Pingtian Lake / Moon Bay Wuyuan

This kind of scenery is simply breathtaking. So simple, but so beautiful at the same time.
To celebrate the full moon during Mid autumn festival seems like a magic happening in Pingtian Lake (above) and Moon Bay in Wuyuan (below)

It also gives that kind of feeling when life passes away and your soul is being transferred to another place, this is the way how it will happen.

The Neon Demon / La La Land

Maybe The Neon Demon and La La Land can't differ more in its genre but the amazing beauty of their stills somehow connects them. These are the kind of still that makes you want to see a film! It magically grabs your interest and you already have the feeling you can get lost into amazing and beautiful scenery.

Esthetical beauty can make or brake a film on its own, as a director you have to be 100% sure of how to use it or your masterpiece quickly becomes some try-to-be-arty trash.

So-won / Hope (2013)

So-won (hope) is an extremely heavy and heartbreaking Korean film about how to deal, within a family,  after a traumatic and devastating tragedy. When a young girl get raped the safe world of her and her parents immediately collaps and the entire world turns to the deepst shade of black. What follows isn't a thriller like chase for the bad guy but it focusses on emotions instead. How could people ever deal with this kind of horror and how can they go back to their lives as it once was? Director Lee Joon Ik ('The King and the Clown')  really created a masterpiece by focussing on the family instead of the horrific event, Though it is rather depressing ans sometimes very hard to watch without becoming emotional as well it also honors its title 'Hope',  because even in the darkest shade of black something seems to shimmer.

You exist in My song - Qu Wanting

and sometimes there is just music which you don't even have to understand the language for.
Really amazingly done by Qu Wanting. 73 million views and here in the Netherlands not even a single soul ever heard about it.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Eiyuu Densetsu: Sen no Kiseki)

Being a big fan of Japanese RPG's (jrpgs) it is always interesting how people still create rpg's that get our attention and in a way let us forget about real life but take us away to an imaginary land full of mysteries and wonder.

And wow, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is amazing in every way. Yeah the combat is perfect but I always have been  more of a story-player , to get into the skin of the characters and feel their emotion. That being said, I really enjoyed the combat system which feels fresh and rewarding. Probably the world 'slow burner' has been invented for this game, it takes a while to really grip your attention. Not that it isn't interesting from the start but after 20-25 hours of gameplay there is now way you can put down this game anymore. The story gets intense, brilliant flashbacks put soul into the characters and slowly each and everyone of them is an emotional being instead of a pixel related character that uses his S-break to defeat a powerful enemy. I didn't even said a thing about the soundtrack, damn that is great as wellm every single track, from quiet background music to stronger beats during battle  simply seem to belong to this game. It creates a perfect atmosphere to totally get lost in the story and see where it is heading.

The balance between fighting and story gameplay is in my opinion pretty neat, But well, I love cutscenes which just could go on and on and on. One moment though, it will be over and that is a fact you really don't wanna think about. Luckily for us  there will be a chapter 2 and 3.

Devils on the Doorstep / Guizi Lai Le (China, 2000)

Devils on the Doorstep is an almost entirely black & white movie from China and deals about the Japanese occupation during the final year of the conflict. Don’t expect any large battles or huge action, it is a movie which focusses on a small village and their people who suddenly have to deal with two kidnapped Japanese soldiers. Should they take care of them well or kill them? Its story evolves slowly but it grants you the time to get used to the characters because for western people it is a bit of getting used to a different kind of acting and telling a story in this film. 

Though the story is in the beginning rather light hearted it changes in the latter part to a heartwrenching film. The story of simple men and women and how their lives are being changed by war is maybe even better anti-war propaganda than lots of explosions and blood. Just try it, and give the film some little time to find its wat to your heart, 

The path we wander

When we are young and look upon the world we see a wide space filled with dreams, possibilities and things we can achieve. When we grow up these same things are still on our mind but why does it get harder and harder to chase this freedom? Slowly our life gets regulated by responsibilities and things that are expected of us. Though in everyone the dreams will exist and will stay there forever like a lsumbering thought of what life could really be. When we close our skies we see this infinite number of possibilities as a colorful galaxy with millions of different paths that could be walked. Among all those paths there is also a grey path, the path of which is set out for us. The one people (government, family, maybe even friends) expects us to wander to  become a valuable asset to society or family. It is rather unbelievalbe that of so many choices, 99% of all people will chose this path. The fear of walking outside its boundaries it like an immense weigth which pressures so highly upon us we are even barely able to breath our own free air.

The thought of escaping this set future is also always in our mind to  experience life really, explore new areas and enlighten ourselves. It is strange when I think about it? Why is the colorful road to freedom and self exploration so much harder than a set and strict future which will stay gray for an eternity. The road everyone choses isn’t maybe the road we all want but it gives us more certainties, more faith in a steady future. But how can we ever know if we never try to chase our dreams. Dreams are infinite, and there must always be something among these infinite path that can be reality someday.

Someday, Just not now… Maybe that says it all.

Thoughts or just call it a soul

Looking at the everlasting sky you realize you are such a small creature in this immense galaxy. Clouds change and are passing by while you are looking at them but you remain on that same spot and think what will we left of you when you are self gone. People say your legacy will live on but only a fewpeople in this wolrd will leave a legacy. Most aren’t just there anymore and fade into the nothing. The question even is if you want to leave a legacy at all, everyone just live their own lives and they say it is most important you feel happy in this life and experience it to its fullest. That ain’t so easy at all, wit hso many regulations, responsibilities and things that are expected of you most people don’t have the time to find out what they really want tob e their legacy. To find something you enjoy to its fullest when duty calls almost 24 hours today is even a bigger test.

There are people, though I am sure not everyone,  who realize this and deep in their heart they know they should change their way of living, jumping in the black hole by making decisions that are truelly yours and yours alone. Will it be a wise thing to do? Well maybe not but we won’t know unless we try. And even i fit fails and everythings falls apart, in the end we all will be forgotten but your heart knows you tries and maybe that is wat life is all about. Trial and Error.

If there is a soul, which I stronlgly believe in, there just simply has to be something that makes you the person who you are which isn’t just mind and heart. Your soul will maybe transcend this fading into the nothing. Maybe this soul carries your own choices and decisions and one day some person or being will just be able to feel a little of your soul and realize you did what you thought would be best regardless the outcome. Maybe this courage will feed another soul and creates your own legacy: To be true to yourself.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend or an ode to Zhang Yimou

A few days ago I watched 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend' the Netflix sequel to the original. In my heart I hoped I would be blown away by it like its predecessor but my mind told me already it would be a tough competition. Thouht the film itself is not really bad, it isn't very good as well In fact it made me even long more and more for those big martial art movies from about 10 years ago. Films like 'Hero' and 'House of Flying Daggers' left an everlasting impression and I long for those days of those movies again. Maybe Zhang Yimou could onc emore take up arms and deliver such an instant classic just to sooth our minds.

The sequel to  Crouching Tiger had some beautiful moments and fights but the story wasn't all that impressive and some humor (or maybe even the acting) totally misplaced. Even the fighting didn't really feel top notch, more like they wanted to make some amazing fighting scenes and instead were overdoing it and just missed the essence. A shame because Woo-Ping yuen really is able to create something beautiful.

Watching a movie which feels like passing time doesn't have to be bad at all but dear Director Zhang Yimou, my heart lingers when i think of those glory days. My soul wants to go back to those films where only beauty and aweness seems to exists. Take me once more to that field with wild flowers of 'House  of Flying Daggers' and listen to the dreamy themesong 'Lovers'.

Time has passed

So much has changed

But the field remains in my heart

Hiding among flowers

Remember those days when you just want to quit everything you are doing and rn. run away fromyour work,run away from responsibility and embrace pure nature and its solitude. To be alonewith your thoughts and feel the wind touching your skin softly. Join me, it says, join me on my travels and experience the world. Lets drift away and let the fresh air purifie your mind. Remember your  true dreams and let its warmth fill your heart.

Remember and try to live. Be like the wild flowers which just grow in inhabetible terrain. They aren't held back by any form of rationality. Maybe the way to enlightment is to be like such a flowerand grow and  evolve into something beautiful by doing the things that aren't expected by you but because it makes you feel alive and make your heart flutter, even if it is for just a moment.

For now, I am just hiding among these flowers and slowly trying to adapt.

Moonlight Sonata Part 2 - Heneral Luna (2015)

yes there it is again! Beethoven's magnificent opum magnus die Mondscheinsonate! This time it travels the world all the way to a Filipino movie about a general who tried to get the Filipino people together in their fight of freedom against the Americans (late 19th century). It has to be said, this film is maybe not the best out there but it is just impossible not to feel the effort everyone  put into this movie. In fact it is not bad at all and most important, the heart is entirely at the right place!

Well for now just enjoy the moonlight sonata and wonder where it will turn up again!

Fate - Lee sun Hee

These lyrics are everlasting and will resound in the deepest part of your soul. Let it enchant you and get lost in this amazing performance! Once in a lifetime!

The Story of Princess Kaguya / Kaguyahime no Monogatari (Japan, 2013)

Maybe The Story of Princess Kayuga (Isao Takahata) isn't the most impressive, most beautiful or most emotional I ever saw the art style is truly amazing. Ofcourse there will be people who say 'My child could have drawn this!' but well, than you have a miracle child I guess. You will feel its beauty alongside with the amazing music and realize you are watching something really special. Once again you will be lost in Ghibli's world.

Brooklyn (2015) / Saoirse Ronan

Though it may not have the most innovating story about an Irish girl in the 1950’s who immigrates to the States, and gosh I hate this word,  ‘Brooklyn’ does have the right vibe. A story about love, big decisions and being afraid of their consequences and most of all growing up. Well we have seen all that before but there is a difference ‘Saoirse Ronan’. To be honest I always had a love/hate relationship with her. She seems to be so talented and the next second you wonder if she does have any facial expression at all. So I guess I would say she can be inconsistent in her acting and yes, that is what are the really interesting actresses or actors to watch. In Brooklyn she definitely nails it, she catches the vibe and make this film everything and more. Of course the music, the other  characters and screenplay all matter but when it is a story we all have seen before you need that little bit of extra magic. Saoirse Ronan.

Bai Baihe graces a Fashion magazin

Chinese actress Bai Baihe ('Love is not Blind' directed by Teng Huatao) graces a Fashion Magazine.

Moonlight Sonata part 1 - Elephant (2003)

When you hear Beethoven's Moonlight sonata it will immediately find its way to your heart and mind. It is such a powerful piano sonata (no. 14) that it will start to live its own life and you will make your own memories that go along with its tune. In Gus van Sant's 'Elephant' it plays a vital role. To be honest the movie doesn't satisfy completely but it's tracking shots are more than amazing and you will remember Beethoven's legacy with one more and another memory.

In the Mood for Love.. yet again!

Already 16 years ago but still so amazingly beautiful and hypnotizing. This is really something that represents true beauty in film. It is just one of those rarely everlasting memories. In the Mood for Love.