香港国际电影节 - my official artist profile -alivenotdead.com

Memories of you...

And Time weaves ribbons of memories, to sweeten life when youth is through...- Pippin, the MusicalSeveral days ago, the 33rd HKIFF hosted the Gala Premiere of Wong Kar Wai's Ashes of Time Redux. Now before we get this blog underway, please let me grovel in the dirt, on behalf of the Society, to all the great and patient members of the public who had to suffer a long and arduous delay because of the Gala Premiere ceremonies.That being said, perhaps they might be mollified by this exclusive clip of the tribute video that was screened that night. Loving tributes by John Woo (man can that guy talk!), Eric Tsang, Cecilia Cheung, and those that knew him best.And yet, on my way to work today, the cab passed by the Mandarin where huge flower tributes have been placed by fans in commemoration, but in commemoration of what?I have been lucky enough not to suffer from depression. I have lots of friends who do, and who tell me that I'm lucky not to know the feeling, that it feels not just like you can't get out of bed in the morning, but that to do so would be so painful that only death seems the answer.Still, six years down the road, Leslie's death still seems avoidable, that more psychiatric help, or maybe a shoulder to lean on just at that moment would have done the trick. Legends, who die young from fate, like James Dean, or the recently deceased Natasha Richardson, have a greater measure of tragedy. Legends who take their own life... well...I wish I could bemoan Leslie's death more, but like Ruan Lingyu, his suicide.... anyone's suicide, leaves survivors with a sense of indignation, of anger, of betrayal. A betrayal of the trust, the bond any public figure has with his audience. Too many people have wondered to themselves "what if", and that way madness lies.Oh well. What's past is prologue. Let's remember Leslie, and Ruan Lingyu, and Natasha Richardson, and James Dean, and Heath Ledger, and Roman Tam, and Anita Mui, and all the rest, the way they will be remembered by us, the people in the dark. ***March 30, 2009. Ashes of Time Redux Premiere. The Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. That huge twenty foot high silver screen. The lights dim, the film begins. The title cards. And then, the first frame of the film, a cold, blue-tinged desert at dawn. A tattered flag waving in the distance. The silhouette of a man. A warrior. He turns, his boyish face, his high cheek bones lit up by the rising sun. Proud, but haunted. Leslie lives again. For a few, fleeting moments, he lives again.***With Love, Marcus Lim

15 年多前 0 赞s 10 评论s 0 shares

Marie Jost

Clinical depression bears little resemblance to "the blue" that most people call "feeling depressed". Severe clinical depression kills. It manifests in other symptoms such as panic attacks, nausea, acid reflux, etc. Leslie suffered from all of these in the last 12-18 months of his life. This is why he withdrew from public life. His acid reflux damaged his vocal chords and he could no longer sing. The panic attacks prevented him from appearing in public and working as a singer and actor, and were linked with other symptoms of anxiety. For a singer and actor, this must have been intolerable. Leslie did not just decide to take his life on a whim. He had already attempted suicide in November 2002, but was unsuccessful. Yes, his life might have been saved if he had been interred in a mental hospital after that incident, but could an Asian superstar really have done such a thing, in Hong Kong? It is natural for survivors of a loved-one's suicide to feel angry. That is one of the ways they cope. That is one of the ways some of those who were fans of Leslie coped. Another common coping mechanism, however, is an outpouring of grief. At my grandfather's funeral (he committed suicide with a handgun), my grandmother, aunt and mother were all high as kites on Valium and crying uncontrollably. My grandmother never could understand why grandfather had done it and, after a few years, really did believe that he had died of cancer, not suicide. Let Leslie's fans express their grief this one day of the year. But also see how this grief is mixed more and more with each passing year with loving acknowledgment of Leslie's talent as a performer and intrinsic human decency. Leslie really was unique. It is so very sad that the Hong Kong entertainment industry and the world have lost such a talented performer and lovely human-being in such a tragic manner.

15 年多 ago