Have you ever felt so lonely and left behind, while everyone else seems perfectly fine navigating their lives in the fast-paced urban society we grew up in? This movie explores exactly that dreadful feeling.
Doomed romance in a capitalistic society is one of my favorite romance subgenres. Here, we see a clash between the two leads: they represent the tension between modernity and tradition, as well as the conflict between realism and idealism. Lung is trapped in the past, where his dreams and the idealized version of his life still live. His obsession with baseball can be interpreted as his way of resisting a fast-paced, urbanized society he feels estranged from. On the other hand, Chin has already compromised in order to survive, adapting to the relentless tide of change. While neither is right or wrong, this movie beautifully shows how people cling to memories, places, objects, or even old ideas of themselves just to get through life.
Ultimately, the aftertaste of watching this has left me feeling helpless, sad, and deeply melancholic, yet strangely comforted. There is a profound catharsis in seeing your own unvoiced dread beautifully projected onto the screen. As someone staring into a blurry future, terrified of time and unsure if I will ever reach my goals, this movie serves as a poignant reminder that while the past is a familiar refuge, we have no choice but to just keep going.
