Weekend musings - 06

Soulmates are overrated, and how Taiwanese movies "A Sun" and "Dear Ex" show love via grief.

Would you take a test that reveals your Soulmate?

My week started while watching some amazing hogwash movies and series on Netflix. All that chatter for “Behind Her Eyes” and is it worth investing your six hours?

The British supernatural psychological thriller web series is primarily based on the “Astral Projection” - a paranormal concept that assumes the existence of a soul called an "astral body" that is separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it throughout the universe.

I don’t believe in such concepts and hence it was a yawn. However, Eve Hewson is the spark of the series. She is deadly, cold, caring, ruthless, and super hot. The twist at the end is interesting but you will have to have patience till the end of the fourth episode. And the mini-series has only six episodes. I would any day prefer Sinner on Netflix.

Next in line was Netflix’s latest Fench action thriller - Sentinelle. A complete waste of 80 minutes. It started as it would be the decade’s best movie but ended like any other senseless action movie. The script is simple but that is the problem with most action movies - focus on action sequences and toss the script outside.

The only difference here is that the protagonist is a female interpreter for the French Army who has returned home to be united with her mother and sister. And the next thing you know that the sister has been raped and is in a coma. The culprit a Russian tycoon. The rest of the movie is a revenge drama that basically ends like a headless chicken.

The only saving grace is Olga Kurylenko who does a decent job as the main lead. She is super hot and a runner. But my bad she is interested in women. As you can see Sentinelle has all the ingredients of a 2021 action movie with a shallow script.

Soulmates are overrated

And as I was giving up, I gave Soulmates on Amazon Prime a chance. I had zero expectations from the series but turned out to be one of my favorite web series of 2021.

Why?

Soulmates is an American television anthology series that is set approximately 15 years in the future when a company called Soul Connex has developed a test that can determine the person you were most meant to love with 100 percent accuracy. 

Exciting how science can tell you where your soulmate is. How cool is that? If Spotify can recommend me the song of the week then in the coming years this will be a reality. Besides everyone is looking for his or her soulmate and here we are. All the problems of life will be solved and everyone will be happy and in love. 

But life is shit and that is the reality.

In every episode, the show tries to look at the definition of a soulmate in very interesting situations.

What if you know who is your soulmate but he/she is married with kids? Now, what do you do? Or you have taken the test and you know your soulmate but your soulmate has not taken the test. So how long will you wait? What if your soulmate has taken the test and by the time you know who he/she is you are dead.

Two episodes just moved me - one where a happily married family fuck their entire life because suddenly they start questioning what if their soulmate is out there. And they end up staying with their soulmates by destroying the present happiness only to keep asking themselves if it was the right choice.

The final episode is about a young lad who finds his soulmate but she is no more. The girl took the test and kept on waiting. She also leaves a message. After watching it our young man goes into depression and decides to be with her for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, he is targeted by an ad from a cult group that promises to regroup people with their soulmates in heaven. The young man joins the group to die but here he finds someone who had three failed marriages. Did they both die to regroup with their soulmates or instead find love for each other?

While the main premise of the show is based on the test but all six episodes are based on the issues that were relevant in the past and will always be.

Humans are finding the latest technology to lead a better life but we have the same emotions. The emotion of love will not change in the next hundred years. Simple, hard-hitting, and relevant stories told in a brilliant manner. I loved most of the episodes except one.

"Your soulmate is the person you will love the most, more than anyone else. A soulmate isn't someone who is going to fix you. It's the person you will feel love for the strongest, and it’s undeniable. Does that mean true happiness, or the best person for you?,” explains Will Bridges.

So will you take the test? Watch the show and thank me later. Because we all want to be loved, irrespective of whether we have our soulmate or not.

Will I take the test?

No - I want love to be organic and not to be guided by science. 

I also think that the whole concept of soulmate is highly overrated.

A decade ago I was introduced to the word but I never understood it. In fact, I became a nightmare to the other person.

But it happened and when it happened fuck me - what a feeling. I still feel the butterflies inside me like I did when I first heard her voice over a call - trust me it was orgasms of feelings. This happened at a time when I had lost faith in love and life.

But this was different I was not interested in anything in return. I knew she will reject me but I was still fine. I had no intention to win her, go out, give flowers, write long love letters, sing songs or have sex.

For me, the feeling of being in love was bliss. I saw her for the first time and I froze. And it happened the second time. I never went below her face. I have never been so awestruck ever in my life.

I suddenly felt that whenever she talked I could feel love dancing inside me. I felt secure with a stranger who knew me more than anyone in just moments. I was happy to be alive.

I eventually understood: Love is not passion and it is compassion.

From being in love to loving grief

If love is gold then grief is diamond.

After losing my father I realised two things - one how much I miss him every day and second grief is such a beautiful and personal feeling. I don’t understand why we don’t talk about pain and grief.

Just like Hsieh who is fighting her battle being a mother to a dick head teenager and also dealing with the grief that his love has left him for another man. Dear Ex(streaming on Netflix) is a beautiful Taiwanese comedy-drama film about a mother, a teenage son, and a lover who is being cursed for stealing a man and insurance money. The father, husband, and also gay lover is no more.

The beautiful movie was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. Hsieh played by the supremely talented Hsieh Ying-Hsuan won the Best Leading Actress award at the 55th Golden Horse Awards for her role.

Emotions of love and pain are simultaneously present in the wife, son, and lover while everyone dealing with the loss of their loved one.

Similarly, Chen’s family is dealing with the loss of their younger son and in doing so the father reveals his love for the erratic elder son.

A Sun is a 2019 Taiwanese drama film that brilliantly portrays the different emotions in a family. In grief, they found love for each other. A supremely talented cast and well-executed.

It was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, making the shortlist of fifteen films.

One of the best films that I have seen in 2021.

My father never told me that he loved me but did everything to make me feel special and loved. Nobody understood the way he did because I was his version.

I feel happy when people tell me that I look and behave exactly like my father. Though my mother would have loved both of us to be smart - we had always put faith in heart than the brain.

“Chota - works as a Director in an international bank. Bada - was working in Pune, did a startup for few years but didn’t work. Now he is with us working with a Mumbai NGO. Sometimes he goes to Mumbai,” said my father last year to his old friend. I overheard the conversation by mistake.

I felt bad that I was still a let down for my father but the last line is special. “Bada is my complete copy. He runs, eats, works, and lives his life carefree. Just like I have done.”

For my mother, I don’t think he was his soulmate but he was his bouncing board and lifelong gossip partner. Every day they would fight as if by evening they would get a divorce but by evening you will see them having their tea together while discussing all gossips. Maybe they never looked out for a soulmate.

I also don’t know if she is my soulmate or whether she will love me or will live a life with me. Trust me I won’t advise her. I am happy that in very subtle and unknowing ways she made me a better person. I cherish that feeling.

There is no objective or chase or agenda because there was none, to begin with. It happened organically and I want to treasure it for the rest of my life.

Being in love does not mean that you expect the other person to do the same. Life starts where Bollywood ends.

Besides don’t screw up your present in chasing the unknown beautiful future.

May you find your soulmate :)

My song of the week is Jubin Nautiyal’s latest Lut Gaye. My mother’s favourite singer.

Peace be with you,

PN.