Eastern Broken Promises

"My parents would always say, 'It doesnt' matter if it's a guy picking up the garbage or the President of the United States, treat everybody as you would want to be treated."
- Dan Marino -

Last week began one of the most famous and most sought after events in Korea: the Pusan International Film Festival. Or PIFF, as some would call it. PIFF brings out a lot of international visitors to this coastal metropolis to analyze some of the best (and worst) independent films from all over the world. Unfortunately, this week long event came at a hectic time for me, so I was only able to watch two films. Nonetheless, I excitedly joined the masses at PIFF Plaza where international celebrities frolicked and dodged paparazzi.

A friend had bought us tickets to see a film from the country Georgia last Saturday called Chantrapas.

Chantrapas is about a young film producer/director who vehemently defends his right to express whatever it is his artistic spirit so chooses to conceive. One of his best friends suggests that his film will not fair well with the big wigs financing his movie, while another friend praises the simplicity and artistic independence shown on the film. I thought the film started off very slow and made little attempt to construct decent and personable characters. The plot didn't really go past the "struggling artist" phase. Actually, it probably did, but we didn't stay long to find out. We left half way through the film. It was ridiculously insipid.

The second film I saw was And On The Third Day.

This is Israel's answer to Crash in terms of seemingly unrelated characters coming together due to an event towards the end of the film. It's definitely better than Chantrapas, but it was also very slow moving and had somewhat disconnected characters. There were some unnecessary sex scenes that distracted from the more interesting side plots. While not the most exciting film I've seen, it did get a bit more interesting as you get to see how each character coheres to another. The end was pretty decent, because I love a good explosion.

I came with high hopes, but walked out in shame.

These past several days have been trying and demanding for me. While I won't go into detail about it, I just have to say that my conviction in my faith and strong spirit have kept me going. I guess this was inevitable. I've been running on this high of carelessness and over confidence that I'd forgotten that if it wasn't for God then I wouldn't even be where I am right now. My own insidious arrogance has consequently blinded my spiritual credo. It's like lighting a candle on a sunny day. You sort of take it for granted, and almost forget it about it with time. But, when the day gets darker and darker do you see the light of the candle, again. I'm so blessed to have been given this experience in Korea, and for a moment I did take everything for granted. These past few days have been reminders that it can all be taken away.

It was a much needed dose of reality check.