After This Our Exile


After This Our Exile is a 2006 Hong Kong drama film directed by Patrick Tam. A critical hit, the film won both the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film and the Golden Horse Award for Best Feature Film awards, as well as netting Aaron Kwok his second consecutive win for the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor, after having won the award for his performance in Divergence the previous year.

Plot

In hopeless pursuit of happiness, Shing is a man who desperately attempts to hold on to 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. Shing's machoistic ego over-rides 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.
Hoping in vain to pay back loansharks, Shing turns to his loving son, Lok-Yun, who has somehow retained his filial loyalty. In his most desperate hour, Shing forces his struggle of survival onto his son, Lok-Yun, through thievery 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.

Cast

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, 20 July 2007, as a part of the Asian American International Film Festival.

Awards and nominations

1st Rome Film Festival
11th Busan International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival
10th Toronto Reel Asian International Festival
43rd Golden Horse Awards
26th Hong Kong Film Awards