A unique love story – Movie Review: Beyond the Dream

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A love triangle involving a young man and two girls is a very common film topic. But the story can be weird if the man’s two lovers, one existing in real life and the other in imagination, happen to be the same girl. In the film “Beyond the Dream” this is what happens to Ah Lok, a patient of delusional disorder, who craves for and experiences true love. The film, in fact, tells a unique love story, which keeps the audience emotionally engaged throughout the entire time.

Ah Lok is a primary sports teacher. On regular medication, he is a well-liked young man full of vitality. But when the disease gets out of control, strange things can happen; he cannot tell between what is real and what is imagined. And what triggers this may be a disturbing incident such as the one that occurs in the street at the beginning of the film and it is also where and when Ah Lok first encounters the girl.

Making frequent use of big close-up shots, the director wants to impress the audience with the characters’ inner feelings, such as Ah Lok’s helplessness when drifting in and out of half awake hallucinations, Yip Nam’s happiness when she feels Ah Lok’s love and the professor’s disappointment at Yip Nam's
determination to give up her doctorate.

There is also emphasis on the relationship between humans and the environment. The repeated top-view shot of the spiral staircase implies that a patient of mental disorder often finds himself subject to confinement. The same effect is also achieved with the scattered shots of the subway and the cruciform block of public housing estate. In addition, a light rail station appears several times, highlighting Ah Lok’s feeling of loneliness amidst the commuters hurrying past him. Moreover, the blurred shots imply doubt as to whether it is reality or imagination, comparable to Ah Lok's actual state of mind.

Above all, as the director remarks at an interview, the film is telling a love story. It delivers the message that patients of mental disorder are humans just like any of us. They also crave for love and are capable of true love. And, while Ah Lok is participating in the counselling project, we audience can join him as we also need counselling about genuine love, sacrificial love and accepting love.

A Comedian in Real Life - Movie review: Annie Hall

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Annie Hall is a 1977 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. It is a film with so much to take in that it appeals for undivided attention so much so that even a slight distraction would leave the audience straying off the path.

In the first place, the movie is characterized by a copious use of dialogues. Everyone everywhere seems to be talking. Quickness characterizes the way people talk. This, indicating the quick change of time and place as well as people’s mood, can be confusing at times. The audience have to pay full attention to the dialogues to get the right message. And very often two persons are heard speaking at the same time, their words overlapping. More than once the subtitles show both the words on their minds and the actual words being spoken. Imagine the confusion!.

Split scenes are used a few times. At one shot Alvin and Annie are seen at different settings, displayed side by side, each discussing with his own therapist. It is thus apparent that they are both bothered by the same problem though they refuse to confide it to each other. Similarly, split scenes are used to compare Annie’s family with Alvin’s when discussing a situation common to both. If I am to watch the film for the second time, it would be to listen to the dialogues again for better enjoyment and understanding.

His career as a stand -up comedian is another interesting detail. Why has he been assigned this career? Not much stress is placed on the two cases in which he is sharing a joke on stage. The script he uses is too short to spark laughter though the audience seem to be enjoying it a lot. As I see it, it is in real life that he impresses the audience as a comedian. His humour, rightly deemed a kind of neurotic humour, using his frailties as fodder to make us laugh, is implied in the way he interacts with the people around him. One example is his annoyance at a guy talking incessantly behind him in a waiting queue. This causes bursts of laughter especially when he purposely brings the guy to the presence of the man who was his target of criticism. And Alvin may suddenly turn to speak to the camera or even ask the strangers on the street questions about the nature of love. The situation could very well be likened to his stage performance initiating responses from the audience.

The audience may wonder why Alvin has been seeking the psychiatrist’s advice for fifteen years. One detail associated with his childhood may be part of the reason. He caused trouble in class because of his innocent sexual curiosity. He also irritated his mother with his indulgence in fanciful thoughts about the universe. Now a grown-up, he still finds this behaviour of his well justified. Could this be the reason for his need for psychological advice?

In view of the name of the film, one would expect the main part of the story to evolve through the life of Annie. But as I see it, Alvin, instead, is the focus of the story. He appears in practically every scene. Conversely, Annie is hardly seen without Alvin. In fact, she is framed through Alvin's experiences. Little importance is attached even to her being with Tony Lacey, her record producer. Her part in the film, from my point of view, is merely to show that she is the most outstanding among the women Alvin has got along with as she is the only one to whom he proposes for marriage. Why is the movie not named Alvin instead?

Frankly speaking, to write a good review of the film “Annie Hall”, I would need to view it for the second, or even the third time, to support my analysis with well digested details. Nevertheless, the film is worth watching more than once just for its own sake.