Pretty Rainbows Make Me Cry

That's me, crying. I look this sexy when I cry.

Is it okay if a guy cries? Is it okay if a guy cries watching a movie? Does the Sentimental Police need to be called, to give him a swift kick in the nuts and inject some intramuscular testosterone into him?

(/start Counterstrike sequence)

All units...*keerrrch.*... Saline noted at corner of eye.....*kerrcchh*.... Subject about to cry.... Operation No-Boo-Hoo is now in full swing! *keerch* Take him down! *keerrch* Go! Go! Go! *keerrchh*

(/end Counterstrike sequence)

Yes, I must admit, I have cried while watching movies. I have even cried watching a cartoon once. (Why did you have to die, Bugs Bunny? Why? Why? You wascally wabbit! - Okay, so in all seriousness it wasn't Bugs Bunny. I actually cried during the last episode of My Little Pony and Friends. Hahaha!)

Don't get me wrong, I don't bawl my eyes out at every movie like I was some kind of Sensitive New Age Guy; but you know how you watch a movie sometimes, and it comes to a really sad scene, and you've prepped yourself : Okay, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to.... bwwaaahhh! Why does life have to be so sad!!

Some movies just pull at the heartstrings, and draw out the tears against your control. You try and fight it, but the saline just builds arounds the corner of the eyelids, then flood the nasal passages, and the next moment, you are crying until damn ugly, to borrow the words of Jan!

I don't often 'cry until damn ugly' at movies, in fact, I can almost list them all here (see if you agree!):
1) Crash
2) Braveheart
3) The Patriot (the scene where the little daughter runs at him and says 'Don't leave Daddy! I'll say anything!' because she didn't want him to go to war... heartbreaking)
4) Graveyard of the Fireflies (that's a Hayao Miyazaki cartoon - okay, I've just realised I've cried watching two cartoons now!)
5) Cyrano de Bergerac (the other cartoon... now I am crying in shame!)
6) The Passion of the Christ (I promised myself I wouldn't cry in the cinema. So much for that!)
7) Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (best obscure Japanese movie ever!)
8) Dude, Where's My Car?

Okay, the last one was a joke. I only cried because it was 90 minutes of my life I will never see again.

Movie number 8 was actually this:

The irrepressible Geoffrey Rush

I have always wanted to watch this movie. Geoffrey Rush's performance as the damaged, quirky prodigy David Helfgott is unparalleled, earning this once obscure Australian actor the Oscar in 1996 for Best Actor, and he has never looked back since. This show is just beautifully crafted, and the performances all around are fantastic, especially Armin Muehller-Stahl who plays the domineering father who pushes David into his mental breakdown.

So call me soft and sentimental and all sorts of names rhyming with gay, but I will not apologise for shedding tears for movies that capture your heart and demand the investment of your emotions into them.

Random Memories: Seven Years Old

I remember watching this horrible Chinese movie on TV3 with Dad one night. I can't quite remember the title of the show, but it basically portrayed the relationship between a sickly mother-in-law with her subservient daughter-in-law .

The son had died, I think, and the relationship between the two women had soured. The mother-in-law was verbally and physically abusive towards the daughter-in-law, who bore the brunt of her wrath patiently.

The climax of the show was when the daughter-in-law made the ultimate sacrifice for the mother-in-law. The mother-in-law needed a herbal medicine to be cooked with meat in order for her health to improve. They were too poor to actually afford meat, but somehow the daughter-in-law came up with the goods.

And so there's this scene of the mother-in-law eating the soup, extremely pleased with the daughter-in-law for making the soup, but then questions her as to where she got her meat from. The daughter-in-law accepts the praise with an awkward smile, and she looks to be surpressing some pain.

The next scene cut to the back of the daughter-in-law's thighs, raw and bloody from where she had cut off bits of herself in order to give her mother-in-law the meat.

I found that scene really sad, and I was on the verge of tears. Dad, on the other hand, burst out laughing and said how the mother-in-law was an unknowing carnivore.

Eat up, Dad's cheeky smile goaded her on, but I could see the telltale gulp of his Adam's apple as Dad tried to surpress his tears in front of his seven year old son.