The Poem in the novel "Journey to the West" - "I used to have a sincere love in front of me. I didn't cherish it. I regret it when I lost it. The most painful thing in the world is this. If God can give I have a chance to come again, I will say thse words to that girl: I love you. If I have to add a deadline to this love, I hope it is-ten thousand years! "
Tang Seng embarked on the path of Scripture, burying the survivors in his heart.
If the thought of this being a sequel is erased, the film presents a strong notion of timelessness or transcience of time. There is a past not witnessed in the film, and yet carried along in memories, there is the future, moments imagined, feared or desired. And there is the now, witnessing things go by., events seeming real or unreal. The ghostly girl Tang Seng loses at the end feels like a reincarnation of his missed old love, and when he says to her that his heart still belongs to his old love, it is like the past repeats itself, he is letting things go by, not owning or holding onto them, he lets them die. He becomes a mere observer. The last scene of him imagining Miss Duan in place of his disciple makes one see that love he once felt is taking shape of other people on his journey. There is no longer only one person, there's many.
Tsui Hark is mainly a master of character building in very efficient ways, and as a technical virtuoso, also a craftsman of visual poetry serving his philosophical concepts and ideas, Journey To The West is a beautiful example of his open heart and spirit let loose, depicting the world of illusions or undead, whether demons, spirits or ghosts of people lost in memories. The music by Raymond Wong captured my heart with its exquisite innovative touches ranging from Mexican to Chinese influence, the last time he was musically involved with Tsui Hark was for Love In The Time Of Twilight in 1995.
I find the power of the film residing in its ability to focus on the depth behind each character presented in a way that can entertain on a surface level just as much. It is reflecting the time when a lot of people facing their own inner demons, when leaders revealing their own true self, their immaturity, sometimes being treated like coddled children. And also spiritual masters who show their own hypocrisy. All these observations come from my own experience.
The film is a jewel embedded in my memory, memorable and significant, for its uplifting energy as well as political, social and spiritual angles.
