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After being finalized as the opening film for the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), Han Yan’s LOVE NEVER ENDS has sparked much anticipation among film fans. So, what is the secret behind this appealing “production by Shanghai”? We had an exclusive chat with the director Han Yan.
To confront fears in life with works
Presented by Lian Ray Pictures, LOVE NEVER ENDS is a realistic work adapted from the comic of the same name by Kangfull. Casting lens on the stories of two elderly couples who are approaching the end of their lives and are still bravely committed to pure love, it stars 4 accomplished performers, Ni Dahong, Wai Ying Hung, Leung Ka Fai, and Yip Tung.
The highlight of this work is, of course, that it offers a rare opportunity for us to peep into the real life and emotional world of the elderly. One couple, having gone through trials and tribulations of life, are finally together in their old age though they didn’t encounter each other earlier, while the other couple has been together for a long time and remains committed to each other through thick and thin. So, will their love stories go different with the young?
Han Yan didn’t make a film about the elderly on a whim. “I thought about making a film about the elderly about four or five years ago, so I’ve been observing or collecting the materials in my life for the past few years. When I was working on A LITTLE RED FLOWER, I was approached by the producer and told that they had bought the rights to a comic about the elderly; after I finished filming, they showed me the comic again. I felt that some of the stuff I had collected over the years could be perfectly fused in and expressed through such a story, so I decided to go ahead and make it; in fact, it was something about mutual attraction, and I made such a decision all at once.”
When it really came to the creation as an adaptation, Han Yan did not exactly follow the narrative line of the comic, he incorporated his own observations, “But one thing has not changed. Both the comic and me actually wanted to cast lens on the same topic – love between the elderly. I wanted to explore that does a person’s spirit age along with their physical body as they grow old, leaving them no chance to pursue love?”
With this rare and realistic theme and a unique perspective on love, LOVE NEVER ENDS pushes forward the boundaries of domestic romantic films. Yet, beyond love, it actually continues the thoughtful exploration of love and life in Han Yan’s previous works GO AWAY MR. TUMOR and A LITTLE RED FLOWER.
He admits that he was actually stuck in panic during the filming of these productions about illness and life and death. When he made GO AWAY MR. TUMOR, Han Yan heard about Xiong Dun’s story and learnt that she was only a little bit older than himself, and he “realized that I was actually very close to death and started to fear it”; by the time he made A LITTLE RED FLOWER, he already had his own kid, so every time his baby got sick, he felt keenly the psychological torment of illness on everyone in the family; having made LOVE NEVER ENDS, he says he is now beginning to fear ageing, “I feel that I have found the answers to my own fears in the process of creation.”
In the exclusive interview with the director, Han Yan said he hoped that the role played by Ni Dahong would inspire himself to stop being afraid of growing old and encourage more young people - to grasp the moment, and live and love with passion regardless of age!
Four roles by accomplished performers reveal the real facet of life
For this work, Han Yan has chosen four performers who have won numerous mainstream domestic acting awards since the start of their careers. Ni Dahong is the winner of the Magnolia Award for the Best Actor at the Shanghai TV Festival; Wai Ying Hung has won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards three times and Best Actress at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival once; and Leung Ka Fai and Yip Tong have been honored the Best Actor and the Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards four times and twice respectively ......
In LOVE NEVER ENDS, quite different from his usual image, Ni Dahong portrays a chic rocker, an honest old man, who pursues love without fear of age with bravery; the leading role in a love story is a challenge for Wai Ying Hung, who accurately conveys the fluttering in the sweetness of love mixed with shyness; Leung Ka Fai has created the image of an ordinary man who never gives up on his sick wife, demonstrating the ordinariness and extraordinariness of a nobody with his gazes and actions; Yip Tung’s vivid performance of an old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, who is sometimes clouded in mind and sometimes lucid, illustrates the loss and pain of the group tortured by illness, touching the audience instantly.
Han Yan revealed that Ni Dahong and Wai Ying Hung were the candidates he identified during the script writing stage. “I had once seen an old woman driving a bumper car in a park, and I thought at the time that perhaps only Ms. Wai Ying Hung could act such a character. Then, Mr. Ni Dahong resembles the old man I had noticed drinking Erguotou every day at the Peking University Third Hospital very much in image. Also, when creating the scrip, I thought Mr. Leung Ka Fai was the right person for this role. The first time I met with Leung Ka Fai was on line, and while we’re chatting, a scene where two people passed away occurred to my mind, and the performance of Leung Ka Fai that I imagined at that time was exactly the same as the one he really presented later on in shooting.” The only thing he wasn’t sure about was the casting of the remaining role, and after Leung Ka Fai recommended Yip Tung to him, he was stunned, “It’s perfect!”
These excellent performers all have contributed groundbreaking performance to LOVE NEVER ENDS. “For example, Mr. Leung Ka Fai, he has played many roles of distinctive styles and genres, generally 10 years younger than his real age. This time I tried to cast him in the state of an ordinary person at his real age, and he just let go of all that experience in genre films, and presented before us a totally natural, unassuming performance.”
These veteran actors and actresses not only offered superb acting skills, but also provided the audience with an answer about ageing in this work. As a work on a realistic subject, LOVE NEVER ENDS is set against a grand times context: as China’s population ages at a rapid pace and on a large scale, how to help the elderly spend a quality life in their old age is a “national priority” that matters to the well-being of hundreds of millions of families. For filmmakers, our society is in need of such literary works that are concerned with reality and confront life head-on, and of such excellent seasoned performers convey love and commitment in life to the audience with their roles and portrayal of true life.
“After making this film, I am not so afraid of ageing any more, and I am even a bit relieved. If I can be as big-hearted and brave as the role Old Chang played by Mr. Ni Dahong, then there is nothing to fear about ageing.” Han Yan said.