Finally I went to that smash, the much-acclaimed movie with hugh box-office
success. Few people could resist such a craze, and I, unfortunately, was
no exception. Granted that the movie was so popular, it could not be a real piece of vintage film, and I knew that. An amusement that bringing you to a theater full of laughter (though I could not sense what had been so funny), some barely acceptable actings and a not-so-hackneyed story was all it had. That's it, nothing else.

Some people might say the film’s success had been due in part to its
nostalgic mood. But nostalgic for what? "Happy" days during Japanese
occupation, I dare say? Throughout the film, it was fraught with palpable
phil-Japanese sentiments. I don’t intend to argue with you about the
phenomenon historically or politically, but I have to point out that if
sixty-odd years elapsed, still the post-colonial culture traits and relics
lingered on, and we have yet evolved into the ones of our own based on the
bottom of the very roots of ours, i.e. a renaissance, then we could never
produce any kind of real arts that could eventually tug at our
heartstrings.

Know what was the most beautiful scene of the movie? The chorus of
"Heidenroslein"(野玫瑰), a dramatic finale.

on Double Tenth Day, 2008