老男孩

Dear Emma,

Heard tis masterpiece in youtube...

From the movie "Old Boys" by Chopstick brothers. This Chinese indie movie raised a lot of eyebrows in China's Youku (China version of Youtube) and was even named best internet movie in Youku in 2010. What do I think? I'm not a Chinese movie buff so I don't really have other movies to compared it against, but personally I'm touched by this movie. I suspect it because the theme of the movie is something I can easily relate to.

The movie starts kicks of with 2 middle age man standing in the stage of a American China Idol contest being chastised by the judges for joining a contest which typically is joined by the younger generation. The clock of time is turned back a generation, to the time when these 2 middle age men, Dabao and Xiaoshuai were in high school. Hence begins the tale of 2 young boys in the 90s which started of as rivals (chasing same gal in school) to best of friend forming a common bond in their idolization of the king of pop, Michael Jackson. As the clock of time is restored and we see these 2 young boys as grown mans, Dabao working as a old couple wedding singer while Xiaoshuai now married and working as a barber. Both are living a normal life but upon the announcement of the death of their idol Michael Jackson, they decided to join the talent contest to pay tribute to their idol. We are then shown some glimpses of the things that lead them to where they are now in life and how they came to accept these things and move forward during this contest.

I loved and think everyone from generation X and Y will love and be able to relate to the concept of "Passing of Youth" in this movie. Bits of pieces of my youthful days are shatter across this movie, such as Aaron Kwok infamous "Tiu Dui Ni Ai Bu Wan", Tetris handheld game, Michael Jackson classic dancing, etc. The chaotic scene in high school portrayed in the movie really bring backs memories of my own high school days. From kau lui, porn, stupid pranks, samseng... The climax of the whole movie is perhaps the performance of Dabao and Xiaoshuai at the contest where they performed a VERY heart felt "Old Boys" song accompanied by a combination of Michael Jackson dancing and traditional Chinese fan dance. I felt the sensation of passing of time itself through the performance, the joys and sorrows of growing up... My major complain is the movie is too short! Clocking only a short 42 minutes, I wished they could have fleshed out more of their school days, their other classmates and their passage through adulthood... Without spoiling the movie, I kinda of dig the ending, where it ends in a bittersweet note, realistic yet gives acceptance and courage to move forward in life....

Would I recommend this movie... For those above age of 24+ will most likely be able to connect with this movie. It gives us a glimpse of ourself during our high school days, how youthful and blissful we used to be but somehow was swept away and forgotten through the passage of time. It's available in Youku and I saw one in Youtube as well.

So Emma, to end this blog entry I quote a phrase from the ending of the movie that best summed it up as well...

Dreams are like classics, never fading but growing more precious with the passing of time.