"For the real version of me look into my painting.
Painting can never lie.
Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide"
- Mr Chow
Why do we write reviews? Is it to persuade others to engage with or avoid the item being reviewed, whether it's reading, listening, or watching?
Maybe so, and then again, maybe not. Opinions about something are inherently subjective. What justifies one person's belief that their viewpoint should be employed to persuade another when the matter itself is inherently uncertain?
Instead, perhaps the purpose of a review is to capture the moments that have caught the reviewer's attention. By sharing these moments, they offer the possibility that someone else might also find them intriguing.
Here are 5 moments I noticed about the documentary aka Mr Chow:
This man led a fascinating life, or perhaps more importantly, he held the belief that he did; perhaps we all can perceive our lives as equally interesting?
His devotion and meticulous attention to detail serve as his belief that it is the route to achieving success.
This man wanted to be an actor; then became a restauranteur, an iconic one; that led him to amass one of the greatest collections of modern art we've ever seen; and then became an artist in his own right. Things aren't straight.
Mr. Chow seems to exude happiness, not necessarily in a traditionally optimistic manner, but more in the sense of embracing the curiosity of life and being open to following curiosity.
Towards the film's conclusion, there's a short scene where he revisits his childhood home. Although it isn't the central focus of the narrative, this moment carries profound emotional weight, evoking intense pathos and a feeling of witnessing something deeply personal that we perhaps shouldn't be privy to, yet he invites us in.
I am still thinking about this, brief, moment.