After This Our Exile (Hong Kong, 2006)
Aaron Kwok plays gambler Sheng, while Charlie Young portrays his wife who can no longer tolerate his violence and leaves the family. Sheng then forces his son (Ian Iskandar Gouw) to commit petty theft to simply survive. The child ends up in a juvenile detention center and does not meet his father again until 10 years later, when his innocent emotional attachment to his father has already been replaced by a more complex feeling mixing affection, disappointment, and despair. Director Patrick Tam aptly captures the nuances in a changing family in which the father tragically does not know that his shortcomings will eventually destroy the family. The carefully designed cinematography and classical music give the film a strong artistic flavor, probably explaining the film’s popularity at international film festivals.
Tam first made his name with his daring 1982 work Nomad (starring Leslie Cheung, Cecilia Ip, Pat Ha, Ken Tong), but stopped directing after My Heart is That Eternal Rose in 1989. He has been involved in many notable films and did the film editing for Wong Kar Wai’s Days of Being Wild and Ashes of Time. His recent project as the editor for Johnnie To’s Election was seen as preparation for his return to the director’s chair.
Workshop Coordinator: Antony Wong
