Forever and Ever
Reviewed by YTSL
A drama about a hemophiliac who fatally contracted
AIDs by way of contaminated blood - if nothing else than because of it seemingly
being guaranteed to be a major downer of a film - would not usually be the
kind of work that most people might be expected to be all that eager to want
to view. However, the fact of it being the directorial debut effort
of über-scriptwriter, Raymond To (among whose writing credits are the
scripts for "Peking Opera Blues", "When Fortune Smiles", "I Have a Date with
Spring" and "Hu-Du-Men"), as well as having the luminous Sylvia Chang - one
of the leading lights of the first film To was scriptwriter for, "Shanghai
Blues" -- as its star, made this Y2K1 movie the effort I had most looked
forward to viewing thus far this year. Upon learning that Mark Li Ping-Bing
(who lensed part of "In the Mood for Love" and is looked upon as Hou Hsiao
Hsien's regular first choice cameraman) was its cinematographer, I felt that
one could at least count on this Clifton Ko production to look good in addition
to being a well written and acted work.
On these three important counts, FOREVER AND EVER does deliver. Moreover,
while the now middle-aged (but still very sweet-faced) Sylvia Chang -- who
portrays the mother of the young man who died when he was just twenty-three
years of age - does own the screen whenever she is in the picture, the film's
younger main cast members also put in convincing and often very emotionally
affecting performances of their own. Although Josie Ho (who plays a
HIV positive individual named Fion) is the best known among them, Chris Lee
(as Fu, the AIDs stricken elder son of Ms. Chang's Tam Li Min Chun) and Chatman
To (as Fu's best friend, Luk Chi Keung) particularly impress in terms of
how "real" they made their characters appear (Since at least one of them
is based on an inspirational someone who did live on this earth, this is
as it should be). Additionally, in the short time that she's in the
movie, particularly so in the segment in which her character is still a spirited
schoolgirl, Perry Chiu shows why someone could love her without possessing
her. The cute - but not at all mawkish! -- individuals who played the
pre-adolescent Fu, Yang and "E.T." ought not be forgotten too when compliments
and commendations get doled out.
Raymond To's script and film tells the story of a sickly child named Fu who:
Managed to stave away death for far longer than he thought he ever could;
as well as sought to have his name and memory live FOREVER AND EVER by way
of an instructive biographical book he wrote (using the pseudonym of Chi
Mo). By way of flashbacks that are seamlessly interwoven with "present
day, 1999" scenes in which his legacy is shown as one which can positively
impact the lives of many others (including people who had never known him
when he was alive), the viewer gets shown how Fu's spunky as well as truly
loving mother instilled in him -- and got him to live by -- such maxims as:
"Life is not long or short. It is what you make of it"; and "Everyone
runs out of time, but always have dignity".
Although both Fu and his mother could easily have
come off as insufferably saintly, the beauty of this technically sound work
is that they actually don't do so. While FOREVER AND EVER's main male
protagonist definitely is much less of a pitiable victim than a thoroughly
admirable person, he is shown above all to be a human being - and one who,
for most of his life, was just a boy (who didn't want to get denied the ability
to do such as play basketball with his schoolmates as well as get to go to
university) at that. While Mrs. Tam is undoubtedly psychologically
stronger and also socially more tolerant plus aware than many others, reasons
do get provided - by way of the experiences she and her elder son undergo
along with her Christian faith - for how and why she came by the consciously
upbeat attitudes and views that she's shown to possess.
Considering its subject matter - and director cum scriptwriter To's obvious
inclination to emphatically underscore as well as clearly send out the message
that "AIDS is not a monster. Prejudice is" - though, it was probably
inevitable that FOREVER AND EVER would come across at time as (overly-)preachy.
Audience receptivity may also be hindered by way of the film having what
might be seen as an old-fashioned sentimental streak plus tear jerking quality
that can skate over the line towards the maudlin. In a home region
where Christianity is a minority religion, one more strike - in local box
office terms, if nothing else -- against this Albert Yeung presentation could
have stemmed from its possessing at least a couple of scenes in which explicitly
Christian imagery is employed and highlighted to a degree that I never imagined
could ever be found in a mainstream, commercial, Hong Kong production (which
boasts cameo appearances by such entertainment industry insiders as veteran
actor Joe Cheung, director Ann Hui, scriptwriter Lau Tin Chi, theatre doyen
Frederick Mao and actress Alice Lau like this work does).
All this notwithstanding, FOREVER AND EVER ended up raking in a respectable
HK$4 million over the course of an approximately one month long run in HKSAR
cinemas as well as got treated pretty gently by some of Hong Kong's famously
critical film critics. I am glad of this for many reasons; one of which
stems from an appreciation of this serious effort's makers having produced
an all too rare work that doesn't rely on sex and/or violence to try to sell
theatre tickets, VCDs, etc. Nevertheless, honesty compels me to state
that this emotionally draining offering is less entertaining and enjoyable
than many a less morally admirable movie that I have viewed. Rather
unfortunately then, I feel that I can only really recommend it to those melodrama
as well as socially tolerant folks who, more often than not, were already
in the choir when Raymond To ascended up to the pulpit.
My rating for the film: 6.5