I saw two movies recently. First was a Korean film called "A Story Sadder Than Sadness"/"슬픔보다 더 슬픈 이야기", and second was a Chinese film called "Like A Dream"/“如夢”. Obviously, the first movie was a complete tragedy...the second one....I'm not sure...not entirely so, but not happy either.
A Story Sadder Than Sadness is about the main character named K living with his closer-than-friend-but-not-close-enough-to-be-girlfriend friend named Cream. In short, K had little time left before he dies from cancer, and although he loves Cream, he never admits it. Instead, he hides his sickness from her and does all he can to help her marry a person she loves. That's only the first part of the movie, and I thought it was already sad enough. But the movie reveals more....if you want to watch before knowing the rest of it, go watch before reading on. The second part of the movie shows time going backwards before K dies, and the movie tells the story again, from Cream's point of view. Actually...she found out about his illness because she accidently ate his pills and went to the doctor to ask about the effect of the pills. When she found out, she never told K, and instead, asked K if he had any wishes. He told her that he wants her to get married to a good man. She asked him why not him, to which he replied, "I'm not a good man." K then defined a good man as a loving guy who is healthy and capable of feeding the family. So, in order to make his wish come true, Cream went and found a "good man" and made him fall in love with her. She convinced him to get married as soon as they could, before K dies.
Throughout the entire movie, both characters were overwhelmed with sadness...and the only thing that kept them moving was their love for each other. K was determined to see that Cream marries a good guy, while Cream steeled herself and forced herself to marry a guy for K's sake. In the end...both characters wounded themselves for each other...thus, making the story sadder than sadness.
In the movie, Like a Dream, it was not as sad...and although it was interesting, I found the movie too long for what the actual story was trying to tell. Too many unnecessary scenes that kind of dragged on the story. Basically, a Chinese-American named George kept on having dreams in which he meets a girl who is in depression. George tries to help her get out of her depression by acting as her boyfriend, who apparently commited suicide by jumping off of a skyscraper. After days, the two got close to the point that they really could be a couple...until one day, the girl submerged herself into depression again and disappeared from his dream. Although George looked for her in his dreams, he couldn't find her again. In real life, George began to have a break down, so he was sent by his co-workers to take a vacation in Shanghai. Long story short, George went to get his photos but took the wrong one, and the girl was in the pictures. Realizing the girl was around Shanghai, he looked around for her, and met another girl who looked exactly like her. To make story even shorter....They both looked for the girl in his dream, and fell in love in the process. In George's heart, both girls are important to her, but he doesn't know who is more important. When the girl finally found the person from his dream, she gave him the address and said she can't stand that every time he looks at her, he thinks of the girl in his dream instead of her...so she decided to leave and have him choose. When George finally visited the girl from his dream, it was in a hospital. She was in a coma with a defunctioning brain. Through his dream, he tried to convince her to live, but she sank deeper into depression and died. At the end of the film....I wasn't sure what George was doing...but it seemed like he was trying to find the other girl...
Anyways...I thought this movie was opposite of the previous. Instead of cherishing what he had, George chased after the girl from his dream, which caused chaos in his living habits. Even though he love the girl who helped him search, he continued blindly to seek for someone who was out of his reach...so in the end, he lost both of them. I could say that while the theme of the movie A Story Sadder than Sadness was unselfish love, I could also say the movie Like a Dream was one man's selfish love. One can defend George's actions by saying that he was only trying to help the girl from his dream from dying...but the way I look at it...I don't think it's just him trying to save her. (Sorry for not naming the girls....I don't remember the name of the girl who helped him....and they never said the name of the girl from his dream.)
So what did the movies teach me? Erm...well...unselfish love between two people who actually love each other....it doesn't really work. Selfish love for another....doesn't work that well either...Then again....both situations are really extreme...seeing a love one marrying another because you're about to die and you want someone to take care of her/him...marrying a man/woman you don't love because you want to fulfill your love one's last wish.....finding someone you've met every night through your dream...yeah, I doubt that's going to happen to at least 90% of the population. I think both movies missed out something....that is....cherish someone you love before you regret it. I think K regretted it...and George.
No comments:
Post a Comment