I went to see this last week, on Thursday, January 7th, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the evening show. ( I'm sorry that I cannot fill-in the rest of the information as I "lost" my ticket stub and also because I didn't take notes during the show. )
Quickie Review: A young woman goes to Japan in search of her twin sister who went missing in a "suicide forest".
I don't recall how many other people were in the audience with me or how they reacted to this movie which is based on events that happened in the "suicide forest" in Japan, the Aokigahara Forest.
To me, this movie is more sad and depressing than it is scary. I don't like the idea of me--or anyone else, for that matter--having some "cheap thrills" at the expense of other people's tragic lives. You may want to wait for this to come out as a DVD rental.
What are the things wrong in this movie? To start off, some Japanese actresses in this movie either don't know how to act or don't know how to convey the right emotions. The scene in the "forest visitor center", where they have a basement ... was not properly acted or directed or scripted or conceived, or any combination of said aspects. The hanged man should have already been stiff from the effects of Rigor Mortis. And this is my cinematic "pet peeve": I don't like the bad guys getting away with anything; after all, movies are a form of escape from the harsh reality of daily life. If I want to know that bad guys get away with doing stuff or for being irresponsible, all I have to do is read or watch the news! Last but not least, this movie's forest doesn't look like the forest pictured on the Internet.
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I went online to do some research on Aokigahara Forest. I learned that up to 100 people commit suicide in that forest every year. But that figure pales in comparison to the number of people who kill themselves in Japan each day. This is a tragedy! It saddens me to know of such morbid statistics.
I originally didn't want to write something about this movie. But I would be spiritually remiss if I don't try to dissuade someone from ending his/her life.
Now, I do not presume to know the underlying cause of each suicide case as they all must be treated on a case-by-case basis. But a lot of these needless tragedies could've been prevented if more people only knew the true power of Today. You see, everything that you did Your Whole Life led to your present circumstance/situation Today. Today is also known as the present. Because it is a gift. What you do with your gift, i.e. present, determines what your Tomorrow will be. The people who ended their lives used their gift, i.e. Today, to end their Tomorrow forever.
But, If You Truly Hate Your Present Circumstance/Situation, just do The Next Drastic Change: Put an end to your daily habits/routines and replace them with some other habits/routines. Remember what I said earlier: Everything that you did your whole life led to your present circumstance/situation Today.
Do you know of someone who did the same habits/routines each day because he/she felt that any change would bring about bad luck? And, when said person inadvertently failed to stick to his/her daily habits/routines, something bad actually happened. This may seem just like a silly bit of superstition to you. But notice two critical things in this cause-and-effect reaction: A change was made; and the Expected Result took place! Yes, a change was made in the Today, the present time, which caused an undesired result to manifest itself in the immediate future ( the Tomorrow ).
But, had the person willed himself/herself to experience Good Luck as a result of changing his/her daily habits/routines, said person would have had something Good happen to him/her in the immediate future, instead! This is the Secret Key to having a different life, a life for the better. You simply change your habits/routines Today for some other habits/routines as you Will yourself to have a better Tomorrow, and then RELEASE your desire into the Universe--this is a form of prayer, by the way. Of course, change may take some time if you willed yourself to get bad luck your whole life. Therefore, starting Today, get yourself into the habit of willing yourself to get Good Luck as a direct consequence of the changes that you make to your daily habits/routines!
And changing things up a bit is also a way of getting yourself out of a rut, or to will yourself out of procrastination. "Just do it!" as the Nike ad says. Because you truly have the power in you Today to change your Tomorrow.
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| I found this on the Internet. |
Don't compare yourself to others because that would be unfair to your own self. Each one of us is gifted with a set of skills and talents. So, don't covet, just like one of the Ten Commandments orders you not to do. Fame, Fortune and Power are not "the be-all and the end-all." If this were true, Hollywood celebrities wouldn't go to the extent of ruining their careers and/or killing themselves. Two of the Greatest Men in human history didn't have any money to their name: Buddha and Jesus Christ; yet they continue to influence people by the millions to this very day!
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe didn't seek fame, fortune and power but I consider him THE Unsung Hero of The United States! And there are countless people out there who live unremarkable lives, save for the fact that they are unsung heroes!
My yogi once told me that "Everything is Karma. And Karma is Energy." There are only two kinds of energy: Good ( positive ) and Bad ( negative ). You absorb both kinds of energy everyday. If you want to change your Tomorrow, you need to absorb less and less of the bad energy starting with Today. So, avoid Bad Karma. Observe the people and places around you. Are they radiating good or bad energy? Are you in a Toxic Relationship/Friendship/Association? Remember, "Misery loves company." Cut your losses short and move on since you are solely responsible for your own well-being.
I give you this example .... My best friend's family life situation is going from bad to worse. Whenever I visited him and his family, I provided a "good spark" to his life. But it came with a price. I was absorbing his bad karma: My Geo Metro had a tire blow-out on the freeway on my way to visit him, my Metro got hit by a hit-and-run driver in front of his house, my Metro got vandalized and totaled a day before I planned to visit him, my Hyundai Accent got ticketed in front of his house and, recently, my Accent got rear-ended on the freeway on my way to visit him--these are warning signs from my Fate! Now, I find it best to avoid him for the time-being as I get on with my life. I ignore his calls and I don't answer his son's text message. My actions may seem rude and drastic but, as I mentioned earlier, I Am Responsible For My Own Well-Being; and I need to get on with my life and better myself or I will find myself in the same "boat" as he is in and live a miserable/depressing life like he does!
So, please, if you're having suicidal thoughts, think of what I just said: You have the power in you Today to change your Tomorrow for the better. I sincerely hope to have made a difference in someone's life Today.
May God bless you and watch over you.
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So true. You have to out your own lifejacket on first before trying to help others. Liaofan's 4 Lessons provide an insightful guide to improving one's life: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/liaofan.pdf
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abrc.org.au/ChangingDestiny.pdf
Thanks for sharing these insightful words of wisdom. Incidentally, the "life jacket" advice is very similar to my own saying: You can't save someone from drowning if you, yourself, don't know how to swim.
ReplyDeleteI would have responded sooner but my laptop's battery ran out of juice as I was blogging at a local McDonald's here in Vallejo.
I went to a different McDonald's earlier in the day but, for some reason, I couldn't get on the Internet. And I tried many times.
So, finally, I figured that it was high time for me to try the Wi-Fi at the Jack In The Box in the neighboring town of American Canyon. But their security software blocked me from accessing my own blogsite because it has "adult content", i.e. I reviewed Rated-R movies! I tried to change the security designation twice; then I just gave up because I was just wasting my time and draining my laptop's battery.
I drove 3 miles down the boulevard back to Vallejo and accessed the Internet at a local McDonald's until the battery died.
I just finished my Sound Meditation and am now responding to your comment.
Good night. 'Til next time ....