Never Forever

Vera Farmiga is one of those rare actors that is emotionally present in roles that require vulnerability and honesty. I remember seeing her first in that short-lived TV series "Roar." She alone among all the actors in the cast that included a young Heath Ledger seemed to project real emotions in a series that was flirting close to "Xena" territory.

So Director Gina Kim could not have found a better actor to play the role of Sophie, a woman who must make difficult choices involving two men and their respective worlds. Much will be made in Asian American circles about the intimate scenes Farmiga has with men of Asian descent. Beyond the novelty of such pairings in film, these scenes underscore one of the peculiar aspects of the movie: while the men in these scenes go through the (ahem) motions, Farmiga actually acts.

That disparity is apparent in almost every scene Farmiga has with the Asian actors. While the male leads, Jung-woo Ha and David McInnis, are dutiful journeymen in their roles, they don't reach the honesty that Farmiga is able to bare. Against Farmiga's acting, Ha's and McInnis's performances come across almost as recitation.

I can see Ha's delivery fitting seamlessly in a cutesy Korean miniseries. Someone should tell male actors not to grip their hair with both hands when the scene calls for inner turmoil. It comes off as pantomime. That "someone" should have been the director. While plot and composition worked well, I found Kim's direction of the acting lacking. Perhaps she was working within the limitations of the acting abilities of the male leads. In that particular case, she should have recast those roles.

The lapses in the direction of the actors are apparent when lines are spoken by the male leads. There is an odd stiffness to the delivery that sounds "off" to native-speakers and those of us who immigrated to the States at a young age. Something in the cadence and intonation that distinguishes someone reading Shakespeare and someone speaking as Hamlet. Ha may have had an English tutor in Korea that spent too much time in-country, because he actually does a fine job with lines he speaks in Korean. I marvel at actors who can truly act in two different languages. Sidow and Streep easily come to mind.

Kim isn't a native speaker and so she will have to develop a sensitivity to the sound of spoken English as other non-native directors have had to do. That "ear" is what she will have to develop if she is going to be casting less-gifted or less-experienced talent. Ang Lee had the same problem in his early English language movies and those actors fresh out of Juilliard. It's the difference between Jean-Pierre Jeunet directing Dominique Pinon in French and Jeunet and Pinon, respectively, in English. "Alien: Resurrection" was a just an action movie and the weird delivery by Pinon and some of the supporting cast was noticeable. (Sigourney Weaver made out on her acting chops alone.)

Thankfully, this movie is centered around Sophie and so Farmiga binds the narrative with her honest performance. The role of Sophie really could have been played by an Asian actor and the story could have been a Korean-language movie about a Korean American woman. Perhaps Kim wanted to give emphasis to Sophie's isolation and to that central dilemma of the story.

There are certain elements of Korean and Korean American culture that are played to near-caricature: the cold, oppressive mother-in-law and the zealous pastor, for instance. So, I must wonder if the story came from Kim's own deliberation about her relationships and choices she has had to make as a Korean and a Korean American.

For Farmiga, it is another remarkable performance to add to her growing body of work.

While the romance genre is something I'm new to, I'd have to say this was one of the best ones I've seen (please remember, I've only watched about 5 romance movies in my 32 years of life).

A love that develops between people of two different races and cultures is something that I find very fascinating. It proves that we all want the same thing, no matter what creed, culture, race, nation, religion, whatever we come from.

That being said, Vera Farmiga puts on her best "desperate woman" role (I believe she won the Emmy for Bates Motel for playing a character I'd describe as such). Desperate to please her Korean-American husband and his family, she goes to a sperm clinic alone and witnesses a Korean man with an expired visa getting rejected as a donor.

Intrigued by the possibility of covertly and unmaliciously fooling her husband by having sex with a Korean man simply for the sake of having a baby she can at least pretend belongs to her and her husband, she follows the rejected sperm donor and eventually gives him a business proposal.

What follows is story of inner conflict, the desire (and simultaneous torment) to live up to societal and cultural expectations (and how they can get in the way of true love), as well as how other things out of our control can get in the way of being with the one we want.

While the epilogue left me a little confused, I was for the most part enraptured by the film. I think it'd be appealing to anyone having trouble finding true happiness and love.

Also, did Vera break the 4th wall at the end?

Vera Farmiga plays an affluent woman whose life and marriage is unraveling. She and her Korean husband have been trying without success to get pregnant. Her suicidal husband has given up on the idea, but it's become an obsession with her, the one thing that will fix everything that's broken. She makes a proposition to a young Korean immigrant -- she will pay him $300 in cash every time they have sex, with an additional $30,000 in cash if she conceives.

I had my doubts before watching this film that the screenplay would be able to make this premise plausible, but it does. It sets things up in such a way that they play out honestly, without feeling overly manipulated by the hands of a screenwriter or director. It helps tremendously that Farmiga gives such a good performance -- you have to really understand her character if the movie is going to make any sense, and we do, thanks to Farmiga's commitment to the role.

Though ambiguous, the ending suggests a happy ending that DID feel implausible to me. But the rest of the movie is such a downer that I actually didn't mind it, because I just wanted something positive to happen to this poor woman.

Grade: B+

NEVER FOREVER is a well-developed, well-written and well-directed film by Gina Kim, and with an actress with the stature of Vera Farmiga in the difficult lead role, it is frustrating to see that this fine film didn't last on theater screens. But as with many of the other treasurable small independent films, this one feels even better in the privacy of the home - the small screen somehow allows the powerful emotions of the story to be more focused.

Sophie (Vera Farmiga) is the beautiful Caucasian wife of wealthy and respected Korean Andrew (David Lee McInnis) and the couple seem to have it all - looks, a close-knit family, beautiful home, etc. - but there is an underlying tension: Sophie and Andrew have been unable to conceive and bear a child, a fact that troubles Andrew's very orthodox Christian family and profoundly affects Andrew's sense of worth. Though the couple has sought professional assistance, their marriage remains barren. Andrew's fragile stance results in a suicide attempt and in trying to correct the cause of this tragedy, Sophie decides she will attempt to conceive from a donor. Because both members of a couple must consent to artificial insemination, Sophie's plan is thwarted except for one aspect: visiting the clinic she has selected is a young Korean man named Jihah (Jung-woo Ha) who is attempting to be a sperm donor but is rejected because he is an illegal immigrant. Overhearing this exchange, Sophie follows Jihah and finally discovers where he lives. She approaches him with a business deal - she will pay him $300. for each session and when she becomes pregnant she will pay him $30,000. Jihah is shy at first, but he is working in a meat packing plant and dry cleaners trying to save enough money to bring his girlfriend from Korea to the USA. Desperate for money Jihah consents and Sophie begins her visits to him when her cycle is conducive to conception. The relationship is one of quick polite encounters, careful to avoid interpersonal factors that might make either partner uncomfortable. But a sense of interdependence evolves, and when Sophie achieves pregnancy, the couple decides to part ways.

Sophie's pregnancy at first overjoys Andrew and his family and the couple's future looks bright. But both Sophie and Jihah are unable to dismiss the intimacy of the relationship they have developed, Andrew discovers Sophie's adventure, and the marriage falls apart while Jihah informs his girlfriend in Korea that he will never be able to bring her to America. At this vulnerable point the film simply ends - some years later Sophie is at the beach with her son and is again very pregnant and the viewer is left to decide the resolution.

Vera Farmiga is even more beautiful in this role than her many other roles and never for a moment loses out empathy and understanding of the decisions she makes. Both of the men are strong as are the various actors who flesh out the film. This is a tough topic to relate, but writer/director Gina Kim allows the acts of love to be the memorable echo the film leaves behind. Grady Harp

A woman, Sophie, makes a $$pact with an illegal alien man to try and get herself pregnant, she's married to an upper-middle class church-going professional who can't seem to get it done. Perfunctory sex for hire turns to something quite a bit more, not right away though (we're in on the action) and the three points of the human triangle come closer together. A slight jab is thrown at the Christianity as practiced by American Koreans, maybe that perfect house in the suburbs isn't all it seems. A good tale with a fine suspense on how it's all going to play out, and the ending leaves something for the viewer to ponder, about Sophie's choice.