the departed.
written: 9:17 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20, 2006

Argh. This is the kind of emotional entanglement I do not need right now. I was all ready to come home after the movie and tackle the advocacy problem but it's almost three hours since the movie ended and I still can't stop thinking about it.

Leonardo DiCaprio is just such an amazing actor. When they were in the lift all I heard going through my head was, "God, please cut to the next scene now!"

A milisecond later, Billy's head is blown open and blood splatters everywhere, all over the wall, and he collapses like a rag doll and the lift doors won't close.

He was so close to vindication. Leonardo sold the character completely. The anguish and torment, the near-schizophrenia, the horrors of what he has to do, the way he has no choice but to keep going back, stick around. I feel so devastated because...this is one of those films that make such a huge impact on you, visually, emotionally, morally. And when you have someone as gifted and genuine as Leonardo DiCaprio playing the most emotionally fucked up character in the entire film, it's really not gonna go away until quite a while later.

I hate it when I become so emotionally invested in a film and its characters.

**

Okay, I admit: I love Leonardo DiCaprio.

I went through his filmography on imdb.com and I was quite alarmed to discover that I've seen almost all of his films, even the ones he made when he was much younger (What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, for which he scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination; Total Eclipse, in which he portrayed Arthur Rimbaud and had like, a nanosecond nude scene; The Basketball Diaries in which he played Jim Carroll who's one of my favourite writers [but honestly, he wrote better when he was on smack]). It's unfair to perpetually peg him as the Titanic Kid because he's so much better than that. Ever since Catch Me If You Can, even Gangs of New York, I've been a huge fan of his because he always gives a three-dimensional, nuanced and true portrayal of the characters he plays. He's intense and passionate and not afraid of being ugly - anything for the craft, you know?

As much as I think he's cute, it's really not about the looks for me, and watching him come undone in The Aviator sealed the deal. I love watching him on screen; no matter what he does, who he plays, what kind of script he gets, it's simply quality acting at its finest.

Sometimes, I even like watching him more than Joaquin Phoenix. Amazing, isn't it? I think so too.

But oh, I'd just die if Joaq and Leonardo did a film together. Seriously, that'd probably be my biggest film geek dream come true. I haven't decided who should be directing yet...as much as I appreciate Martin Scorsese, I think I prefer more existentialist, crazy-ass films.

And the dream screenwriter?

ME! Hahahahaha.

**

Martin Scorsese.

Okay, so I haven't seen the films that made him, namely Taxi Driver (YES I KNOW WHAT A HORRIBLE CRIME! But I don't know how to get an uncensored copy without resorting to downloading. I hate downloading movies anyway), Raging Bull and Mean Streets. BUT, The Aviator is one of my favourite films EVER and I totally, TOTALLY loved the callbacks to old Hollywood and its glamourous hey-days; more importantly, when I watched the film I thought the way it ended was one of the most genius and even kind of subtle tribute to a famous person I've ever seen, and up till today I remember exactly how the film ended, which is quite rare for me.

But yes, I know, I have to watch Taxi Driver.

Well, if it helps any, I watched his remake of Cape Fear and...well, it was pretty good. Not that I've seen the original though.

I pretty much had two reasons for wanting to watch The Departed despite knowing that it's censored (and I have A LOT to say about this; more later): 1. Leonardo DiCaprio; and 2. Martin Scorsese. Infernal Affairs means a lot to me because it was one of the best films to come out of Hong Kong in a very, very long time, and so I wasn't THAT outraged when I found out about the remake precisely because Martin Scorsese was at the helm.

And indeed, it did much justice to the original. More importantly, it's a completely different animal, and it's its own film in its own right. After all, Scorsese was making gangster films long before Infernal Affairs happened (for instance, Taxi Driver came out in 1976). In fact, I don't think he needed to borrow/use/steal/whatever the story of Infernal Affairs and I don't really understand why he wanted to remake it when he hadn't even seen it, according to the interview in Time magazine. But hey, whatever, that's not important.

I say it's a different film altogether because its treatment of the characters differed quite significantly from Infernal Affairs. The Costigan character pretty much stayed the same, but it was interesting how the Sullivan character was an asshole through and through in The Departed, but in Infernal Affairs, he was more layered, less black-and-white. And I think because of this significant difference, the two films are saying different things about the subject matter and the general theme that runs through both films.

Well, I don't really know what my point is. It's just, yeah, an observation.

Anyway, it was bloody (no pun intended) good film and I actually understood the plot - like, all of it. When I watched Infernal Affairs I was barely following the twists and turns and everything. I think the language factor had A LOT to do with this.

Also, as much as I love Leonardo and think he was just breath-takingly awesome in the film, I kind of prefer Tony Leung's portrayal of the Costigan character in the original (okay, so I never caught the Chinese character's name). Tony's anguish and torment were more reigned in, more internal, unlike Leonardo's abrasive swearing and fists and guns and bullets running amok. But then again, Scorsese's moving the story to Boston turned it into something else, and it only makes sense that the character are different, too.

But they're still essentially the same.

And Jack Nicholson was FUCKING SCARY. Gad, was he really the sad old man in About Schmidt (sp) and the slightly wonky, obsessive-compulsive lonely dude in As Good As It Gets? An amazing actor is an amazing actor. Period.

I thought Matt Damon was the weakest link of the cast but then I've never really been a fan of his. Besides, Andy Lau isn't exactly a very good actor either; he just had better material to work with.

Lastly, whoever did the physical act of censoring the film ought to be fired. What a shitty-ass job. I could SEE the moments during which the film was cut and it fucking pissed me off. NOTHING annoys me more than holier-than-thou censors who SULLY a master's work (of art) and makes it less comprehensible and coherent than it really is, and they could at least make it less insulting by doing their fucking jobs PROPERLY. If the film is so objectionable, why wasn't it given an R21 rating? I would've got in so it doesn't matter to me.

But oh, of course it couldn't be given an R21! The movie distributors want their money!

Screw that. I hate censorship. Nothing gets me more riled up than that. It's simply ridiculous and offensive to have a highly respected director's work shortened and messed with by idiots who wouldn't know a Scorsese from a Bruckheimer (even though he doesn't direct. Not that I know of anyway. And if he directs, I think I will just die). Censors are fucking philistines - all of them. There should be legislation against censorship.

Um, yes, I'm ranting.

**

I don't wanna do my trial advocacy thing. I'm feeling so lazy right now and all I can think about is The Departed and how fucked up and unfair life is, particularly to those who deserve it least. It's just so tragic and sad.

On the bright side, I have Veronica Mars to watch. Yay.

Hmm, I just remembered that we went to Vivo City today. So yeah, it was big and all that jazz but I was quite unimpressed. The first few store I saw when we got up from the carpark were all the same damn shit and I don't see why I'd go all the way there when I can get the same stuff in Orchard. I still like Orchard better. And yeah VC has Gap and all that but for fuck's sake can we stop buying into Americanism and come up with our own, I don't know, identity? Jeez. No wonder LKY says that Singapore has no culture. I'm quite inclined to agree.

So no I won't be going back there for a veeery long time. It was too crowded anyway. Just being in there actually turned me off to shopping. How amazing is that?

Still, I had a great time with the Sisterhood! Jean came out with us which is like so completely amazing 'cause I've never gone out with her before. Too bad it was so short though. There's always a next time!

Property tutorial was confusing. I'm never going to go for tutorial without fully preparing for it ever again. Shaun pretty much answered ALL (okay, 99%) the questions by himself. He's like, totally amazing lah.

I'm sad that Rui hasn't updated her blog and that Mag can't use Blogger from home and so hasn't updated her blog too. Boo.

I can't wait for next Wednesday to be over. I can't believe I'm stressing out over a fucking pass/fail module. I told KW that I'm freaking out because of him and he went, "What did I do?!"

Well, for starters, he was born with that brain of his. For another, he's a Dean's lister. Oh, and who can forget the very important fact that he made the Mallals semi-finals?

As we say in Hokkien, Wa jin suay lah.

**

Edited to add:

Okay, I wanted to add two things but I forgot what the other one was - again.

Well, anyway, I just wanted to say that the sex scene in The Departed was damn hot. Yup.

Still can't remember that other thing. Nevermind.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010