02/25/2007
Let "The Holiday" begin
It’s a good movie. The home-exchange is apparently one good way of escaping such a horrific life. Amanda and Iris were as normal as any other woman around the world, they need loves. Desperately need one. Especially Iris who had been Jasper’s survival kit for years and found herself alone with tears at last.
However, trying to picture myself or women in my neighborhood into the idea of flying away from our bitter lives was kind of hard. It’s not easy to dream about something I never dream of. We, the average Indonesian married women with kids, are too tightly bonded to our family and thus bravely giving up many of our dreams; thought that it’s the best for the family. We lack of self-supported resources such as finance, confidence, and sense of adventure.
Look at Amanda and Iris and at how different they are from me here. First, they are no ordinary women. They are both free from financial trap; they have brilliant careers in area they’ve loved along their lives. Very few women I meet everyday have the same freedom, even if they are also high wage earners. Again, family financial consideration comes first. At the very top, ability to choose our wardrobe, food, and a little tone of lifestyle with our own money are the only established position we occupy at homes. Many of us received much less than we deserve.
Another angle to oversee: they’re both single. The opportunity to escape any problems seems limitless since they have enough money and have none to worry about if they go. Last month, I tried so hard to cheer my friend up. She’s having a crisis in her family life but very little can she do to cherish herself and get shaped again. She has no money; so the idea of leaving her family is more complicating than resolving her problem. Although I don’t have the same trouble, I could read her mind. Me myself is still attacked by guilty feeling every time I am trying to have fun alone or with Aris alone. Fun has been associated with another f word: family. There’s no fun without them around. Several times we attempted to have dinner out, or to attend some music concerts, or to see some movies at the cinema but we only went half way and always came back home 30 minutes later.
The Holiday reminded me about what holiday is all about: doing unexpected things. I never did that in my whole life. I was always almost penniless until I married at the age of 28, so a holiday seemed impossible. An adventure or a world without strangers has been beyond my imagination. Like I said before, books are the only ventilations for my opaque days for years. There was nothing unexpected happen when I was reading a book, right ?
Watching Amanda and Iris exchanged their homes and renewed their lives in two weeks led me to think again about my MBA plan. I began to realize that the plan is actually the most adventurous thing I can imagine until now. Silly, isn’t it? Any normal people, like Atik, would choose to go to South Korea, Aussie, or Hongkong or somewhere better to get relax and have fun. An MBA, wherever the place, never sounds so relaxing and comforting from the beginning.
Back to the movie again, I loved it! The best scene was when Amanda came to Graham’s place and found that he got companions that night: two beautiful angels, Sophia and Olivia. Cliche as to family lovers. You see yourself: nothing unexpected about me. What can you expect then?
22:11 Posted in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: womanhood, the holiday
05/10/2006
g!LmorE Girls
Through some not-so-hard efforts made to get VCD/DVD of any season's Girlmore Girl episode, I got the first season @ Ambassador Mall for Rp.66.000. The same set was sold for Rp.250.000 @ QB. Though I haven't got free comfortable time to see the film (again), the episode guide I found on http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/gilmoregirls/episode.jsp
helped me to recall who was did what somewhere and why. I had watched until the third season on TV more than 2 years ago, just few days before Rory's first day @ Yale. I enjoyed the series and started to imagine what kind of relationship of mom-and-daughter a girl would want, if I ever had daughter. Lorelai and Rory was a perfect combination. In limited portion, me and Kaylia also reflect it in reverse position. Kaylia is a cheerful, easy going, open and smart talkative person. She knows how to have fun and to win people's hearts. Obviously she is a hang-outer and possibly a party-goer someday (I pray to God that she will not love party that much). Then because I don't enjoy party or stucked inside a crowds, I talk less than anybody in my family, and pretty much depend on well planning and reasonable schedule to make my life a little organized : I am Rory, of course without her bright brain and excellent achievements.
The guide on episodes of the fifth season tells that Rory admits that she can't pull Dean away. Much because I trapped by almost all kind of first love, I adore Dean and was unsurprised when I read that he's the one Rory chose to be her first man in her intimate life (regardless the fact that Dean has already married to Lindsay).
Just checked the review on http://gilmoregirls.monrezo.be/GilmoreGirls/Rory_Relation...
De saison 6 has begun and not much left from the relationship is centered in the latest season. Seems Logan, a new comer from Yale, has taken over the lap.
21:35 Posted in Film | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
10/20/2005
Korean Dramas
Many thanks to Atik who is fully dedicated in this matter regardless of her half-hearted spirit to withhold her addiction to K and J things. Kindly she lends me some of her collections and informs me a lot. Wonderful Life, Sassy Girl Chun Hyang, and My Lovely Sam Soon (the chemistry was hmmm...). My fond of these dramas is primarily due to their comical scenes and mimics. But beyond those clownish scenes I witness that almost (if I can’t say all) the heroines were rather fearless of their own life, independent, and cheer up even if they might not always appear smart or perfectly beautiful. Most of the time I see tears drop silently and unnoticed. They swap bitterness to bursts of laughter. If only our series and dramas can borrow those spirit, we will not see girls in all luxurious things without heart and brain on our daily TV screen too much.
11:15 Posted in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
09/29/2005
Before Sunrise
Ethan Hawke was probably the ultimate factor persuaded me to see the movie. I saw Great Expectation and Reality Bites, so I thought I might get the same pleasure watching him. Aris bought Before Sunrise from Rebo, the VCD seller @ his office. I had finished with Korean "Wonderful Life" so I had nothing to watch. The film was such a great story. Ethan Hawke was proven brilliant in this kind of character, a young restless man who was not believing in anything. He met Celine, a 23 years Hungarian girl who studied in France. They chatted for a while in the train, before Jesse (Ethan Hawke) asked her to come with him to Vienna and accompany him until he flew back to US the next morning. Celine supposed to continue to Paris but something made her jumped out of the train earlier.
They spent the afternoon walk around Vienna and had fun. They talked about things. Obviously they crushed on each other but until half of the film, there was nothing happened. No sex, no kiss. Great. One thing I really like was the scene when they listened to a song by an old LD player in a music shop. They stared at each other, trying to keep their hands off. They just smiled awkwardly instead. It was the time when I began to count how much time left until they bumped into each other’s arms and laid down. Sound cynical ? You bet. Every adult, both young and old, in western movies must have that kind of physical involvement. I’m sure it was just a matter of time.
But they did talk to each other about a lot of thing. Childhood, parents, dreams, futures, feelings. They both were open and honest. But not as straight as I thought. They showed their feelings by making an artificial conversation. Celine pretended that she called her friend and told her about what was in her mind, Jesse took his turn pretending to be her friend and told that “that Jesse” must had been crazy about her. They did the other way around. Romantic isn’t it? Yes, it is.
Of course they finally made love over night at the park. They did it after Celine’s hesitation whether they should do it or not. She was afraid that after they made it, Jesse would straightly escape from her then avoided her.
The morning came so fast. They decided to not give any contact number or address, because they thought that was what adults would do if they had a one night stand. When Celine’s train was about to depart, they both said that they would like to meet each other again 6 months from that day. It meant December 16 the same year. Would they make it ? Whether they met again or not didn’t lessen my fond of this film … and Ethan Hawke.
17:20 Posted in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this