Movies and Bowling
Posted by Stuart at 09:32 AM on February 24, 2004It's exam time, which means that the malls are (relatively) quiet. Piyawat and I went to MBK for a movie on Saturday night and were amazed that the usual chatting and laughing young crowds were not there. We both noticed it right away, but it took us a while to figure out what the case was.
We started Saturday evening by finally seeing Last Samurai. I thought it was ok... for a Hollywood movie. At least it has sparked some good conversations with Piyawat the last few days. For example, the Samurai's mountain village reminded both of us of the Thai Hill Tribes. There are some obvious comparisons that can be drawn between the three groups (American Indians, Samurai, and Thai Hilltribes). However, I don't know enough about the history of the Samurai to know how well the analogies work.
There were some minor annoyances in the movie (for me, at least). First of all, I'm no Tom Cruise fan. Also, Tom's character was way too modern. It wasn't very believable that he was an American soldier from the 1870's. It also was hard to believe that the "Last Samurai" spoke such good English or that Tom's character picked up Japanese so quickly. Or maybe he was just a lot smarter than I am, because learning an Asian language has been extremely difficult over the past year for me.
Also, we noticed that Hollywood movies with Japanese Emperors don't seem to stir up as much protests in Japan as movies with Thai Kings do in Thailand. (I'm referring specifically to The King and I and Anna and the King, which were both banned in Thailand.)
Of course, there were a lot of interesting topics that the movie didn't address. For example, why were the Samurai attacking the railroads? Why did the common people still show respect to the Samurai? And lots of historical questions: Was the power of the emperor really taken over by commercial interests? What really happened to the Samurai?
All in all I guess that it was a good movie. Any movie that actually makes me think critically or makes me hungry for more information is worth something.
After the movie, we were ready for some brainless fun, so we went bowling at the other end of MBK's seventh floor. Before that night, I didn't even know that there was a bowling alley there. Once inside, I was immediately reminded of the old (and now non-existent) Japan Town Bowl in San Francisco -- lots of young Asians, flashing black and neon lights, and hard-beat dance music blaring.
It looked like a lot of fun, so I convinced Piyawat to bowl a game with me. It ended up being two. I actually played relatively well: 105 on my first game (I'm happy if I break 100) and an incredible (for me) 133 on the second.
It was a fun evening and even though it seemed like we spent a lot of money, I felt much better when I thought about how much a movie at Kabuki (with popcorn and cokes) and two games (with rental shoes, a pitcher of Kamakazies and some spring rolls) at Japan Town Bowl across the street would have set us back. It's no contest.
