Film Name:年少日记/Times Still Turns The Pages
An unsigned suicide note suddenly appears in Mr Jung’s high school class. He begins to search for and try to save the student, but this is also the opportunity for him to take out the diary he wrote in his childhood once again, and while searching for the student, he is confronted with the trauma of his life again.
The unseen emotional culture is the only way to understand life.
The flaws in love make apparent loneliness an unappreciated disease.
Taking the traumatic experience of the past, Zhuo Yiqian writes a work that is strong enough to drive a person to reconcile with himself. Before we take the emotional side of the work away from Hong Kong, I think that inside Diary of a Young Man carries many shadows of contemporary Hong Kong people. As our society has gone through a great storm, and as smoke rises in every part of the city, the hatred and fear faced by Hong Kong people have also deepened. Therefore, in Hong Kong films and books of the last few years, the viewer can see that many powerful individuals, free or not, exude an emotional connection that is different from that of the past. A certain kind of identification, discourse and manipulation makes us non-Hong Kong people experience powerful emotional forces, and it is what leads us to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood.
Therefore, Cheuk Yi-kim’s work has a lot of emotions and intentions. Perhaps the problems of life still exist, but we will be given a chance to revise the story of life. With a black eye, the director holds up the wounded souls of the generations and puts them at the centre of Hong Kong’s collective feelings; on the other hand, he spills these feelings to the periphery and the edges, and how the hope, despair and disappointment of each generation become a subtle force. I think it is not just Director Cheuk, but also the reason why Hong Kong cinema in recent years can once again write a brand new page in the history of cinema: the structure of the work is both independent and grouped, allowing the onlookers (us) to gaze at the life and times underneath the structure, and it is the magic that can inspire the hearts and minds of the people under the alienation of the society.
Of course, not all is happy, and happy endings are not the only solution to redemption.
Looking back at 《Times Still Turns The Pages》, when life needs to find a direction, the lack of love can push one into a continuous spectrum of grief. So when Mr Cheng saw the unsigned suicide note, he knew he had to act. Even if he had to resort to the cliché of shouting into an open area or uttering the words “I will stay with you,” he understood that the biggest reason for these sullen people was not only the lack of concern of the Other, but also the fact that these people believed that every Other was just as lonely as they were. The grief that wells up from the heart, however, comes from the reality received both internally and externally. Thus, when Zheng pulls out his childhood diary from his childhood bag, it turns out that depression is not a choice, like an accumulation of unconsciousness. The diary re-mapped what Teacher Cheng’s inner and outer felt reality was, the pain that was not unbearable in the moment, but the certainty of understanding that the next moment would usher in pain.
Within such pain, however, the work allows pleasure and pain to coexist, birth and death to unfold progressively. Zhuo never makes any judgement on the life that emerges, no matter it is brave or weak, he tries to tell the people who come from all this that even if there is only breath left in the moment, it is still enough to justify that you deserve to live.
The most basic words, “I will stay with you,” become the greatest support for a suffering life.
The opposite of melancholy is not happiness, but courageous vitality.
Unsigned suicide notes, relationships between teachers and students, partnerships, and reconciliation with the family of origin’s ego all come to understand the feelings that come with loss in this frontier where young diaries are written. Melancholy is no longer just a pusher to the abyss, but makes life more forgiving and merciful. The work intersperses the past with the present, and the viewer understands through the changes in the chronological line of life that there are times when everyone has a cloudy day and is caught by the evils of the world. However, as Mr Cheng turns over the pages of his diary, he knows that his life has the power of redemption. Because he is still alive, he is able to revise his life story in a more expansive and inclusive way.
《Times Still Turns The Pages》 is one of the loneliest books ever written, and at the same time a perfect example of how to gently urge us not to be afraid to be gentle with ourselves.
Whether in Hong Kong or anywhere else, we are all facing the trend of being forced to “know yourself” and “figure out what you want to do in the future” in a fast-paced city. However, when I came to the last page of 《Times Still Turns The Pages》, I realised that what really matters is the love, hard work and insight to cross the darkness, and to believe that time brings the ability to rebuild oneself. It doesn’t matter if you’re not happy, as long as you have breath, someone will be on your side. Even time is on your side. I believe that even though I am in the loneliest of battles, I am on the road to healing. I am able to come face to face with my own life, week after week, and see the gentle gaze of Zhuo Yiqian, who finds the afternoon light for every soul.
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