Big Bang Love

Year: 2006
Country: Japan
Director: MIIKE Takashi
Cast: MATSUDA Ryûhei, ANDÔ Masanobu, ISHIBASHI Renji, ENDÔ Ken'ichi, KUBOZUKA Shunsuke, SHIBUKAWA Kiyohiko and ISHIBASHI Ryô

also known as
4.6 Billion Years of Love (International: English title) (informal literal title)
A Big Bang Love: Juvenile (International: English title)
Big Bang Love (Singapore: English title)

I noticed that I always start most of my reviews with this >>>>>>> "I've finally seen it!!" . Cliche huh?… Well this time, I have no choice but to use the same intro but I would add a little drama ….. Let me try this ….  "At long last …. I've finally seen this mindblowing movie that is sooo effin marvelous!!!

I have been looking for this movie since May 2006. I forgot about it when I found no hope of seeing it last year. I was just so surprised when the chance for me to see it just presented itself while I was browsing the web for another movie…. enough of my crap and the so whats!!!!!

Umpisa pa lng mga tsong, nawindang na ko! I was astonished with how they thought of it . The first ten minutes was already a delight.

A hand  with a clapper appeared from behind and gave signal to one of the minor characters to start his monologue. In an innapropriate angle and subdued lighting, the man talked about lightyears and how we can see our past few lightyears away from earth. Then the screen bleeds, deep red and we see an old man instructing a boy about his rites of passage. The visuals were so strong and upclose. We are looking at a very thin boy, with a very clear and detailed view of how his heart beats from within. An image of a well built man, tatooed, wearing a red bottom ( I dont know what to call the outfit), started to dance in tune with the wild thumpings of drums. He was actually performing a modern dance and it was a breathtaking scene. His eyes were so fierce… deadly! His dance was so strong but at the same time poetic and sad…. and then repose…

We were then thrown to another scene. I beautiful man grasping a corpse on it's neck. He then confess that he was the one who killed him. With that,  our journey starts to clear the mystery of this man's death.

Jun (MATSUDA Ryûhei)  and Shiro (ANDÔ Masanobu) were brought to prison at the same day. Their crimes were not related to one another. Jun woks as a waiter in a gay bar and was convicted after he killed a customer who raped him. He mutilated the body reason for the crime not to be considered as an act of self defense. Shiro on the other hand displays extreme brutality and glows a mysterious youth the first time they met. He has this tatoos and eyes that reflects his loneliness and desires.

The first scene that their eyes met was heart-pounding. The movie has it's own universe and it's up to you how you would like to interpret the images that you are seeing on screen. We have the innocent looks of Jun, filthy with blood, sitting on a block as he daze the masculinity, the anger and the chaos that lives within Shiro. We then see a butterfly flutters, resting it's wings on Jun's head. I dont know, but for me, it means that Jun is the flower that Shiro needs to protect.

Well fine! I wont go through with too much details! If you guys have seen Nicole Kidman's Dogville, somehow the movie was made using that format. We have this black backdrop and Miike used lights and shadows for walls and barriers.  The visuals are simply stunning and the images are full and crisp.

 A typical moviegoer might have problems on how to dwell in this Universe that was made by Miike. Audience would be faced by non-linear flashbacks. Most of those are being repeated as to whose perspective we are considering. We would assume the identiity of the two investigators, confused, troubled and curious.

 One needs to look at details. There might be something that he missed that could be the key to the mystery. The symbolism and the richness of words would be really excruciating. It would be a drastic movement of thoughts and emotions. A poem dancing wildly on your mind.

Outside the prison cells, we have a space rocket that impatiently waits the time to blast-off. We also have a ziggurat on the other end whose endless steps are believed to lead to heaven. We have this deep conversation between the two characters of what they expect after death and it would be a struggle to pull out the sensibilty an the truth among them..

This homo-erotic prison drama was actually based on a Japanese manga "An Elegy for A Boy" (i am not sure). There were no love scenes, but the script is truly gay in nature. We are just fortunate to see the behind of these gorgeous leads for the movie. There were skins, lots of tempting scenes to have any of our senses granted privelege.

I love the scenes where Shiro knocks everybody off just to protect the innocent looking Jun. The confrontation scene where Jun asked why he was being protected was riveting. It was a moment of suppressed truth, revealed while wrapped in fragrant lies and ambiguity of words,

We are faced with gossips and rumors and a series of blurry events that refuses the truth from us. But slowly, and through Miike's wondrous ways of story telling, we could have the case figured out. Viewers would be given clear answers as to who killed who. But dont expect that everything would be in a loot bag to give out. That made me like this movie. It's ending still leaves a lot of questions and some of the scenes remain scrapped from the entire picture. Nevertheless, I am sure that Miike included those for a reason and it would be worth it if you could have it figured out.

The real treat about this movie would be its actors. Their performances are spellbinding.  Ando is my favorite in this movie. Though he shows the usual expressions that he does in his previous films like Battle Royal, he was such a gem for this production. He is actually 37 but he still managed to execute this role of a Juvenile perfectly. We were served well for having this good-looking actors for the movie and it was a feast indeed when they started to give life to this characters.

As for Miike , he surely is not a Wong-Kar-Wai. Miike has his own style that sets him aside. Miike should know that his reinvention and innovation are enough for him to be called great.

chow!!!!

Mushroom

Oh yea! Our trio is back!

Last, last, last at isa pang last Sunday… during one of those artificial rains on the Metro… we finally found a chance to meet Kharee in Pasay. It has been 2-3 years I guess?! I was just so ecstatic to see this woman who completed our coven back in college.

The three of us, Me, Nikkei and Kharee, would hide among the shadows. I mean, tumatambay kami sa madilim na mushroom shed sa tapat ng Dorm tuwing gabi. And we feast ourselves with the greatest pleasure that the three of us could do together …… laughing at just about anything….. namiss ko yan!

Pinaguusapan namin lahat ng mga dumadaan, may chismis man sa kanila o wala. Then, we'll open up any liquidated moronic substance in hand lalo na yung paborito naming "Tanduay Dark" (cheap noh?). We have this MAgic Bag that I always keep. LAman ng bag yung mga props and parafernalias. Tubig, pitcher, shotglass, tupperware, kutchara, tinidor etc…

We'll drink em up sa mushroom til we make a noisy crowd na! Of course bawal siya, pero kaibigan naman namin ang guard. We are one the chosen few na siga-sigaan sa mushroom. Meron pa kaming trip minsan na tawagin ang mga taong dumadaan at sabay tago… pagusapan yung mga nakikita naming estudyante sa bintana ng dorm at laitin ang mga kaaway …. pero hinde kami bully ha! We have this pleasant faces when we're out of the mushroom!

We now moved to this bigger world… para kaming mga isda sa aquarium na pinakawalan sa dagat, we dont know where we're going. Sobrang na-miss namin ang hobby sa mushroom. Last time, Nikkei and I found ourselves na nakaupo sa stairs ng isang bangko na nakatapat sa EDSA, and we were just talking about all of those people passing. We tried to do the same thing sa coffee shop, sa restaurant, sa bar…. but hinde sila ganun ka-satisfying compared to what we had when we did it sa EDSA! People in all walks of life, pati yung mga tao sa MRT, pinagusapan namin. Kung bakit ganun buhay nila, kung bakit sya pangit, guwapo, mayaman, mahirap …. Lumaki na yung mushroom namin! We have this unpublished thoughts and fictionalized stories about these people na naka-file sa maduming hangin ng EDSA.

Kharee's been here with TOTs for a couple of months already. Ghaaaad! Ang stressful! I mean, when I saw Kharee… naalala ko ang beach sa Miag-ao, where we used to sleep and spend the afternoons. Naalala ko yung mga inuman namin sa baba ng Narra Tree. Yung pagtakas namin sa Dorm ng alas-dose ng gabi para lng kumain sa Burger Machine. Ang mga dosed nights namin roaming the City of Iloilo, yung inuman kasama mga tambay sa kanto, yung mga peaceful nights sa Tijuana, and those pesky days that we rat the malls. In short….. I miss peace, I miss cheap and extremely enjoyable means of having fun …. I miss youth! Potah! Nagmi-mid-life crisis ako at the age of 21!!!

Jeffrey (o, sino na naman si Jeffrey?) was right… we shouldn't have done everything we want  when we were young … dahil talagang sobrang bored kami ngayon! haaaaay!!!  We've done those and we've done that! We had fun and we grew up fast. There are lots of things that we havent done … but those are stuff that we are not interested of doing …Nakakaumay. haaaaay …… 

I’m Baaaaaaaack!!!!

 I am freakeeeeeen baaaack!!!! Drumrolls pls!!!!! Weeeehooooo!!!! (so ano naman ngayon?!)

Anyway, here's an exclusive interview with this blog's author, by the blog's author himself ….. ME!!!!  Get the hard to find details about orangeyogurt's one month hiatus!!!

 ME: Okay, Van, diretsahan….. what happened? Anong nangyari at naisipan mo pang bumalik?

Ako: I am back to a state na wala na naman akong magawa. I mean, it's not my intention naman na sabayan ang pagbabalik ni Angel Locsin… pero feel ko lng po talagang mag-blog ulit.

ME: Have you realized how your absence affected the blog community?

Ako: Yeah.. in a way …. ung absence ko … parang absence ko din nung college… di nahalata ng professor!!!!

ME: What really happened? What prevented you from blogging during those days?

Ako: I had a long trip to Thailand. When I went back, my friends and I decided to visit Boracay. We met some people and we decided to spend some horny nights in Amsterdam.

ME: Lubos bang naapektuhan ng tagtuyo't at biglaang pag-ulan ang iyong pagiisip kaibigan?

Ako: Well fine, the truth is…. naglipat po kami ng bahay.

ME: Okay. Please dont make it hard for me… anong konek?

Ako: Sa nilipatan naming community… iisa lng po ag internet cafe… sobrang bagal pa ng connection… walang air-con…. wala pang street lights… madaming aso!!! I can't risk my life to go there and update my blog. I plan to use OLAY pa naman someday.

ME: Ah okay! Bago ka umalis, and while you were gone, at kahit sa iyong pagbabalik …. maraming intriga ang binabato sa'yo. Diretsahan… ikaw nga ba talaga ang nasa sex video? Totoo ba na isang kasambahay ang iyong ina?

Ako: Ay kuya! Pakicheck po ng index card? Parang hinde po ata sa akin ang mga tanong?

ME: Ay Sori! Any plans for this blog?

Ako: Lingid po sa alam ng nakakarami… eh… nag ONE YEAR na po ang blog na ito last JULY  8, 2007!!!!! I'm looking forward for another year of fun, tragedy and calamities!

ME: Maraming salamat at ako'y iyong pinaunlakan kaibigan.

Ako: You're always welcome. You know, we can always talk naman kung feel kong magmuni-muni ulit di ba? Narealiza ko rin na masaya pala magmuni-muni online. What cha think?

 hehehehehehe……

Thanks Guys! Mwah!!!

Paris Je t’aime ulit!

Lots of thanks to CINEMANILA for including this film on their line-up. I have been hunting dvd stalls for a copy of this movie for several months now, actually, since I published an article about it on my site last January.

The film tried not to be sappy and cheesy, but I guess it can't divert its roads from being… well … as I mentioned …sappy and cheesy. Because ultimately, LOVE is indeed ….ghaaaad !!!! …. the sappiest and the cheesiest thing in the world!!!!!! It could make you cry in the most serious and petty reasons and it could make you do the corniest, craziest and the most stupid things in the world!!!

There were some segments that are really funny. I was laughing at that part featuring Elijah Wood. I was expecting for it to be scary but it was a complete 360 degrees turn from that genre. It was actually cute. And yeah .. Elijah was cute…  The storyline was funny. It was sort of slapstick but really funny. (syempre ilang beses kong sinabing funny, so malamang, funny nga talaga sya!!) I also liked the story of that boy whose parents are mime. 

I was enthralled by how love was presented in different angles. There were some storyline where the viewer is not spoon fed on how love relates to those characters. Love was shown in different angles. So dont be surprised with the mixed emotions that would fill you up while watching the movie.  I myself was deeply affected by some of the scenes. Especially the storyline about the mother who takes care of some other people's baby but sadly cant take care of her own. My tear ducts were squeezed in that storyline about an African Man who was given a chance to spend minutes before his death with the woman who never knew his existing affection. One notable plot was about a man who was supposed to leave his wife for his mistress, but a tragic revelation made him stay and he later found himself in love with his wife again. He was left emotionally dead when his wife died at the end and he has that longing to see his wife again every time he sees a woman who wears red trench coat.

 Here are the scenes and some comments from me that are obviously not needed.

* ey guys WARNING!!!! — > Spoilers right after the jump…

Sorry, I just can't keep blabbering about it eh!!

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