Just like an embrace, it needs the wisdom to know when to hold on and when to let go.

Unlike how most films or shows portray that growing up with your parents being absent can completely damage you as a person, Naomi thought otherwise. She didn't live in complete misery for her parents' absence, neither did she live as if yearning for the incomplete part of her.

Naomi's search for her father was not merely about her yearning for him, but it was mostly about the need or desire to know. I think Naomi is a person who is filled with wonder and curiosity. It is even evident in this experimental documentary of hers. She's very observant and in awe even about the simplest of things that are surrounding her. She wants to know everything around her. I think this desire to know is what led her to live more in the wonder of tomorrows instead of living in wander in the past.

E M B R A C I N G

When we hear this word, the initial thought might be of encircling or enclosing someone in one's arms. Though, embracing can also mean "to welcome" or "an acceptance". It is not merely the attachment, but also the detachment—peacefully letting go of something or someone: embracing the reality of a certain circumstance or person because no amount of action or decision can change it anymore.

This experimental documentary of Naomi has been just that: an embrace. She desires to be close enough and really know those that she deems important to her and to accept and welcome them as they are. Then, letting go if necessary, because change is the only constant in this world. Her grandmother warned her about the search for her father, but she thought otherwise and refused the negative aspects that might come after. Her grandmother was afraid because of the ugly past, but she is willing to let the ugly past go since she was more curious about the present.

It might be that the past can happen again or the present and the future are another place—another canvas that need their own story and colour. Just like an embrace, it needs the wisdom to know when to hold on and when to let go.

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Everything is chaotic in this film. First, the political aspect: is the film condoning the police brutality that comes with the war on drugs or condemning the abuse and corruption of police authority? Perhaps, both can co-exist, but the execution was rather clumsy. Second, the editing and even the direction. This is certainly an action film, but even the action sequences cannot save this film for me as it was almost badly directed. Some scenes even seemed like the characters were fake fighting as it didn't seem genuine at all. Lastly, the sound and music; they just seemed awkward and out of place sometimes. Though, for some consideration, the acting was good, especially Anne Curtis' performance.

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About five years after I've seen WKW's Fallen Angels, I am glad to have seen Chungking Express finally. Of course, there's the Wong Kar-Wai's very own auteur, unique style, experimental aesthetic, and great soundtrack that really draws the viewer in appreciation of his works. But, in addition to that, regardless of Wong's characters personified by their dreamy and romanticized foolishness or cluelessness; rather than finding them annoying, it was so easy to be pulled in the ethereal and quirky comedy of Wong. Indeed, I was laughing almost in the entirety of the film. Wong really proved that romanticization is not at all completely bad if it was done right. Despite not being heavy on its plot, the unusual persona of his characters and unpredictability of events and arcs, in addition to his very own excellent filmmaking techniques, had led to the classic charm of his films.

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just one day off
to have fortitude
to lose yourself
and embrace the unfamiliar
arms of a strange town

to speak their food
and taste their language
to see their memories
and pretend you never had one
the sea waves embalming yours

dear prudence, you wrote
as you discover the art in
nothingness and emptiness
you empty yourself of such void
their rain water baptizes you

and their trees walk with you
their clouds accompany you
you are sheltered by their histories
and museums of tomorrows from yesterdays
and suddenly
you are filled
satiated with unproductivity
and you look forward to mondays
which are no longer much of a mundane
for only through them
you can breathe within a saturday
just one day off
to just be again

as slow, yet, fruitful as persimmons
as unsteady, yet, balanced as an empath
a community of hermits
and the solitude of flocking birds
the literature of life
it's art mirrored in humanity
and humanity is the likeness and visage of God
whom in the seventh day
rested and savoured its creations
slowly and adventurously
just one day off
and just be again

to rest is a virtue to the living
and to the dead, it is a privilege
just one day off
to have fortitude
to find yourself
and just be again

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