Quote of the day

[iambiguous]

More fucking Nazis. And two more brave people doing what they can to resist them. And what else can we do but to ask ourselves: Would we have done it?

Divided we fall or every man for himself? It always comes down to a particular context understood from a particular frame of mind.

But we are still forced to judge what others say and do as though this were not the case at all. What else is there? We are forced to choose.

And the characters here are not even close to the real horrors of the Holocaust. But always: Everyone is just one “wrong” choice away from it.

Here’s the thing: They are hiding a Jew in their house while, from time to time, hosting a Nazi sympathizer.

Based on a true story.

Divided We Fall

Man: Mr. Wiener, what are you doing here?
David: I need help.
Man: If somebody sees you, they’ll execute the whole street.
David: I don’t have a choice. I have to hide.
Man: Good God, get out of here. We have children.
[the man sees a German soldier]
Man: Jew! A Jew is here! A Jew is here! Help!

The wrong, the cowardly thing to do? And if it was your children facing execution?

Josef: Before the war many people had these secret rooms made. They suspected what was to come.

Next up: preparing for Trump here?

Josef: But what about him?
Marie: What? Do you want to send him away?
Josef: Come on. Want. Don’t want. Does it depend on what I want? Could I have imagined I’d be left out of this? We watched from the window and told ourselves the war was just passing by. Today it’s after us.

That Benjamin Button, rooted existentially dasein thing, let's call it.

Marie: You want to turn him in? You want to report him?
Josef: Oh, please, really, Marie.
Marie: You decided for him, for you, for me and for everyone on this street.
Josef: And are you blaming me or what?
Marie: No, I’m not blaming you. It’s just good we have no children.

Then comes the pig problem.

Horst: Get rid of everything. Properly. People are pigs. You might be turned in and what could I do about it? To be safe, skin a rabbit to be able to show the bones.

Obviously?

David: Kaje, my sister could have saved herself. At least for a while. After arriving at the camp, she was offered to be a kapo, provided she’d be hard enough. She was given a club and told to beat our parents to death. I could see my mother and father kneeling there, begging her to do it.

How about you?

Horst: You voluntarily live in a tomb.
Marie: We all do.

Uh, one way or another?

Josef: This is just great. The whole city can see me walking around with Nazis. Collabortor! I took a job at their office and know you want to leave!!

Flip a coin?

Josep: There’s only one thing to do.
Marie: What?
Josef: You’ve got to get pregnant as fast as possible. Otherwise, we go to the gallows. Our only hope is David.

This is how bizarre life can get. Then things really get strange as irony upon irony piles up.

Allies Captain: Where’s that Jew of yours?

Cue David.

[iambiguous]

In some respects, this is just a run-of-the-mill “thriller”. Every 20 minutes or so another shark is jumped. But the subject it tackles is medical ethics. And I thought it did so very effectively. It really shows the difference between morality “up there” in the philosophical clouds and morality that actually concerns you personally. And regarding something truly important – even vital – in your life.

It’s like the pro-life, anti-abortionist couple who suddenly find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy at the worst possible time in their lives. Some will go in one direction, some in another; but there is no longer any doubt that the issue is “just academic”.

Kant always seems so much more persuasive when there is little at stake “out in the world”.

Admittedly, "here and now" there’s no way I’d go along with this either. But existentially it would truly be an agonizing predicament for many. And I’m not paralyzed.

And then there are the “mole people”. Do they really exist down there? Seem to: https://www.straightdope.com/21343622/a ... -york-city



Extreme Measures

Dr. Trammel: You made a moral choice and not a medical one. I guess I’m kind of surprised, that’s all.
Dr. Luthan: On my right I see a cop with pictures of his kids in his wallet, and on my left some guy who’s taken out a gun on a city bus! I had ten seconds to make a choice. I had to make it. I hope I made the right one. I hope I did the right thing.

Pick one:
1] what would Jesus do?
2] what would Kant do?

Dr. Luthan: Obviously, I’m having trouble understanding why it’s so easy for all of you to believe I just threw my life away which was going quite well. Why I suddenly out of the blue, took up drugs and threw it all away. It’s hard to grasp why that’s easier for you to believe than that someone in this hospital set me up to stop me asking about a patient whose body disappeared into thin fucking air.

Shades of...Coma?

Mole-Woman: What are they doing to all these people?
Dr. Luthan: What do you mean, “all these people”? Claude and Teddy?
Mole-Woman: And the others.
Dr. Luthan: What others?
Mole-Man: Gramercy. That’s where we all go.
Dr. Luthan: What are you talking about?
Mole-Man: He knows! And this motherfucker’s in on it.

Actually, he's not.

Dr. Luthan: Jesus…That’s why they do the lab tests.
Mole Woman: Who’s ‘they’?
Dr. Luthan [not appearing to hear]: That’s why they do the lab tests. Someone’s using healthy subjects.
Mole Leader: Why us?
Dr. Luthan: They think you won’t be missed.

And they weren't.

Doctor: My name is Dr. Mingus. You’re in the Acute Care Ward at Riverside Hospital. You were found five days ago by the boat basin in Central Park. You’d been shot. You lost a great deal of blood. You’ve been in a coma until today. I have some tough news, Guy. Listen to me very carefully. Can you do that? You sustained a serious blow to your upper back. There was a severe cervical fracture of the sixth vertebra. Somehow we’re not quite sure your spinal cord was cut. At the moment, you’re paralyzed from the neck down. We did everything we could. I’m terribly sorry. Guy, listen to me. This is not the end of your life. Not by any means. I know it’s hard to accept, but you’ll learn to do things that you wouldn’t believe possible right now. You’re going to have a different life, that’s for sure but it can still be a great life and a fulfilling life, believe me. Whenever you feel ready, you can meet with our counseling people. We have an amazing program here.
Dr. Luthan [completely stunned and devastated]: Please…leave me alone.

What to believe in other words.

Dr. Myrick: Guy. It’s Dr. Myrick. I came over as soon as I heard. Dr. Mingus was a student of mine. I’ve seen your chart. It’s a terrible thing. I’d like to try to help.
Dr. Luthan: If you want to help me…let me die.

But it’s all a set up…

[iambiguous]

Extreme Measures

Dr. Myrick: What if there was hope?
Dr. Luthan: There isn’t.
Dr. Myrick: But what if there was hope? What would it be worth to be able to walk again, to be able to feed yourself? To go back to your old life? To be a doctor. What would you endure?
Dr. Luthan: What are you talking about?
Dr. Myrick: I’m asking you a question. What would that be worth?
Dr. Luthan: I can’t live like this.
Dr. Myrick: With proper care you can live 20 years like this. What would you do? What would you risk to change that?
Dr. Luthan: I have a C6 break in my cord.
Dr. Myrick: What if I told you there was a chance you could be healed? That there was a procedure that offered you a good chance that you might walk again? What would you do to make that happen?
Dr. Luthan: Anything.
Dr. Myrick: Anything? You’d better think about that.
[Dr. Myrick turn and walks away]
Dr. Luthan: What do you mean? What do you mean? Wait! Dr. Myrick?

How about you? Anything?

Dr. Trammel: Quiet. We have to be quiet. You’re not paralyzed. It’s an epidural drip. I turned it off. You’re not at Riverside Hospital. This is Triphase. You’re not paralyzed.

The plot thickens. Existentially, as it were.

Dr. Luthan: How can you be part of this?
Dr. Trammel: For my brother. He is paralyzed. I was driving the car when he was hurt. Because I was drunk.

Guilt. That'll do it.

Dr. Myrick [over loud speaker]: Guy, you have to understand. We never wanted you involved. All the way along, we tried to get you to walk away. I’m not a murderer. I didn’t know what to do with you. It was terrible to put you through it, but I had to do it. I had to make it real. You had to feel it to understand what it is we’re trying to do. And it is real.

Too real, perhaps?

Dr. Myrick [over loud speaker]: I can grow nerves. I can grow nerves and control their patterns. Thirty hours before he came to you, Claude Minkins had his spine surgically severed at the fourth vertebra. Teddy Dolson lived for 12 days. I can show you their charts. Complete neural regeneration. I can grow nerves. But I needed human subjects. That’s the awful truth. Growth factors only code to species. To do the work, you need human subjects. And most of them will die. These men they’re not victims. These men are heroes. Because of them millions of people will walk again. You see them every night. They’re lost or cold or stoned or worse. They have nothing. No future. No family. Nothing. But here, with us here they’re performing miracles.

See, a rationalization. That they aren’t permitted to give their consent is just further rationalized: If they really understood our humanitarian motives they would go along.

Dr. Myrick: I’m 68 years old. I don’t have much time. Three years with a rat to get to a dog? And after five years, if I’m lucky, maybe I can work on a chimp? We have to move faster than that. I’m doing medicine no one’s ever dreamed of. This is baseline neural chemistry, Guy.
Dr. Luthan: You’re killing people.
Dr. Myrick: People die everyday. And for what? For nothing. Plane crash. Train wreck. Bosnia. Pick your tragedy. Sniper in a restaurant, 15 dead. News at 11. What do we do? What do you do? You change the channel. You move on to the next patient. You take care of the ones you think you can save. Good doctors do the correct thing. Great doctors have the guts to do the right thing. Your father had those guts. So do you. Two patients on either side. One, a gold-shield cop the other, a maniac that pulled a gun on a bus. Who do you work on first? You knew. You knew. If you could cure cancer by killing one person, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t that be brave? One person and cancer’s gone tomorrow? When you thought you were paralyzed what would you have done to be able to walk again? “Anything.” You said it yourself. Anything. You were like that for 24 hours. Helen [his daughter next to him in a wheelchair] hasn’t walked for 12 years. I can cure her. And everyone like her. The door’s open. You can go out there and put a stop to everything and it’ll be over. Or we can go upstairs and change medicine forever. It’s your call.
Helen: Guy…
Dr. Luthan: Maybe you’re right. Those men upstairs, maybe there isn’t much point to their lives. Maybe they are doing a great thing for the world. Maybe they are heroes. But they didn’t choose to be. You didn’t choose your wife or your granddaughter to experiment on. You didn’t ask for volunteers. You chose for them. And you can’t do that. Because you’re a doctor. And you took an oath. And you’re not God. So I don’t care. I don’t care if you can do what you say you can. I don’t care if you find a cure for every disease on the planet! You tortured and murdered those men upstairs, and that makes you a disgrace to your profession! And I hope you go to jail for the rest of your life.
[to Helen]
I’m sorry.

See? Conflicting goods. They are both right. They are both wrong. It just depends on what you assume is true. Or it can all be reduced down to this: What’s right for me is what’s right period.

Unless, of course, as some objectivists do here, you take the argument back “up there”.

[promethean75]

"Great God in boots. The ontological argument is sound!"

The young and philosophically inexperienced logician Bertrand Russell.

[iambiguous]

In a nutshell:

"The film follows the story of a vengeful man who embarks on a murderous rampage when the only person that seems to understand him is taken from him." wiki

Nobody does this stuff better than the South Koreans. Well, maybe the Japanese.

It’s basically a remake of Man On Fire.

In other words, a violent gangster film. And if you hate violent gangster films you will loathe this one. Me, if the anti-hero is appealing and it involves righteous revenge…I make allowances. And it’s got a great big heart as soon as you see So-mi and Cha Tae-sik interacting [same as with Creasy and Pita].

Child abuse on an epic scale.

These things really do happen and it reflects a world that always fascinates me: one where morality has almost nothing whatsoever to do with objectivity. Not that I condone it of course. I simply acknowledge that sometimes there is really no effective way of getting around it. And broaching the arguments of philosophers here is nothing short of surreal.

Besides, if this isn’t the most adorable little girl in the world…

So, yeah: I’ll be backing whatever the hell he chooses to do to those who would harm her.

Plus: You have to wonder sometimes if mindless mayhem [or the potential for it] isn’t built right into the genetic code of men.

The Man From Nowhere

So-mi: Are you really a gangster? They say you are hiding because you did something bad. And Mom warned me that you are a child molester. Why?
Cha Tae-sik: Do you think I’m a bad guy, too?
So-mi [thinks about it]: Well, you do look like the prison type.

An outsider let's say.

Hyo-jeong [So-mi’s heroin addict mother]: I’m warning you. Stop luring my kid in there. If you touch her, I’ll kill you. You can go screw married women, but don’t mess with kids. If you do, I’ll rip your balls off. If you’re that desperate then ask me out. You’re easy on the eyes.

Cue the thugs.
And the hair dryer.

So-mi: My nickname is “garbage”. My Aunt told me, Mom kicked a garbage can when she got pregnant with me. It’s been garbage ever since.

So, does she need him more or less than he needs her?

Crime boss: 160 million Chinese do weed, 26 million do meth and 11 million do heroin. It’s a goldmine.

Dope? Show me the money!

So-mi [with tears in her eyes]: Mister? I embarrass you too, right? That’s why you ignored me. It’s okay. My teacher and all the kids do that, too. Mom said that if I get lost, I should forget our address and phone number. She gets drunk and says we should die. Even that pig called me a bum. You’re meaner. But I don’t hate you. Because if I do, I won’t have anyone I like. Thinking about it hurts me here. So I won’t hate you.

What breaks your heart is that you know there are tens of thousands of kids like her out in the real world. Reminds you of Todd from Parenthood:

"You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, to drive a car - hell, you even need a license to catch a fish. But they’ll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father."

Or, here, a mother

Cha Tae-Sik: You live only for tomorrow.
Man-seok: What?
Cha Tae-Sik: The ones that live for tomorrow, get fucked by the ones living for today.
Man-seok: What are you babbling about?
Cha Tae-Sik: I only live for today. And I will show you just how fucked up that can be.

Let's go there here. You first.

Cha Tae-Sik: When the kids dies, you took out their organs. Sent the liver to one district, the eyes to another. And the heart to Seoul. Those young children…wandering the earth even after death. Did that ever cross your mind.
Jong-seok [smirking]: What about you? You ever wonder how much they’re worth. Even their parents don’t want them anymore. It’s a win-win situation.

Men who do this to children should be made to suffer grievously in prison. Day after day after day. Let the other bastards know that they can expect the same fate. See if that doesn’t slow it down some. While at the same time arguing that in a No God world there does not appear to be a way [philosophically or otherwise] to demonstrate that such behaviors are inherently and necessarily immoral.

So, what’s that make me? You decide.

Detective: I got a name. Oh Sang-man, a surgeon. Served three and a half for drug use. Known as “500”. His goal is to cut open 500 bodies.

So-mi is on the operating table right now.

Cha Tae-Sik [to So-mi]: Just once…Let me hug you just once. Let me hug you, just once.
So-mi: Mister. Are you crying?

I was.

[iambiguous]

Logic

“For a Westerner, it is usually sufficient for a proposition to be logically sound. For a Chinese it is not sufficient that a proposition be logically correct, but it must be at the same time in accord with human nature.” Lin Yutang

We'll need an actual proposition, of course.

“Logic is like the sword---those who appeal to it shall perish by it.” Samuel Butler

We'll need an actual appeal, of course.

“We may not yet know the right way to go, but we should at least stop going in the wrong direction.” Stefan Molyneux

Next up: who decides that.

“Each religion makes scores of purportedly factual assertions about everything from the creation of the universe to the afterlife. But on what grounds can believers presume to know that these assertions are true? The reasons they give are various, but the ultimate justification for most religious people’s beliefs is a simple one: we believe what we believe because our holy scriptures say so. But how, then, do we know that our holy scriptures are factually accurate? Because the scriptures themselves say so. Theologians specialize in weaving elaborate webs of verbiage to avoid saying anything quite so bluntly, but this gem of circular reasoning really is the epistemological bottom line on which all 'faith' is grounded. In the words of Pope John Paul II: 'By the authority of his absolute transcendence, God who makes himself known is also the source of the credibility of what he reveals.' It goes without saying that this begs the question of whether the texts at issue really were authored or inspired by God, and on what grounds one knows this. 'Faith' is not in fact a rejection of reason, but simply a lazy acceptance of bad reasons. 'Faith' is the pseudo-justification that some people trot out when they want to make claims without the necessary evidence." Alan Sokal

Meno!

“There are no things man was not meant to know. There are, perhaps, things man is too dumb to figure out, but that's a different problem.” Michael Kurland

Pinheads, you're up!

“In short, we would discover, as we should already, that logic is in the eye of the logician. For instance, here's an idea for theorists and logicians: if women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long? I leave further improvisation up to you.” Gloria Steinem

New thread?

[iambiguous]

Within five minutes you know that Yukio and Aiko are not Ozzie and Harriet. But what they do turn out to be is not what you are thinking either. Not even close.

The film is "loosely based" on a true story:

"The movie was “inspired by true events” known as the “Saitama serial murders of dog lovers”; the convicted killers in the real-life case are Gen Sekine (b. January 2, 1942) and his ex-wife Hiroko Kazama (b. February 19, 1957)." IMDb

The scene in the “church” alone is mindboggling.

Most will tend to focus their attention on Nobuyuki. He is the one who comes closest to an everyman...a "last man"? It’s easier to wonder what the hell you would do if you were in his place. This guy tumbled into the Twilight Zone by way of Saw. You keep wondering: Will he become one of them? Or one of their victims? It’s a fucking nightmare.

Are they crazy? If so, does that make them more or less scary? Just pray to god you never come across someone like them.

This film is both absolutely grotesque and absolutely mesmerizing. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Cold Fish

Yukio: Now listen good. We all die one day, right? We usually depart one day, without warning. Unfortunately, we all die, right? Nobody knows when the day will come. That’s what they say, but there are some people who do know! I’m one of them. I know how long a man lives, and when he dies. I also know where he dies, Who arranges that? I do!
Nobuyuki [watching Yoshida choke to death]: Mr. Yoshida…
Yukio: Pay no attention to him. He’ll calm down soon. No need to panic. We all die one day without exception. He’ll die today, that’s all! There’s nothing you can do…You love stars, don’t you? And the planetarium? What a joke! You think the earth is a smooth, blue sphere? I think the earth is just a chunk of rocks. Jagged, ugly rocks! That’s all there is! No planet is smooth and nice. That doesn’t exist! Look at him. Do you want to be like him? How was Mitsuka? I hope she’ll stay okay. Finally he’s gone. I hate superfical guys like him! Are you a man of substance? Look. If you try to defy me, that’s what you get. To kill someone makes you on edge at first. But after the first few, you’ll get used to it. This is my 58th. I could get hanged for it. But, you know I’m a perfectionist. I’ll never get caught.
Aiko [to Nobuyuki after Yukio leaves]: It’s best to just go along with it.

This is without much doubt one of the most bizarre scenes I have ever seen in a movie. You have to watch it 3 times though. Once focusing on Yukio, once on Aiko, once on Nobuyuki.

Yukio [to Nobuyuki after he and his wife have carved up Mr. Yoshida]: Eat some sushi! The smell? You’ll soon get used to it.

Or, sure, maybe not.
Then the enormous gap between Nobuyuki’s abject horror and the jocular, matter-of-fact manner in which Yukio and Aiko playfully react to the whole bloody spectacle.

Yukio: The body’s invisible now. Nobody will know.

And now we all know.

Woman’s voice over the loud speaker at the planetarium: Please enjoy the winter sky. Our blue planet, Earth, was born 4.6 billion years ago. [Nobuyuki closes his eyes] And 4.6 billion years from now, it is said that the earth will end its life…

In the interim?

Detective [to Nobuyuki]: Please don’t tell Mr. Maruta we approached you. If he found out that the police had spoken to you, you’d probably become another missing person.

Invisible, in other words.

Yukio: First you chop the body into small pieces. As small as you can. Bite size. Always no larger than chicken nuggets.
Nobuyuki [gagging]: Yes.
Yukio: Next, separate bones from meat. It’s important!
Nobuyuki: Yes.
Aiko: Look, it’s his penis.
Yukio: I’ll take care of it.
[she grabs the penis]
Shit. She put a pearl on his dick, damn it. Show-off!

Don't ask.

[iambiguous]

Stanisław Lem from Solaris

“Tell me something. Do you believe in God?'
Snow darted an apprehensive glance in my direction. 'What? Who still believes nowadays?'
'It isn't that simple. I don't mean the traditional God of Earth religion. I'm no expert in the history of religions, and perhaps this is nothing new--do you happen to know if there was ever a belief in an...imperfect God?'
'What do you mean by imperfect?' Snow frowned. 'In a way all the gods of the old religions were imperfect, considered that their attributes were amplified human ones. The God of the Old Testament, for instance, required humble submission and sacrifices, and and was jealous of other gods. The Greek gods had fits of sulks and family quarrels, and they were just as imperfect as mortals...'
'No,' I interrupted. 'I'm not thinking of a god whose imperfection arises out of the candor of his human creators, but one whose imperfection represents his essential characteristic: a god limited in his omniscience and power, fallible, incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his acts, and creating things that lead to horror. He is a...sick god, whose ambitions exceed his powers and who does not realize it at first. A god who has created clocks, but not the time they measure. He has created systems or mechanisms that serves specific ends but have now overstepped and betrayed them. And he has created eternity, which was to have measured his power, and which measures his unending defeat.'
Snow hesitated, but his attitude no longer showed any of the wary reserve of recent weeks:
'There was Manicheanism...'
'Nothing at all to do with the principles of Good and Evil,' I broke in immediately. 'This god has no existence outside of matter. He would like to free himself from matter, but he cannot...
Snow pondered for a while:
'I don't know of any religion that answers your description. That kind of religion has never been...necessary. If i understand you, and I'm afraid I do, what you have in mind is an evolving god, who develops in the course of time, grows, and keeps increasing in power while remaining aware of his powerlessness. For your god, the divine condition is a situation without a goal. And understanding that, he despairs. But isn't this despairing god of yours mankind, Kelvin? Is it man you are talking about, and that is a fallacy, not just philosophically but also mystically speaking.'
I kept on:
'No, it's nothing to do with man. man may correspond to my provisional definition from some point of view, but that is because the definition has a lot of gaps. Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve is age or rebel against it, but the target of his cooperation or rebellion comes to him from outside. If there was only a since human being in existence, he would apparently be able to attempt the experiment of creating his own goals in complete freedom--apparently, because a man not brought up among other human beings cannot become a man. And the being--the being I have in mind--cannot exist in the plural, you see? ...Perhaps he has already been born somewhere, in some corner of the galaxy, and soon he will have some childish enthusiasm that will set him putting out one star and lighting another. We will notice him after a while...'
'We already have,' Snow said sarcastically. 'Novas and supernovas. According to you they are candles on his altar.'
'If you're going to take what I say literally...'
...Snow asked abruptly:
'What gave you this idea of an imperfect god?'
'I don't know. It seems quite feasible to me. That is the only god I could imagine believing in, a god whose passion is not a redemption, who saves nothing, fulfills no purpose--a god who simply is.”

Add this to your collection of takes on God and religion.

But what am I going to see?
I don't know. In a certain sense, it depends on you.

I told you.

“Each of us is aware he's a material being, subject to the laws of physiology and physics, and that the strength of all our emotions combined cannot counteract those laws. It can only hate them. The eternal belief of lovers and poets in the power of love which is more enduring that death, the finis vitae sed non amoris that has pursued us through the centuries is a lie. But this lie is not ridiculous, it's simply futile. To be a clock on the other hand, measuring the passage of time, one that is smashed and rebuilt over and again, one in whose mechanism despair and love are set in motion by the watchmaker along with the first movements of the cogs. To know one is a repeater of suffering felt ever more deeply as it becomes increasingly comical through a multiple repetitions. To replay human existence - fine. But to replay it in the way a drunk replays a corny tune pushing coins over and over into the jukebox?”

Next up: corny philosophy.

The fate of a single man can be rich with significance, that of a few hundred less so, but the history of thousands and millions of men does not mean anything at all, in any adequate sense of the word.

Sort of?

The human mind is only capable of absorbing a few things at a time. We see what is taking place in front of us in the here and now, and cannot envisage simultaneously a succession of processes, no matter how integrated and complementary.

Let alone the Benjamin Button quagmire.

There was a time we tormented one another with excessive honesty in the naive belief it would save us.

Of course, only God can do that.

[iambiguous]

Cold Fish

Yukio [holding up Tsu-Tsui’s severed head]: Shamoto, look!
[Nobuyuki turns away gasping…Yukio and Aiko burst into laughter]

On the other hand, in time, they're next.

Yukio: Mitsuko-chan made a decision to leave home for your sake, you understand? So that you can make up with your wife. So that you could fuck your wife without her around. Your wife has a nice body too. She is a screamer. A cute mole on her back.
[Nobuyuki grabs him by the throat]
Yukio: That’s good. It’s about time you got mad.
[Nobuyuki punches him in the face]
Yukio [massaging his jaw and grinning]: It’s the story of your sad life. Because of you, your wife weeps. Because of you, your daughter became a criminal. But you have done nothing about it! Me, I’m different. Sure, I kill people, but I take care of myself. Look back at your sorry life and tell me you have ever dealt with a problem on your own. Have you? Well, have you?

Let's just say that he's about to.

Yukio: Come on, put your hatred in your fist. Hit me!
[Nobuyuki falls to the ground screaming in anguish, crying, wimpering. He’s completely broken]
Yukio: Hey. Hey, Samoto, are we in this together? Answer me!
Nobuyuki [practically catatonic]: Yes.
Yukio: Good. Get up then and fuck Aiko!
Nobuyuki: I can’t.
[Yukio shoves him on top of his wife who is laughing]
Yukio: We’re in this together. So do it now!
[Aiko starts taking off his pants while Yukio holds him]
Aiko: He’s getting hard.
Yukio: Aiko lead him in…All right, is he in?
[Yukio pushes and pulls him in and out of Aiko]
Yukio [letting go of Nobuyuki who is now, uh, on his own]: Shamoto, you’re doing fine. You’re doing good. Aiko, how do you feel? Samoto, keep going, keep going! Harder! Harder! That’s good! Atta boy!
[Out of the blue Nobuyuki takes a ball point pen and stabs both Yukio and Aiko in the neck]

Another simply surreal scene as Nobuyuki continues to stab Yukio and Aiko looks back and starts to giggle with blood coming out of her neck. Then she bursts into gales of laughter.

Nobuyuki [at the “church”]: Get him out.
Aiko: Okay.
Nobuyuki [holding out a butcher knife]: Aiko, finish him off.
[Aiko ignores the knife. She grabs a television set and pummels a barely breathing Yukio over and over and over again]
Nobuyuki: Good. Take his body to the bath.
[Aiko drags it across the floor screeching like a banshee]
Nobuyuki: Make him invisible like the others. I’m the new Murata from today. And you’re my woman now.

He becomes one of them. And what a transformation!

Nobuyuki [to Taeko]: Prepare the meal.
[She hesitates, barely recognizing her husband…Nobuyuki picks up a kitchen chair]
Nobuyuki: PREPARE THE MEAL!!!

Planetarium man is now a million miles away.

Nobuyuki: By the way, Taeko I know what you did. I know you fucked Murata.
[the tension in the air is explosive]
Nobuyuki [slapping her across the face]: YOU FUCKED HIM! YOU WHORE!
[he pins her to the ground]
Nobuyuki: Go ahead, say what you really think!
Taeko [struggling]: Our marriage is the pits! A big mistake! I hate your daughter’s guts! I hate our sorry life! I want my life back! Give it back to me!!

Then another absolutely mindboggling scene...

Nobuyuki: I’m going to rape you.
Mitsuko: What the hell are you doing?
[Nobuyuki punches his daughter in the face and knocks her out]

Then back to the “church”. I won’t even attempt to describe what happens there between him and Aiko. You simply have to see it to believe it. It’s stuptifying. I’m, well, speechless.

[Nobuyuki stabs and kills his wife. He approaches Mitsuko with the big butcher knife]
Nobuyuki: Mitsuko, you can take care of yourself, right? You want to live on your own.
[he jabs her with the knife]
Nobuyuki: Does it hurt?
[he jabs her again]
Mitsuko: You’re hurting me!
Nobuyuki: It hurts?
[he jabs her again’
Nobuyuki: Do you want to live?
Mitsuko: I do, I do want to live!
Nobuyuki: Okay, you want to live.
[jabs her again]
Mitsuko: I don’t like pain!
Nobuyuki: Mitsuko, let me kill you! LIFE IS PAIN!!
[he then takes the knife and slits his own throat]

Mitsuko reacts:

Mitsuko [hovering hesitantly over his body]: Now you’re dead you fuckhead!

Nobuyuki’s dead vacant eyes stare out into the void. Then a final shot of the blue Earth against the expanse of an endless universe.

[iambiguous]

With Tartan Asia Extreme films you take your chances. Some are just gorefests with various supernatural elements I tend to avoid. But others are far more sophisticated. This is one of those. Sure, there are the usual way-over-the-top action scenes. But interspersed between them is some great dialogue and an actual story that is built around actual characters. Though, admitedly, rather far-fetched at times.

And even though some will see “the twist” coming, the important thing is this: Dae-su Oh doesn’t.

And there will be those who think: What’s all the fuss?! In fact, they’ll boastfully endorse this sort of behavior! Which is to say that what one person will commit suicide regarding another will joyfully celebrate. Dasein.

It’s the not knowing that consumes him. Who did this to me? What is the reason?

The part about hypnosis. Different people have different opinions. Is it real? And, if so, what can or cannot be done with it?

Oldboy [Oldeuboi]

Dae-su Oh: Sir, sir Wait come here Come talk to me. I won’t tell you to let me go. Just tell me why I’m here, okay? I should know the reason at least. Shit, I’ve been locked up here for two months already. Sir, wait, come here. Sir, wait. What is this place? Sir, just tell me how long I have to stay in here. Just tell me that, huh? Sir! Fuck you! Come here, you asshole! Son of a bitch! I saw your face, asshole! You’re dead if I get out! Come here, asshole!!

He just needs to be patient. He'll be out in 15 years.

Dae-su Oh [voiceover]: If they had told me it was going to be fifteen years, would it have been easier to endure? Or harder?

Now that's a great question, isn't it?

Dae-su Oh [voiceover]: When the melody turns on, gas comes out. When the gas comes out, I fall asleep. I found out later it’s the same Valium gas the Russians used on those Chechen terrorists.

If only for 15 years.

Dae-su Oh [voiceover]: The most important thing is what floor I’m on. What if I pierce through the wall and it’s the 52nd floor? But even if I fall to my death I’m still getting out.

Oh, he's getting out alright.

Dae-su Oh [voiceover]: Can 10 years’ worth of imaginary training be put to use?
[he beats up all the thugs]
Dae-su Oh [voiceover]: Apparently, it can.

Well, scripted, anyway.

Dae-su Oh [voiceover]: She looks familiar…

Mesmerizing?

[iambiguous]

Oldboy [Oldeuboi]

Dae-su Oh [on phone]: Why did you imprison me?
Woo-jin Lee: Who do you think I am?
Dae-su Oh: Yoo Heungsam?
Woo-jin Lee: Wrong
Dae-su Oh: Did Lee Soyoung hire you?
Woo-jin Lee: No, wrong again.
Dae-su Oh: Lee Jongyong? Kang Changsuk? Hwang Jooyeun? Kim Nasung? Park Ji woo? Im Dukyoon? Lee Jaepyung? Kuk Suran? Who the hell are you?!
Woo-jin Lee: Me? I’m a sort of scholar. And my major is you. A scholar studying Dae-su Oh; an expert on Dae-su Oh.

One had a sister, the other a daughter.

Woo-jin Lee: Who I am isn’t important. Why, however, is important. Remember this: “Be it a rock or a grain of sand, in water they sink as the same.”

So, which would you rather be?

Dae-su Oh [voiceover]: I’ve now become a monster. When my vengeance is over, can I return as the old Dae-su?

Spoiler alert: Nope.

Woo-jin Lee: First, “who?”. Then, “why?”. If you figure it out come see me anytime. I’ll raise your score. You have until July 5th. Oh no, only five days left. Too short? Chin up. If you succeed I’ll kill myself and not Mi-do. That’s right, Mi-do. I’m going to kill every woman you love until you die.

Did I mention he once had a sister?

Woo-jin Lee: You really are the very monster I created, aren’t you? But you won’t find out the “why” of this if you kill me. Fifteen years of being curious would go to waste. What a dilemma: Revenge or truth?

Just as in The Vanishing, right? It’s the not knowing that will tear some apart.

Mi-do: So, do you trust me now, you bastard!

Now he's got to, right?

[iambiguous]

Epistemology

“It is a common illusion to believe that what we know today is all we ever can know. Nothing is more vulnerable than scientific theory, which is an ephemeral attempt to explain facts and not an everlasting truth in itself.” Carl Jung

Next up: human psychology and everlasting truth.

“Do not pay attention to what people say, only to what they do, and how much of their necks they are putting on the line.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Next up: what we do here.

“But doesn't it come out here that knowledge is related to a decision?” Ludwig Wittgenstein

For example, to bring or not to bring that knowledge down out of the philosophical clouds.

“Information came into the universe when the first hominids began to justify their actions to one another by making assertions and backing those assertions up with further assertions.” Rorty Richard

Of course, some things never change.

“There you go again, doubting. You doubt that the moon ever existed, you doubt the gods, you doubt the cards, and you doubt magic. Is there anything you don’t doubt?”
“Quite a lot,” Rowan told her, laughing despite herself. “I don’t doubt that some things people believe are true, and some are false. And I don’t doubt that there’s some means to tell the difference.” Then she admitted, “But I sometimes doubt that I possess the means.” Rosemary Kirstein

Then those like me who doubt that anyone possesses the means.

“The great achievement of Kant is to have shown, once for all, that the external world is known to us only as sensation; and that the mind is no mere helpless tabula rasa, the inactive victim of sensation, but a positive agent, selecting and reconstructing experience as experience arrives.” Will Durant

On the other hand, what if a new experience prompts you to reconstruct your philosophy of life? Well, not counting most of these folks...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_r ... traditions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_p ... ideologies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... philosophy

...no doubt.

[iambiguous]

Oldboy [Oldeuboi]

Dae-su Oh: You need not worry about the future. Just imagine nothing.

Though for a lot longer than 15 years.

Dae-su Oh [holding up a sign in electronics store]: I’VE BEEN BUGGED! PLEASE FIND IT!!

They do.

Dae-su Oh: What was she like?
No Joo-hwan: Her? She was a total slut. On the outside she acted like a prude but she was a filthy whore on the inside. A total slut.
Woo-jin Lee [on telephone with Dae-su after stabbing No Joo-hwan to death]: Dae-su…My sister was no slut.

Family ties?

Mi-do [looking around the inside of Dae-su’s “cell”]: You stayed in this place for fifteen years?
Dae-su Oh: Yeah, but after the first ten years it felt like home.

Or only more like home for others.

Mi-do: You get locked up for 15 years just for saying that?
Dae-su Oh: Whether it be it a grain of sand or rock in water they sink as the same. That’s what Lee Woojin believes.
Mi-do: So, what is the significance of July 5th?
Dae-su Oh: That’s the day Lee Soo-ah died.

Of course, for Lee Woojin, he might just as well have pushed her himself.

Mi-do: What should I pray for?
Dae-su Oh: “Dear Lord, next time let me meet a younger man.”

And one who is not her father? Will she find this out?

Woo-jin Lee: Your tongue got my sister pregnant! It wasn’t Woo-jin Lee’s dick; it was Dae-su Oh’s tongue!

The irony embedded in the denouement then becomes crystal clear.

[iambiguous]

Henry James from The Portrait of a Lady

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

Explain that please.

Her reputation for reading a great deal hung about her like the cloudy envelope of a goddess in an epic.

You tell me.

“I always want to know the things one shouldn't do."
"So as to do them?" asked her aunt.
"So as to choose," said Isabel”

Click, of course.

I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination.

Imagine telling that to...Adolph Hitler?

And remember this, that if you've been hated, you've also been loved.

Not counting here, perhaps?

She is written in a foreign tongue.

Aren't we all?

[iambiguous]

I wasn’t a teenage girl living in the 1970’s so what do I know? But I once attempted suicide and [over and over again] I have been aound folks who make you want to. So I do know a little about that frame of mind.

And sure: God is smack dab in the middle of the repression. Him and exurbia.

Is this another…Heathers? No, it’s not even remotely a caricature of “teen suicide”. No Martha Dumptrucks here. But in being more down to earth -- is it? -- it’s still in a tug of war [at times] between real and surreal.

There really are parents like this. Lots and lots of them. Down in the Bible Belt I’m sure. Or in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. And ask yourself this: Would you be the same today if you had been raised in a home like them?

The Virgin Suicides

Doctor: What are you doing here, honey? You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.
Cecilia: Obviously, Doctor, you’ve never been a 13-year-old girl.

You know, in our postmodern world.

Narrator: Cecilia was the first to go.

Does that surprise you?

Narrator: Everyone dates the demise of our neighbourhood from the suicides of the Lisbon girls. People saw their clairvoyance in the wiped-out elms, the harsh sunlight…and the continuing decline of our auto industry.

See how they're connected? Nope, I didn't think you would.

Narrator: We felt the imprisonment of being a girl, the way it made your mind dreamy…so you ended up knowing what colours went together. We knew the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love, and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them. We knew that they knew everything about us. And that we couldn’t fathom them at all.

They know everything about teenage boys because there are really only 3 things to know: 1] Sex 2] Sex and 3] Sex.

TV Reporter: Psychologists agree that adolescence today is much more fraught by pressures and complexities than in years past. More and more doctors say this frustration can lead to acts of violence whose reality the adolescent cannot separate from its intended drama.

Yo, Dr. Phil!

Narrator: Quickly thereafter green pamphlets were distributed. They told us there were 80 suicides a day in America – 30,000 a year – and alerted us to danger signals we couldn’t help but look for. Were the Lisbon girls’ pupils dilated? Had they lost interest in school activities, in sports and hobbies? Had they withdrawn from their peers?

Or was it all just scripted? Or, perhaps, "loosely based" on "reality"?