting emotional.

this was…weird? I don’t know what I was expecting, I’m clearly very new to WKW, but it was definitely not the viewing experience I was imagining to have tonight.  however, that’s not to say I didn’t like it. thematically, one movie (that’s actually two short films) about lonely people and missed connections sits right there for me. and there are many many parts that I loved. I mean, for one, it is just visually stunning, just the ambiance of the movie alone deserves incredibly high praise. the first story intrigued me a lot and I would’ve liked more of it if I am completely honest, some more closure. I understand that the point really is to see a snippet of these people’s lives, and that this isn’t really meant to be a fully fleshed out story. but I was sucked into the action and think I would’ve loved to know more about those two characters, their backstories, especially about how our female mc came to the position she is in. however, what is keeping me from *really* loving this is the kind of weird depiction of south asian people in this first story. I get that this is obv 30 years old but I don’t know, as a south asian, some of it seemed very strange to me.  the second story, has me emotionally perplexed. thinking about it logically, I can’t understand how you would fall for someone who is essentially your stalker, but looking at it through metaphorical rose coloured glasses, I so get it. her bettering his life and helping him heal and move on slowly and patiently sticks with me, and his whimsical nature of talking to everything in his apartment charms me. and I ended up rooting for them, even though it was a weird kind of battle between emotions and logic for me. I think the soundtrack and cinematography is crucial in driving that emotion forward and having watched In The Mood For Love, I can already tell WKW does very well with exactly that.  overall, I can’t fully decide how I feel about this, and I will be putting this into a rewatch list to come back to after a while. I do have to say that I am in love with Faye Wong though and I don’t think I can ever listen to California Dreamin without thinking of her dancing