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