2
6
How does one even objectively review such a movie?
We are dropped into mid-conversation an injured high school student is having with a christian father about his “love quarrel”. And yet that conversation isn’t just between these two characters; that conversation, playing out throughout this movie, is between this movie and the audience.
“Why is it a sin to love someone?”
“So you can like girls, but I can't like boys? Is your love bigger than the love I give? Tell me. What's the difference between your love and mine? Tell me the difference!”
“Help me go to hell then. I'd rather go to hell now. Don't all homosexuals deserve to go to hell? Maybe more people would understand me in hell.”
With this conversation alone, the movie critiques society, religion, and our heteronormative understanding of “love”.
Set in the 80s, every time Birdy and JiaHan are alone, you too start worrying for their safety, hoping for their happiness, and mourning their love. Just like they don’t dare say their feelings out loud, the movie too, for quite a while, doesn’t explicity announce them as more than friends. But you, as a viewer, notice it so easily.
“When I looked at her (him), she (he) was already looking at me too.”
“If what you give me is the same as what you give to others, then I don't want it.”
You notice, as they themselves come to terms with their feelings, and then decide to hurt each other in order to protect each other. And oh, it is devestating.
And then, you smile as you hear them tell each other “wanan” at the very end of the movie, again and again, because “good night” (晚安/wanan) would never mean the same again.
“Why is it a sin to love someone?”
“So you can like girls, but I can't like boys? Is your love bigger than the love I give? Tell me. What's the difference between your love and mine? Tell me the difference!”
“Help me go to hell then. I'd rather go to hell now. Don't all homosexuals deserve to go to hell? Maybe more people would understand me in hell.”
With this conversation alone, the movie critiques society, religion, and our heteronormative understanding of “love”.
Set in the 80s, every time Birdy and JiaHan are alone, you too start worrying for their safety, hoping for their happiness, and mourning their love. Just like they don’t dare say their feelings out loud, the movie too, for quite a while, doesn’t explicity announce them as more than friends. But you, as a viewer, notice it so easily.
“When I looked at her (him), she (he) was already looking at me too.”
“If what you give me is the same as what you give to others, then I don't want it.”
You notice, as they themselves come to terms with their feelings, and then decide to hurt each other in order to protect each other. And oh, it is devestating.
And then, you smile as you hear them tell each other “wanan” at the very end of the movie, again and again, because “good night” (晚安/wanan) would never mean the same again.
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