Christian Marclay's 'Telephones', 1995

A multitude of characters, one single phone call, many different emotions. This great little clip is a 7-minute long 'compilation' of snippets from scenes that involve a phone call - from dialing a number to hanging up - from films that span the history of Hollywood as far as interests go.

I love the moment when every conversation becomes silent, as each character listens back into the earpiece and react in their own way. We might not necessarily know the contexts of these films to completely understand what is being said and felt, but I feel therein lies the magic of this piece.

Notes on the Malaysian film industry: diversity and multiculturalism

I've been back in Malaysia for just about a week now, and it's been a quiet one. As you may have already heard, this week people have been celebrating Chinese New Year across the globe, and like most Asian countries, everything in Malaysia is 'on hold' for the entire week. The public holiday only applies for two days, but it is pretty usual to have businesses close for the rest of the week, and employees of all races take the 'unspoken' kind of annual leave.

I'm always curious to find out more about the film industry in Malaysia - how it works, what sort of funding filmmakers can apply for, what sort of films succeed at the box office, etc. While I haven't quite got all the answers to those questions yet, I've noticed a large number of cinemas that release country specific films. For example, cinemas in the city or popular malls will screen most of the Hollywood blockbusters and big international titles. What interests me is the ratio of Hollywood titles are to Asian titles (be it Malay-produced, or from Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, India or Japan).

Some of the films out in Malaysian cinemas. Top left, right: The Viral Factor (Cantonese), All's Well End's Well (Cantonese). Bottom: Nanban (Tamil)

In almost every cinema across the city (from larger mall-based ones to smaller), there is almost a 1:2 ratio of Asian titles to Hollywood ones. In some cinemas a little further outside the city, the ratio of Asian titles to Hollywood ones was almost 2:1.

The first thing this shows is how multicultural this country really is. Never-ending racial conflict aside, if there are cinemas that purely represent or favour the Asian communities over international/American titles, it really proves to you how the Malaysian film industry promotes diversity.

 A still from Sepet (2004), a Malaysian film written and directed by one of my favourite directors the late Yasmin Ahmad. The film is a modern-day, Malaysian Romeo and Juliet story with a twist on racial divisions in Malaysian society. This is one of my all-time favourites.

Understandably, Malaysia is a country where language can be a barrier for many different reasons, some geographical which may explain the different types of cinemas in Kuala Lumpur and outside of the city. A ratio like 2:1 in favour of Asian titles though, well, I think that speaks for itself.

If Australia is a multicultural country as it so often calls and bathes itself in, then why isn't there a similar level of treatment to diversity? In a country so full of Asian communities, why aren't there distributors helping to bring Asian-produced or Asian-relevant content to Australia to the same degree of crappy Australian-produced films? Why are Australian distributors turning a blind eye on Asian films, or Asian-Australian films when these are people who make up a good majority of communities across the country?

I do think that Australia needs to see more Asian films, or at least help to bring these films to communities with larger Asian/Asian-Australian population. I suppose that having said this, it is the reason why international film festivals such as Sydney Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and even independent ones such as the Korean Film Festival in Australia are so fantastic in bringing films we would not have ever heard of, or will ever hear of again once the festival passes.

You would think that in a country that is so proud of it's multicultural approach and perspectives, people would at least practice what they preach.

The Wannabe 100th Post

I'd been saving this 100th post for a special entry, like a film review of a favourite film, or a preview of a new film I would shoot for the post - but instead, it has taken me almost three months to get something written!

Then I realise that this isn't my 100th post. It's my 96th, with four drafts in store. 

And then I realise again - I'm an idiot.

So, I'm going to carry on with what would have been the special 100th post, only just a little less special than what I imagine it could be. I thought I would write a quick post about the year that has ended, and of what I look forward to in this new year. I hope that this will start the ball running (yet again) for a long time to come.

Every year comes with its own challenges. 2011 was simply different. I went back to uni with a fresh mind, and with this came a fresh start to my future endeavours. The year and a half long hiatus away from the university life must have been the best decision I have ever made, and I don't think it is one I will regret. I did well in most of my subjects, and although I failed to make most classes in attendance, I managed to run away with results higher than the average student. I'm not one to boast about things like this, but I'd suddenly done miles better than I did when I first went to uni in 2008. That's got to prove something.

University life was no simple breeze this year. I juggled work with studies, and it is true what they say about doing so. It's no simple task. I cut down the number of subjects in my second semester to accommodate for full-time work at the Korean Film Festival, which was something I felt I needed to do and it had always been a desire of mine to do more for this young festival only in its second year. I substituted class time with over-time at the festival, and thankfully it didn't show in my end of year results.

I traveled around Australia more for film. And by 'more', I mean doing back-to-back trips to Melbourne, which is hardly anything. I saw more films at the international film festivals (Sydney and Melbourne), and for the first time traveled to a different city for work. Film had taken me to new places and new experiences in 2011.

I returned to Malaysia for the first time in a record (by my standards) two years, which was one of the best experiences I have had of my home country. It was refreshing and revealing of so many things I must thank for in life. It showed me a place in time that I'd forgotten, and wish not to forget any longer. It reminds me of how far I've come, and how time has changed everything. It's simply amazing how a place can cause such an experience to one's self.

2011 has taught me that in this industry, no matter the differences in cultural ethics between the companies you join, hard work is almost always left unnoticed. It's pessimistic of me to say such a thing, and having only been so immersed in the industry through internships, volunteer work and even the odd paid job (including the one I am currently in), I can assure you that all your hard work will often seem like it is never taking you anywhere. The number of hours you spend in over-time don't matter. The number of friends you lose from all those over-time hours don't matter. No matter how hard you work, you may always find yourself stuck in the same place without so much as a thank you or a pat on the back. The pessimist aside, I do still believe that there is hope to be seen some day. Such a thought can't be used as an excuse for working less hard, or striving to be the best. One day, it will all be worth the while, and I sincerely hope that this year will be the year when I see that glimmer of light. That light that says, 'Well, Raelene, you are definitely moving in the right direction.'

For now, in the early days of 2012, I await my new challenges. If I were to keep a set of resolutions (they are such a forgotten myth), it would be to teach myself patience. Everything will happen in time, and there will be as many opportunities in the future than there are in the present. They will be better, even. It will be better.

Hopefully I can look back at this post one year from now and be happy with where I am, in respect to where I was. It'd also be nice to look back at this post then and see that it wasn't my last post since forever!

So, here's to a new year, a new start and new challenges.

The Discovery of I

I often wonder about the choices I have made that have brought me to this very moment of means that I exist within. Beyond the picture of me sitting here in the living room, finally finding the time to write a meaningful blog post after watching another disgustingly engrossing episode of The Slap. What did I do to be in where I am today, and more curiously important, why did I do the things I did?

I wonder if there was a part of me in the past that knew what my choices would bring me to in the future. Did I know that I would be wanting to work in the film distribution industry? Did I know that I would be going back to university again? Did I secretly know that someday I would go back to university, and therefore not worry about dropping out of the first degree?

A thought has been lingering with me for quite some time, and it questions just this. I was in Melbourne for the Korean Film Festival - working - on my own time and expenses. I wanted to be there for the festival. I spoke to an old friend who I worked with previously, and he was surprised to hear that I was there in Melbourne - working - let alone for the same film festival I volunteered at last year. "But why?" he asked me. He sounded surprised, and I was surprised he would ask. 

"Because I want to." I want to be here, and this festival is something I believe in. This is something I want to do. Why else would I be here?

"You should be doing what you want to do," he said. I assumed he meant "Why are you pursuing someone's else's dream?" This raised the issue of working with your partner, but that is for another blog entry. I was struck with this 'dilemma' upon hearing him say this. Did he think that I was doing this because my partner was too?

NO. I won't beat around the bush with my answer. 

I'm not here because my partner works here, I'm here because I want to be here. I'm here because I want to earn the 'Thank you' you so willingly praise me with day by day. I'm here because I believe in this work. I'm here because I work hard, and do a bloody good job at what I do. 

I've been asking myself this question over the last few days, and have wondered much about this. I don't want to be treated like someone's someone. I want to be treated like I am myself. I am my own person. But is my own person someone who has been shaped by another? Is this what everybody else thinks and sees in me and the things that I do?

Just a thought. I think part of the perks of being 22 is you are a malleable idea - still. You are free to work towards the person you want to be, and if you've made a wrong turn, well, there is still time to get yourself back onto the right track. The ideas that have shaped me, whether they are from studies or from being with someone for so long - I guess the point is to take them and make something of your own from it. I guess that's the right idea.

"The World as Object" by Barthes

“There is no sadness and no cruelty in that gaze; it is a gaze without adjectives, it is only, completely, a gaze which neither judges you nor appeals to you; it posits you, implicates you; makes you exist. But this creative gesture is endless; you keep on being born, you are sustained, carried to the end of a movement which is one of infinite origin, source, and which appears in an eternal state of suspension.” 

--- Roland Barthes, “The World as Object” in A Barthes Reader, various translators

Blue Valentine: the room of desire, desperation and no return

I found this neat photograph of Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance and lead Michelle Williams on set during the production. It was this room where Dean, played by Ryan Gosling brings his wife Cindy (Michelle Williams) to rekindle their relationship, after it is clear that it's breaking apart at the very seams.

They enter a love hotel, and Dean picks the 'Future Room', a neon-lit, tight space with no windows, including your average tacky rotating bed and faux fur pillows. Nothing is true for the couple any more, and nothing can be reversed. Their relationship is in shambles, as they crawl and beg for freedom - of each other, and freedom of the present. The 'Future Room' does nothing, but take them deeper into the land of no return. Time travel does not exist, and if it did, everything would be right. What destroys us, and where do relationships go to perish? Where does it hurt?

Cooking Dreams

"Tonight, I'll show you how dreams are prepared. People think it's a very simple and easy process but it's a bit more complicated than that. As you can see, a very delicate combination of complex ingredients is the key. First, we put in some random thoughts. And then, we add a little bit of reminiscences of the day, mixed with some memories from the past. That's for two people. Love, friendships, relationships and all those 'ships', together with songs you heard during the day, things you saw, and also, uh... personal... Okay, I think it's one"

"The goodbye scene of the would-be lovers is over-the-top romantic. Nevertheless, or maybe because of that, it, too works. In the slightest of slow-motion, Mo-wan lets go of Li-zhen's hand (her wedding ring, ironically, in full view), and the camera stays on her face in extreme close-up as he remains far away in the background, out of focus. Then we discover, once again, that they are only rehearsing a separation that has not yet taken place and that, in fact, we never see. They playact through their emotional crisis, as if trying to manage it theatrically, and thus never reach their innermost selves, if such a place can be said to exist. They live within quotation markers and pre-written lines of dialogue. They put on an act because reality itself is too hard to bear. She sobs, and the strings reach a crescendo."

- Peter Brunette on "In The Mood For Love", Wong Kar-Wai