Upcoming Matrix Trilogy Discourse

By the way, I'd first like to reassure you guys that I haven't forgotten my intention to do a watch-along of the Infernal Affairs trilogy [2002-2003] and a comparison review of The Departed [2006], nor has my rage concerning the latter diminished in the slightest. Just so's ya know.
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Recently, I was FB chatting with a friend about something or other when the topic of The Matrix came up. Oh, wait, I remember. I happened to be watching part of the Animatrix, "World Record" at the time.

You know how I'm filled with boundless rage when it comes to some things like stupidity, ignorance, racism and bad storytelling? Well, when it comes to The Matrix an opposite reaction occurs. You must understand that when I say, "I love the Matrix" this is a massive understatement. The Matrix is one of the foremost reasons why I am glad to have lived beyond the 90s. Not that I'm suicidal, quite the opposite, in fact. While I firmly believe that decade to have been one of the greatest in the history of movie and television pop culture, The Matrix restored my faith in a future that could hold new wonders. Never before had such deep philosophical material been presented in such... palatable form for the masses.

And yet. There were those who saw it as nothing more than what it might seem: an action movie. An exercise in cutting-edge special FX. Or some who just missed the point altogether. My friend in question- you know what?
I have yet to give her an alias, despite having mentioned her on several occasions! Drumroll please. Henceforth she shall be known as Z-girl. So shall it be. <(￣_￣)>

Remember this?

She said she remembered it mostly being about "man vs machine". Oh, dear. Ya know, it is very strange. I've told you before about how she has some kind of immunity to making me angry. Well, the glasses thing made me annoyed but this incident almost tipped me over the edge. Good thing we were only FB chatting so I had an opportunity to filter my response hahahaha. I believe I still got out something like, "You want Man vs. Machine? Go watch Terminator!!" or some such. In person there would have been expletives. Name calling. And other inflammatory remarks.

So, yeah. Look forward to it, guys. If you didn't like The Matrix or thought it was dumb, go die in a fire. Cheers!

The Departed vs Infernal Affairs - A Preface

As I alluded to in the 100th post!, this blog writing thing is really important to me. Case in point, all week I've been thinking about how to write this. Every night I think about why people like The Departed better. Why people like Infernal Affairs better. Reading their opinions, their reasons, their comparisons. Considering their positions and my thoughts on those positions, whether I was too biased. Above all, I made an effort to resist the tendency to take anything personally.

You've undoubtedly seen flame wars, if no where else you've seen them in the comments sections of YouTube videos. You know where all that emotion comes from? People tend to perceive slights against what they like as insults directed at themselves. What do you mean hockey sucks?! I like hockey, that means you think I suck! *rage rage* Conversely, the reward centers of the brain light up when someone agrees with us. That is to say, when you read an article praising a show you happen to love you feel good, you bask in the reflected glory.

These feelings come to me, too. When I read some reviews saying The Departed had better pacing, I felt anger. When I read someone's comment saying The Departed was a mess, I felt that wave of pleasure. I'm not special because I'm immune to those tendencies, I am special because I am aware of them and act accordingly.

As I said, I read a lot of reviews going both ways about both films and I've come to believe that a lot of viewers just missed a lot when they saw Infernal Affairs, even the ones who prefer it to The Departed! I think it's safe to say most aren't Cantonese speakers, native or otherwise. It isn't something they have to apologize for, not at all, but it is something to factor into consideration.

As a native Chinese (Cantonese even!) speaker and a native English speaker I am in a particular position to be able to judge both films equally. You might immediately think this arrogant of me but I urge you to think about it. Do you really think that you experienced the film as smoothly as I did if you utilized the subtitles while I didn't? I don't say this with a high-brow attitude, sincerely. I don't believe it impossible for non-Chinese speakers to enjoy this film, to understand the film, as you can clearly see from the worldwide fan-base Infernal Affairs has cultivated. But I think it arrogant of a person to believe that subtitled viewing is every bit equal to that of native listeners. Arrogant to believe that those translations fully captured the intricacies of meaning that, at times, would have required annotations in a footer. By the way, some fan-subbed anime do this and I think it really helps but it really is too obtrusive to utilize in a cinematic production.

I showed Infernal Affairs to a non-Chinese speaking friend of mine and she noted that without my commentary on what was actually said she would not have gotten as much out of the film as she did. "Lost in translation" describes the situation perfectly. The subtitles just didn't don't properly convey what was said. Unavoidable? Yes, it is a lamentable fact that translating the dialogue into natural sounding and natural looking English sentences requires certain twists in wording and omissions of content. Yes, you cannot avoid encountering these lapses in translation. Unless you understand the original language you will run into one eventually whilst watching foreign cinema. Does this mean give up? Stick to your own country's cinema? Of course not. Hell, I don't do that in either sense. I possess some piddling Japanese skills and I watch anime. I don't speak any French but that doesn't stop me from watching their movies. And so on.

I'm expecting a stranger who happens to stumble on this blog whilst looking for an article about "The Departed compared to Infernal Affairs" to either cheer or think me a jackass due to those natural psychological factors I pointed out at the beginning. I'm hoping those of you who have followed me for a while will know me better than that.

What do you guys think of me doing a sort of watch-along for Infernal Affairs? I would basically do what I did for my friend: expound on the intricacies of what they actually said or didn't say, cover the gaps between subtitle and translation. Sadly, those two are not always one and the same. I'll be using the DVD edition and it's subtitles so I'll be able to provide reliable timestamps and you can vicariously watch it with me, where-ever you are! Watcha think?

The Departed vs Infernal Affairs - A Precursor

I could will post a longer (winded hehe) review post concerning all the areas where The Departed [2006] fell flat as a remake of the Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs [2002], or even as a stand-alone film but for now I will only concern myself and you with one scene: the elevator scene.
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Despite what I just said I still almost posted a rant here....
(- -___)
Infernal Affairs is such a great movie that I get especially rant-prone about it.

Go YouTube 'the departed elevator scene' or something. Watch it.

In a word: messy. Just so messy. Bang! Bang bang! Bang! Are you serious? How the hell are these three deaths not going to get back to him? That's two (three but technically Costigan's file got deleted) dead cops and the body of a guy who some one at the station will remember seeing come in a few days before. And those blood splatters are going to paint an odd picture for the forensics team when they notice that these three didn't neatly off one another, not to mention seeming to wipe their guns clean after.

Not to mention the other little bang at the end when Wahlberg's pointless, and pointlessly foul-mouthed, character offs Damon. (- -___) Plenty of paralipsis in this argument...

Then the final cutaway even shows a large rat crawling across the rooftop. What amazing subtlety.
Hmmm. "Pointlessly foul-mouthed." Wow, that kinda applies to the whole movie doesn't it? By golly.

And from Infernal Affairs. That's the original there. And I think to myself, what the hell did William Monahan think to himself when he adapted that scene? Monahan wrote the screenplay for The Departed, by the way.

Ah, hell. Even if Americans needed their movies dumb-ed down, dirtied up, splashed with violence and spoken in English to appreciate them *I* would appreciate if they knew where they were getting their stuff. Anyone remember the Academy Awards for the year The Departed won? The presenter described The Departed as being based on a Japanese film. *Sigh* I did not need another reason to think that it's a bunch of fools running things over there at the Academy but they gave me another.

And there's still a good amount of rant in this post. Maybe I need counseling....

Oh oh! One last note. I found this comment on one of the YouTube vids of The Departed's elevator scene.

Damn, this guy... he doesn't know how right he is. Nor how much more right he could be. I really don't know who is to blame for messing up the ending, Monahan or Scorcese. That shock you got from that death in the original movie gets muddled and lost when the antagonist in The Departed, Sullivan (Matt Damon), didn't walk away clean. He got cleanly shot by Wahlberg's character. I sighed soooo hard just now I inhaled. It's like a sign that reads, "Remember kids, crime doesn't pay."