Why everyone should watch Eternal Summer
I just watched Eternal Summer, and holy shit was it amazing. Honestly, it was beautiful. I want to rewatch it right now, even though it just finished.
I'm falling in love with Taiwanese movies. The Best of Times was beautiful for how it portrayed life for a lower class family living with the poverty, the gangs, and the violence. Eternal Summer is beautiful for it's portrayal of the internal struggles of people of the cusp of adulthood. Yes, Eternal Summer is a movie that involves a homosexual relationship. But does that matter?
The movie begins with the end. The story is fairly simple. Jonathan is a young studious boy, who is asked by his teacher to become friends with and watch over the class troublemaker, Shane (btw, I'm not anglicizing their names, that's what the subtitles and wiki call them). Despite the auspicious beginnings of their friendship, they become good friends. 10 years later, a girl (Carrie) comes into their lives.
Carrie becomes friends with Jonathan, and one day the two of them skip school to go to Taipei, where they have a idyllic day. That night, Carrie attempts to seduce Jonathan, but he is not able to go through with it. Later on, Carrie asks him if he is in love with Shane. Despite (weakly) denying it, she realizes that he loves Shane, and accepts it.
In my opinion, Carrie appeared to be in love with Jonathan, but that might not be the way it was supposed to be.
Shane finds himself drawn to Carrie, and eventually asks her to be his girlfriend. She agrees on the condition that he get into college. Later on they are seen looking at their college exam scores. Jonathan's are only slightly higher than Shane's (a notoriously bad student, who got into university on the grace of being a great basketball player), as ever since he became friends with Shane, his grades have steadily dropped.
Time passes, and they are all in university. Jonathan struggles with his grades, while dealing with crushing depression and longing due to his love for Shane. Meanwhile, Shane and Carrie have started dating secretly. Jonathan and Shane's relationship has suffered, due to the fact that Jonathan has a hard time being around Shane. Shane keeps pushing him to do things, but Jonathan keeps pulling away.
One night, after Shane has dragged Jonathan out with him, Jonathan guesses that Shane and Carrie are dating. Jonathan runs away upon hearing this. He goes to a park, where he picks up (or is picked up, I couldn't tell) by another man. They go to a hotel where they have sex, and Jonathan reflects on how miserable his life has become.
Uncomfortable around Shane and Carrie, Jonathan is forced to deal with their relationship as Shane is constantly pulling them together. At a party Shane forces him to go to, Jonathan gets physically ill, and in order to try to keep Shane away from him, he tells Shane one of his secrets; that he was made to become friends with him. Upset, Shane leaves on his motorbike, and gets in a minor traffic accident. Jonathan gets a phone call to come pick him up, and brings him back to his apartment.
Jonathan lays in bed besides the seemingly half conscious Shane, and is surprised when Shane suddenly sits up, and starts pulling off his shirt, and then Jonathan's. Jonathan tries to fight him at first, but gives in. The two have sex. In the morning, Jonathan calls Carrie to pick Shane up. When Carrie arrives, Shane tells her than he has only had Jonathan beside him his whole life. Now that he has her, he couldn't bear to lose either of them.
Afterwards, the relationship between Shane and Jonathan is strained. One day Shane picks up Carrie and Jonathan, and drives to the beach. On the shore, Carrie and Shane sit talking, while Jonathan waits in the car. Suddenly, unable to deal with it all any longer, Jonathan exits the car, and stalks up to Shane, telling him they shouldn't see each other anymore. Angry, Shane pushes him down, and they start fighting. Carrie, in a bid to stop the fighting, is accidentally pushed to the ground and injured. Upset, she tells them to tell each other their secrets, and goes to wait in the car.
Jonathan, too weary to hold it in any longer, tells Shane that he loves him. As he gets up to leave, sure of Shane's contempt, Shane tells him to wait. He tells Jonathan that he always knew that Jonathan did not become his friend because he wanted to. But it didn't matter, because Jonathan IS his best friend, regardless of everything.
And that's what happened, basically. It was so good. The acting was really good, and the cinematography, while plenty good, didn't distract me (like it did in Bangkok Love Story). It also starred one of my favorite actors; Bryant Chang. He won a Golden Horse for this (China's version of the Academy Awards), quite deserving. His portrayal of Jonathan was lovely, tortured, and conflicted.
Joesph Chang (who I've known about for a long time, but never seen anything he's been in. He has the same birthday as me. And Mike He! We were all born on the same day, in the same year. Awesome, ne?) is wonderful as well. He was nominated for a Golden Horse, also deservedly. His portrayal of Shane is great, how he seems dumb and brash, but deep down he is lonely, and extremely loyal.
Kate Yeung was really good as Carrie as well, unfortunately she is overshadowed by these two very powerful performances.
The end is up for interpretation; whether Shane loves Jonathan as well, or whether he was just willing to do anything to avoid losing him. Personally I think he loves him, the love scene alone is proof to me, I mean, one doesn't act that way with people they don't feel strongly for. Also, apparently in the book he does say he loves Jonathan as well. Regardless, the movie was beautiful, amazing, everything.
I'm far far more critical of movies than I am of dramas. They have to tell a story in a short time span. They're a form of distilled art, like poetry. You have to use limited space to get across what you want to say. Because of this, I am not forgiving if they waste this time with stupid things. I know I say I love everything (and honestly, I do), but I am quite able to distinguish good from bad (I'm quite good at it, actually, I just don't usually watch things for a critical response, and as long as it entertains me, I'll like it). The point of that was that THIS MOVIE is amazing.
Believe me. It's really really good.
And hey, it's Ming Dao, Johnny Yan, and Lee Hom's favorite movie. How can you argue with that?
I'm falling in love with Taiwanese movies. The Best of Times was beautiful for how it portrayed life for a lower class family living with the poverty, the gangs, and the violence. Eternal Summer is beautiful for it's portrayal of the internal struggles of people of the cusp of adulthood. Yes, Eternal Summer is a movie that involves a homosexual relationship. But does that matter?
The movie begins with the end. The story is fairly simple. Jonathan is a young studious boy, who is asked by his teacher to become friends with and watch over the class troublemaker, Shane (btw, I'm not anglicizing their names, that's what the subtitles and wiki call them). Despite the auspicious beginnings of their friendship, they become good friends. 10 years later, a girl (Carrie) comes into their lives.
Carrie becomes friends with Jonathan, and one day the two of them skip school to go to Taipei, where they have a idyllic day. That night, Carrie attempts to seduce Jonathan, but he is not able to go through with it. Later on, Carrie asks him if he is in love with Shane. Despite (weakly) denying it, she realizes that he loves Shane, and accepts it.
In my opinion, Carrie appeared to be in love with Jonathan, but that might not be the way it was supposed to be.
Shane finds himself drawn to Carrie, and eventually asks her to be his girlfriend. She agrees on the condition that he get into college. Later on they are seen looking at their college exam scores. Jonathan's are only slightly higher than Shane's (a notoriously bad student, who got into university on the grace of being a great basketball player), as ever since he became friends with Shane, his grades have steadily dropped.
Time passes, and they are all in university. Jonathan struggles with his grades, while dealing with crushing depression and longing due to his love for Shane. Meanwhile, Shane and Carrie have started dating secretly. Jonathan and Shane's relationship has suffered, due to the fact that Jonathan has a hard time being around Shane. Shane keeps pushing him to do things, but Jonathan keeps pulling away.
One night, after Shane has dragged Jonathan out with him, Jonathan guesses that Shane and Carrie are dating. Jonathan runs away upon hearing this. He goes to a park, where he picks up (or is picked up, I couldn't tell) by another man. They go to a hotel where they have sex, and Jonathan reflects on how miserable his life has become.
Uncomfortable around Shane and Carrie, Jonathan is forced to deal with their relationship as Shane is constantly pulling them together. At a party Shane forces him to go to, Jonathan gets physically ill, and in order to try to keep Shane away from him, he tells Shane one of his secrets; that he was made to become friends with him. Upset, Shane leaves on his motorbike, and gets in a minor traffic accident. Jonathan gets a phone call to come pick him up, and brings him back to his apartment.
Jonathan lays in bed besides the seemingly half conscious Shane, and is surprised when Shane suddenly sits up, and starts pulling off his shirt, and then Jonathan's. Jonathan tries to fight him at first, but gives in. The two have sex. In the morning, Jonathan calls Carrie to pick Shane up. When Carrie arrives, Shane tells her than he has only had Jonathan beside him his whole life. Now that he has her, he couldn't bear to lose either of them.
Afterwards, the relationship between Shane and Jonathan is strained. One day Shane picks up Carrie and Jonathan, and drives to the beach. On the shore, Carrie and Shane sit talking, while Jonathan waits in the car. Suddenly, unable to deal with it all any longer, Jonathan exits the car, and stalks up to Shane, telling him they shouldn't see each other anymore. Angry, Shane pushes him down, and they start fighting. Carrie, in a bid to stop the fighting, is accidentally pushed to the ground and injured. Upset, she tells them to tell each other their secrets, and goes to wait in the car.
Jonathan, too weary to hold it in any longer, tells Shane that he loves him. As he gets up to leave, sure of Shane's contempt, Shane tells him to wait. He tells Jonathan that he always knew that Jonathan did not become his friend because he wanted to. But it didn't matter, because Jonathan IS his best friend, regardless of everything.
And that's what happened, basically. It was so good. The acting was really good, and the cinematography, while plenty good, didn't distract me (like it did in Bangkok Love Story). It also starred one of my favorite actors; Bryant Chang. He won a Golden Horse for this (China's version of the Academy Awards), quite deserving. His portrayal of Jonathan was lovely, tortured, and conflicted.
Joesph Chang (who I've known about for a long time, but never seen anything he's been in. He has the same birthday as me. And Mike He! We were all born on the same day, in the same year. Awesome, ne?) is wonderful as well. He was nominated for a Golden Horse, also deservedly. His portrayal of Shane is great, how he seems dumb and brash, but deep down he is lonely, and extremely loyal.
Kate Yeung was really good as Carrie as well, unfortunately she is overshadowed by these two very powerful performances.
The end is up for interpretation; whether Shane loves Jonathan as well, or whether he was just willing to do anything to avoid losing him. Personally I think he loves him, the love scene alone is proof to me, I mean, one doesn't act that way with people they don't feel strongly for. Also, apparently in the book he does say he loves Jonathan as well. Regardless, the movie was beautiful, amazing, everything.
I'm far far more critical of movies than I am of dramas. They have to tell a story in a short time span. They're a form of distilled art, like poetry. You have to use limited space to get across what you want to say. Because of this, I am not forgiving if they waste this time with stupid things. I know I say I love everything (and honestly, I do), but I am quite able to distinguish good from bad (I'm quite good at it, actually, I just don't usually watch things for a critical response, and as long as it entertains me, I'll like it). The point of that was that THIS MOVIE is amazing.
Believe me. It's really really good.
And hey, it's Ming Dao, Johnny Yan, and Lee Hom's favorite movie. How can you argue with that?