海龟浮上海面

It was a chance of meeting with a female friend I have not seen for years. I had forgotten her. Yet, here we are chatting. In such encounters it is inevitable the conversation runs dry. There is nothing left to talk about. Then she mentioned times while we jog somewhere sometimes ago. I have wonderful memories then, but I almost skip that part.

There is so much we forgot, packed away in the rush to adulthood and responsibilities. We were friends once, but now have little in common. Yet there were those sunshine days she recalled. Both of us remembered the laughs and faded memories still vivid and treasured.

Most of the time, I still feel like a teenager with the actuality of being in my early twenties. It is a complexity of feeling while recalling my childhood, the sunshine, the breezee, those grass-green mountains, those wishy-washy happiness and clueless melancholy.

How could it be without noticing that my younghood is taken away?

We were born to die. We die a little bit of ourselves everyday. Writing blog seems like writing one's will. I suddenly find a meaning for it.

Have you bumped into an old friend and recalled a piece of your nearly forgotten went-by lately?

Write it down before you forget.

I have committed a crime yesterday, a serial one. I bought an DVD from a pirate peddler at the corner of a Beijing hutong. It is a Roman Polanski's old time movie "Tess" (1980), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles - The Pure Woman (Read it Online here). Hardy reflects his disappointing views of urbanism through his protagonist, Tess. He characterizes Tess as a daughter of nature who endures the brutality of industrialism through the people and circumstances in her life. Using specific language, character depiction, and story development, he provides a strong argument against the urban movement by showing the reader its harsh effects on the agrarian lifestyle. The story tells about Tess, a countryside maiden, works as a maid for Alec in the city and is seduced and 'raped' by him. She fled then falls in love with Angel, son of a clergyman. On their wedding night, Angel confesses to Tess that he has been promiscuous in the past and begs for her forgiveness. Tess readily forgives him and with this opening provided by Angel, she proceeds to tell him of her past relations with Alec and the resultant early-died child, truly believing that Angel will forgive her too. But this is not to be and great tragedy ensues. The overpowering and eventual destruction of Tess parallels the industrial movement's negative results on the rural landscape of England.

With a little bit of guilt, I finally finished watching it until very late at night. I was wrong but with no regret. I should not have believed that widespread myth: only goodies deserve being pirated. The movie has nothing to compare with "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" (1998), an English TV opera mini-series produced almost twenty years apres Polanski's eager but unsuccessful endeavour to revitalize the characters of Tess, Alec and Angel created by the novelist.

While I was doing brain searching then, a flash suddenly crossed my mind. Jason Flemyng, who protrayed the role of Alec in the mini-series, has once taken part into an UK movie, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1999), directed by Guy Ritchie who previously shot commercials. It is a black comedy about a gang of four double-cross the robbers lived next door and get triple-crossed afterwards. Ning Hao, the director of "Crazy Stone" (2006) as part of Andy Lau's Focus Films First Cuts project, might have his story inspired by this cult comedy. It is also not difficult to find their similarities in terms of camerawork, insaned chain reaction of events and matrix of plots. The style of both melodramas follows more or less the tradition of Quentin Tarantino's films, "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994).

Feeling proud about this yet-still-to-be-proven and who-the-f*ck-cares finding, I said a little prayer and confessed once again to the Almighty about the wrong doing I did that afternoon and went to bed. That night I dreamt of Angel and wet my pillow with tears and sweat.

UPDATE:

1. Well, Well, Well. My flapdoodle is justified here by An Interview with Ning Hao, in which he said Crazy Stone 'could be described as a tribute to Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie and Serbian art house darling, Emir Kusturica.'
   
2. Nonetheless, I must say I am stupid enough to talk about my alleged 'finding'. People's Eyes Are Snow Clear! Follow this link for a Google of '中国版《两杆老烟枪》' (Two Smoking Barrels: Chinese Version). See if you could resist the temptation there, where bit-torrent link for downloading the movie is available.