Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

neeza03 Never Forever was a great movie. I was not sure what to expect since I do not recall the film ever being promoted even as an Indie; and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this film. I really love Vera Farmiga's acting and I truly enjoyed the diversity of the actors. I have started to really appreciate more diversity in the sex appeal Asian actors in general. This is the second film I have seen in the last month with Korean and other Asian actors and I find the quality of their acting superb and I find the actors very sexy, attractive and appealing. I am somewhat shock that more people have not seen this movie or appreciated what this movie bring to the table. Sophie was desperate to help her husband fight his "demons" and attempted to give him something to hold on to. This movie is a must watch. I truly loved this film!

ferrule2 I set out to enjoy this movie, hoping for something that would take the best elements of movies such as Unfaithful and The Rabbit Hole and mix them with some independent flair and lesser known, but capable actors.The problem with this film is that there is one actor who is convincing... Farmiga. What's she manages to convince a pragmatic viewer of is another matter for later in this review. The two male main characters do workmanlike, unremarkable jobs of portraying relatively stereotyped characters, that of the depressed, middle aged man who can't have everything he wanted in life and a naive 20 year old kid who falls in 'love' because he receives the one thing guaranteed to cause a 20 year old to throw caution and logic to the wind. Never mind that it's delivered with more than a nod to the old saw "Love like you're being paid."Moving on to Farmiga, I think it's helpful to examine the absurdity of the plot. She's obviously almost as clinically depressed as her husband. Any of these ring a bell:"feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and/or helplessness" "persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings"I hope so, because those, and five other clinical symptoms are displayed in endless scenes of hand wringing, melodramatic expressions of pain, listlessly staring at walls while in a near fetal position, conversing as if it takes EVERY... LAST... BIT... of energy... Is this really good acting?The plot is also beyond silly. She does all this for her husband who she 'loves'. She achieves what she has stated is her only desire and he responds with warmth and spark that had been utterly lacking before. Of course, her response to this is to dream of dirty sex in a filthy tenement with a kid who's actual dialogue has mainly consisted of publicly implying, quite crudely, that she's a confused tramp who needs 'what he has', and isn't referring to the procreation aspects of their transactional trysts.If her mooning about seems like good acting, then I guess the above weirdness seems like a love story destined to break through barriers and walls that most could not. I was not terribly moved by this movie, although it was interesting watching it all play out. Farmiga is better when her talents are focused on helping a better movie play out logically.

sunahks-1 Watching this movie was a breathtaking experience to me. From the very first scene, it grabbed my attention, and I became more and more involved with the story of this beautiful and desperate woman, Sophie Lee.The movie touches so many important issues such as interracial marriage, faith and religion, class determined by economic factors, and illegal immigrant. Yet those issues are so well blended without distracting the audience' attention from the main story.The main story is purely simple. It's a woman's struggle to keep a man she loves happy. But in the end, she realizes that she has to pursue her own happiness.It's the story of my own life. It's the story of so many women that I know. It's also the story of so many sons and daughters, wives and husbands, and fathers and mothers. That's why this movie touches the very core of my heart - anybody's heart.The visual elements are very powerful. Extremely shallow focus are used in many scenes, isolating the characters from the background and sometimes from each other. However camera is never in the way of story telling.The most notable element of the movie is, needless to say, the outstanding performances by Vera Farmiga, Jung-Woo Ha and David McInnis. Especially I was overwhelmed by the powerful screen presence of Vera's delicate feature. She can be funny, sexy and innocent without even trying. She becomes the woman I'd love to be friends with. She becomes the lover I'd cherish and hold in my arms, and the mother I'd look up to. She arouses so many emotions within me that through her I face my own womanhood and independence.After watching the movie, I thought makers of "Unfaithful" should watch this movie to learn that an affair can have such depth, profundity and purity...

thebanquet Never Forever is a rare gem in the film industry, an art-house film enjoyable to watch on a Friday night. Though I think English native speakers might have a bit of a problem with the male lead Ha Jung Woo's English speaking ability, otherwise it's perfect. Sophie Lee(Vera Farmiga in a superb performance)is a white girl from a plain American family who marries Andrew(David McInnis),a successful Korean American lawyer from a high class family. The couple have a perfect life except for one thing. Andrew's sperms aren't strong enough for Sophie to have a baby. This one factor leads Andrew to attempt suicide.Next we see Ji Ha. Ji Ha is an illegal immigrant who is saving money so that he can bring his girlfriend to America, but because he's living illegally, there are many things he can't do like selling his sperms to a clinic for a small amount of money. After being rejected by the clinic, he comes home depressed to find a strange white woman sitting in front of his doorstep with a dangerous proposal. Every time he has sex with her she'll give him 300dollars and if she gets pregnant he gets thirty thousand dollars in cash.That white woman is Sophie. Seeing as getting pregnant was the only choice to make her husband happy, she buys Ji-Ha's sperms after seeing him by chance at the clinic. What started as a strict business relationship starts turning into passionate love.I will stop here about the plot because if I write more,it'll probably become a spoiler but the main reason I liked this movie wasn't the plot. It was the superb performances of Vera Farmiga and Ha Jung Woo(a relatively unknown in the international movie industry, having bit parts in acclaimed director Kim Ki Duk's film 'Time'and 'Breath'.)I've only seen Vera Farmiga in 'The Departed' and 'Running Scared',yet the depth she put into Sophie was something I rarely see an actor or actress perform. Not to mention full frontal nudity. Not many actresses like to take their clothes off even if it's necessary and if they do, they ask for tons of money but Vera willingly did it in a three million dollar low-budget film. Ha Jung Woo is, how can I say it, a phenomenon. I knew he was good looking after seeing him in 'The Fox Family'(not many actors look good when they're dressed like a total nitwit.)but didn't know the extent of his acting abilities. His English tongue is not perfect,sure,but how many actors can act so well speaking a language that they're not completely fluent in? I cried my eyes out during one scene where he whispers into Vera's ear "Saranghaeyo"(in English it means "I love you"), the only Korean line he speaks .Overall, Never Forever is a fantastic film. Go check it out when it opens(if it opens)in a theater near you.(It's also worth knowing that the theme for the movie was composed by Michael Nyman, the man behind the music for The Piano,directed by Jane Campion.)