The Long Threatened Ramble On Asian Pop Part 2

Recently I bought a copy of Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron or by it's Chinese title 空室情人。It doesn't have English subtitles but that's ok because the two main characters don't talk. And most of what the other characters have to say you get the general gist of anyway. I really like this movie because in some ways it takes one of my bad habits to the logical extreme. I really like to walk by people's windows at night and people who are dumb and leave their lights on and their curtains undrawn let people like me look into their houses. I like looking mainly because it gives you the sense of getting a brief look into other people's lives. I also realize this makes me kind of creepy.

The first main character in the film, as I mentioned takes this to the next level and breaks into the houses of people on vacation, wears their clothes, eats their food, fixes their broken appliances, and essentially lives their life. He also takes pictures of himself next to their family photographs. However in one house he breaks into it's not empty there's a former model who's married to an abusive businessman. She doesn't talk either. In fact after he goes about his normal routine of fixing things and taking pictures, she stalks him around her own house. Eventually the two of them go off together, not before he almost kills her husband using a golf balls and a golf club. Actually golf is a major theme in this film, every guy seems to have one and golf strangely enough becomes a symbol of aggression and violence. By the end of the film, the two have them have figured out how to not exist at all, or rather exist where people aren't looking.

The acting in the film has to be really good because in the majority of the film no one talks, and it is. The two lead actors communicate their characters' emotions without saying anything. We're never completely told what either of their deals are, or how they ended up where they are but enough is given that I was satisfied anyway.

On a completely different subject, I've found that many Taiwanese people that I have met here don't like Asian movies, perhaps in a similar way to how I don't really like Hollywood movies. Some of them like European movies but a lot of them like Hollywood movies. Makes me wonder whether I like Asian movies just because on some level they're exotic to me. Or whether in fact, they're just better. I like to think it's the latter.

Also there seem to be different levels of acceptability attatched to various pop stars. For example it's ok to like Leehom 王力宏 and JJ 林俊傑 but many people to whom I've mentioned that I listen to Jay 周傑倫 's music visibly recoil in horror. Apparently it's his public persona, which frankly I haven't been exposed to because I don't understand news broadcasts at all. My private student says Leehom is better because he writes his own stuff, but he writes just as much as Jay, so I can't really figure it out. Perhaps his association with "the youth?" Maybe he's on the level of Jolin 蔡依琳。Really can someone resolve this for me? On the bottom you've got 5566, Energy, K-One, Tension, and maybe the Twins. Hell, even my 12 year old students know Energy wears stupid clothes.