Caught a very cool Japanese flick yesterday called “A Stranger of Mine”. It was showing as part of the annual NY Asian Film Festival. The movie was reminiscent of Pulp Fiction in its use of multiple characters’ perspectives on the same scenes to create some really good “A-ha!” moments as well as hysterical comedic ones with a clever storyline and eccentric characters. I love that mix of dramatic what’s-going-to-happen-next tension created by the plot blended with the comic absurdity of the characters and their situations. That’s what was great about Pulp Fiction and the same formula works here too. And while I’m on the subject, I should mention that when Pulp Fiction lost out to Forrest Gump for Best Picture, that’s officially when I stopped paying any mind to the Oscars. What a joke that was and what a joke the Academy is.

Also worth mentioning is a really profound quote I took away from A Stranger of Mine, when the Yakuza boss tells his con artist ex-girlfriend that he thinks what she does is kind of cool: “Women who are true to their desires are attractive”. It’s a very eloquent way of putting something I’ve been expressing so sloppily all these years. I’ve always said that I’m looking for a girl that can be truly indulgent, but I think I’ve always framed it as not wanting a girl to rain on my parade when I want to blow money on stoopid shit. While that’s definitely true, I think the angle I’ve been missing is that a girl that’s capable of indulging with me like that is showing she’s true to what she wants and that in itself makes her more attractive. Two different perspectives on the same underlying thing, very much like the movie itself!