|
THE POPCORN REEL FILM REVIEW/"Never Forever"
Sowing The Seeds of a Surrogate's Love
By Omar P.L. Moore/April 11, 2008
Gina Kim does a terrific job of depicting a tale of longing in "Never Forever"
(which opened today in several U.S. cities, including in San Francisco at the
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas) about a white American woman who desperately tries to
become pregnant. Sophie Lee (Vera Farmiga) has attempted many times with
Andrew, her American husband of Korean descent (played by David Lee McInnis) but
he is sterile and also suicidal because of his biological malfunction, which in
a sense may sound like a comedy, but here Ms. Kim does not play it like one.
Andrew's father, a pastor, has died, leaving him shattered, barren and lifeless.
By chance at a sperm donor clinic Sophie spots Jihah (Jung-Woo Ha) who resembles
her husband in every way, except that he was born in Korea, and from there
electricity sparks and explodes in Sophie's (and Ms. Farmiga's) piercing and
widened blue eyes. She is not necessarily attracted to Jihah, she is
attracted to the possibility of his virility and her ultimate dream of
motherhood. She follows Jihah to his New York City Chinatown home and
makes what some (including Mary Beth Whitehead, the New Jersey surrogate mother
in the 1980's) would call an indecent proposal, the kind that Robert Redford's
character in Adrian Lyne's film may have said yes to himself in younger days:
Sophie pays Jihah to impregnate her. Repeatedly they have passionless sex
(at $300 a pop, no pun intended, for Jihah) never exchanging so much as as
syllable of information until a little later on in the sexual tango, and Sophie
offers to pay Jihah $30,000 in cash once she sees the blue turn up on her
pregnancy test (which lo-and-behold, it does.)
Jihah, a meat-packing worker (no-pun intended) goes along with the repeated
sexual trysts but not surprisingly begins to feel attached to Sophie, who has
single-mindedly committed to Andrew, declaring her love for him in Jihah's
presence even as she continues to cheat on Andrew (not an unusual occurrence in
life between spouses.) The film smolders in many ways, including camera
close-ups of Sophie and Jihah having sex, representing a claustrophobic
entanglement that also illustrates the tension that roils and boils within
Sophie, as she soon becomes attached to Jihah, who has a girlfriend in Korea
whom he has apparently promised to bring to the United States. Sophie
cannot keep away from Jihah, even after Andrew has discovered that her pregnancy
was done without his consultation and has accepted the fact that she has had
extramarital sex out of love for him and that the child is a gift to him.
Sophie is a lonely soul, floating, confused, anguished, and condemned in a
tragic circumstance -- the inability to have a child with the man that she loves
-- her spouse.
Director Douglas Sirk, as well as Mr. Lyne's 2002 film "Unfaithful", are clearly
among Ms. Kim's numerous influences, and Ms. Farmiga in another physical role
(last year she had her moments in "Joshua") depicts a well-meaning, abundantly
caring but selfish woman -- not selfish in the desire to have a child, but
selfish in the almost rote disposal of her husband, a troubled yet unbelievably
understanding man who gives her endless chances to straighten up and fly right,
a man who lives fervently by his marriage vows and loves Sophie more than she
ultimately loves him. In fairness, Andrew puts an offer to her that she
can refuse, an indecent proposal of his own, if you will. "Never Forever"
is intriguing and draws us in, even if some parts of the film stretch the
boundaries of credulity. For example, there is a crucial piece of
information that never really gets discussed thoroughly between Jihah and
Sophie, which even in a desperate attempt to become pregnant, would surely be
discussed during the course of a conversation. Perhaps this information,
which Sophie may or may not already suspect, is deliberated eschewed due to her
willful blindness and focus on achieving her objective.
We purposely know little about both Sophie and Jihah, which adds to their
somewhat tragic predicament and further accentuates their burgeoning mutual
attraction, which is quietly powerful as shot by Ms. Kim. We know more
about Andrew, a high-powered Wall Street businessman, and his compassion for his
philandering wife makes him all the sympathetic. There is sympathy
however, for Sophie, for she simply wants the one thing in her life that will
make her happy -- a newborn child.
"Never Forever" contains several quiet moments of irony -- including when Sophie
leaves what is essentially the gigolo/prostitute money for Jihah after one of
their sessions, underneath a photo of Jihah's girlfriend. The film works
best as an illustration of life's complexity and messiness, a carelessness and
recklessness that binds people together, even in the harshest of times.
There are some tongue-in-cheek moments too and despite the heaviness of the
film, humor to keep things light at times. Ms. Kim also inserts some
powerful iconography as well -- the contrasts of complexion in the arms of Jihah
and Sophie, and a fantasy sequence as well. It is in the visual strengths
that Ms. Kim excels most, thanks to Matthew Clark's cinematography.
Ms. Farmiga executes her complex character ably, throwing her vulnerability on
the line in service of a character that some audiences will be infuriated with,
but most importantly she gives Sophie the humanity that drives the character,
right or wrong. Mr. Ha maintains a calmness and quiet sadness in Jihah, a
character who could have become a caricature as a wild-eyed Asian man gone mad
in another director's hands, but the director Ms. Kim's sensibilities are
intact. Mr. McInnis successfully manages to erase his soul with an almost
expressionless performance, but he has a pulse, and his Andrew cares very
deeply. He is the most tragic of characters in this scenario, even though
Jihah is trapped in a scenario that threatens to haunt him forever as well.
Mychael Danna's music score fits perfectly for the film, lending an air of
suspense, sadness and incompletion with the violin and cello strings of his
orchestrations.
The opening title credit sequence for the film's title is smartly rendered, as
if both words represent the two halves of the film. The "Never" part comes
first, as if to represent Andrew's inability to impregnate his wife, the
"Forever" part, which comes much later, has represented Jihah's potency and the
birth of at least one child. "Never Forever" is a revelation in some
senses, and although it contains one or two awkward if not laughable lines
(Sophie says to Jihah at one point, "This is business between you and me.
You know that!",) among other choice dialog from Ms. Kim's screenplay, the film
is worth watching.
"Never Forever", which showed at the recent San Francisco Asian American Film
Festival, is not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America, but
contains nudity and strong sexual content throughout. "Never Forever" is in the
English and Korean language, with English subtitles. The film's duration
is one hour and 41 minutes.
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2008. All Rights
Reserved.
|