After This Our Exile

After This Our Exile (父子 literally Father-Son) is a 2006 Hong Kong film directed by Patrick Tam.

Promotional poster

Cast

Aaron Kwok - Chow Cheung-Sheng
Charlie Yeung - Lee Yuk-Lin
Ng King-To (Gouw Ian Iskandar) - Chow Lok-Yun (credited as Jing-tao Wu)
Kelly Lin - Fong
Qin Hailu - Ha Je
Valen Hsu - Jennifer (credited as Ru-yun Hsu)
Lester Chit-Man Chan - Strong Man
Lan Hsin-mei
Allen Lin - Sick boy's father (credited as Yilun Lin)
Qin Hao - School bus driver
Tsui Ting Yau - Chow Lok-yun (young adult)
Wang Yi-xuan - Sick boy's mother
Xu Liwen - Rich boy's mother
Faith Yang

Plot outline

In the hopeless pursuit of happiness, Aaron Kwok stars as Shing, a man who desparately attempts to hold onto the dwindling threads of his family. Once a man who had a dream, Shing has become a deadbeat gambler whose marriage is failing with wife Lin (Charlie Yeung). Shing's machoistic ego overrides any reasonable logic for change, which forces Lin to leave Shing repeatedly. After finally managing to escape, Shing is left with nothing but his son, Lok-Yun (Goum Ian Iskandar).

Hoping in vain to payback loansharks, Shing turns to his loving son, Lok-Yun who has somehow retained his filial loyalty. In his most desparate hour, Shing forces his struggle of survival onto his son, Lok-Yun, through thievary and tests the strength of loyalty and the boundaries of trust in their father-son relationship. With each passing day, the bond of love is threatened with Shing's unrepentant ways.

Trivia

The movie runs for 121 minutes, but a 159 minutes long director's cut has been released in Hong Kong. The director's cut was also shown at the Asia Society in New York City on Friday, July 20th 2007, as a part of the Asian American International Film Festival.

Awards and nominations

2006 1st Rome Film Festival - Competition Section

11th Pusan International Film Festival - Official Selection

Tokyo International Film Festival - Best Artistice Contribution - Best Asian Film

10th Toronto Reel Asian International Festival - Opening Film

43rd Golden Horse Awards - Best Feature Film - Best Actor - Best Supporting Actor - Best New Performer Nomination - Best Original Screenplay Nomination - Best Cinematography Nomination - Best Makeup & Costume Design Nomination

External links

After This Our Exile at IMDb