By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Aozaru Shiao | Kitamura Toyoharu
Starring: Amber An Xin Ya | Hou Yen-hsi | Lan Zheng-long | Long Shao-hua | Tien Hsin | Wang Po-chieh
Original language title: A ma de meng zhong qing ren
Country: taiwan
Year: 2013
Running time: 124
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3068650/combined
Kyle says: “A slapstick farce from Taiwan in Mandarin that is both an affectionate satire of a long vanished Taiwanese film business in 1969 (there are numerous references to the July 1969 Moon Landing) and a sweet romantic comedy about young love remembered at the end of life lived to the fullest, FOREVER LOVE screened in its North American Premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival. It is helpful but not essential to be aware that the film industry was a very different proposition in the 1960s than in 1983, when Mandarin became mandatory in Taiwan, and most of the thousand or so indigenous-language titles were lost or trashed, with only about two hundred preserved archivally.
“Back then sets and costumes were bargain basement, special effects were cheap or non-existent, and acting was something discussed solely in connection with other countries’ films or not at all. But even though FOREVER LOVE is largely predictable, the universality of silliness about ephemera deemed so important by so many, extends easily into the narcissistic matinee idols who can’t act, the young women who desperately desire stardom, screenwriters who churn out repetitive formulas in trashy disposable movies, and producers just like Hollywood’s Harry Pebbel in THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952): ‘Give me pictures that end with a kiss and black ink on the books!’ In this world, sequels are in the works almost as soon as the house count and box office are available: SPY NO. 7 spawns SPY NO. 7 ON MONSTER ISLAND which undergoes a transformation into SPY NO. 7 ON THE MOON FOR LOVE.
“Most of the film is told in flashback (commencing with a joke about Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee as a point of reference), after the elderly but very fit former screenwriter suffers a bicycle accident and is hospitalized while his wife remains at home, a victim of Alzheimer’s. He tells his granddaughter the story of his career as Taiwan’s most successful screenwriter, so prolific that he can work on seven scripts at a time. Sparks fly both romantically and creatively when he meets a young starstruck wannabe attempting to sneak into his latest movie premiere, SPY NO. 7. They fall in love and become collaborators during these halcyon days of Taiwanese Hokkien movies. The creation of garish fantasy scenes with cheap special effects such as Godzilla and other monsters is noteworthy, as is the witty performance of the shallow self-involved male star Wan Pao-lung played by Wang Po-chieh, more familiar to fans as popular Taiwanese movie star Edison Wang.
“The too-long-delayed climax of the film is the younger version of the film couple intercut with the elderly version as they come together at a local cinema showing one of the Hokkien movies. Love triumphs sentimentally even over Alzheimer’s, and appropriately loving tribute is paid to the Taiwanese language film industry between 1955 and 1970. Confusingly there are two movies called FOREVER LOVE released within three weeks of each other; this one was initially titled TAIWAN HOLLYWOOD during production, although the translation of the original Chinese is apparently MOM’S DREAM LOVER. 3 cats
“Friday, July 5, 2013, New York Asian Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York.”