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