Film Review: Love You Forever (2019) by Tingting Yao

Mainstream cinema is probably the one that most frequently is shunned, particularly among film festival circuits, for its lack of quality and the misappropriation of the huge budgets these movies usually have. Occasionally, however, titles that prove that even the a-thousand-times-used recipes can result in something magnificent do come out. “Love You Forever“, which earned a humongous $39.39 million on Tuesday, is one of those movies.

“Love You Forever” is screening in UK cinemas, courtesy of Trinity Cine Asia

The script is based on the homonymous, best-selling short novel by Zheng Zhi, and revolves around the love story of a man, Lin Ge and a woman, Qiu Qian, which truly transcends time. The story begins in the “present”, where Qiu Qian is a prima ballerina with the Shanghai ballet and Lin Ge, an older man who works as a janitor in the opening building. As the latter collapses after a show and the girl rushes him to a hospital, the actual story is revealed, starting with their actual meeting, when the two were just children in the summer of 1991. The two quickly become friends and it is during that time that Zheng Zhi discovers a golden watch in a pond that will play a key role in this time-transcending story.

Eventually Qiu Qian has to leave for another place, but the two of were reunited in the same high school, with her pretending not to remember him but he trying his best to “woe” her once more, with the help of his two friends. The romance inevitably occurs, but Qiu Qian is hit by a car and killed after a date. Lin Ge’s fathomless sadness seems to trigger the watch, which transports him into a different timeline, where he manages to prevent the accident. However, he is much older than before, and furthermore, in that reality, he seemed never to have existed, since neither his barber father, nor his two friends, nor Qiu Qian seem to remember him. His desperate efforts to get back in her life succeed once more, again with the help of his friends, and the two of them, after many tribulations and tricks on his side, end up staying in the apartment building in Europe. Love is in the air once more, but not for long.

Tingting Yao uses the usual recipe of “the love that transcends time and space” to present a truly captivating story, which, manages to offer multiple happy and tragic endings through the repetition of a romance that takes place in various places and periods. This aspect provides the backbone of the narrative, and through the way the director implements nostalgia, ends up in a film that manages to hold interest for the whole of its 115 minutes. The rather polished cinematography, the excellent editing, and the great score all help the most in that regard, resulting in a film that works both on sentimental and an audiovisual level. The fact that a rather large part of the film is shot in Europe also helps a lot, allowing Tingting Yao to present a romance among Chinese in a setting that is not so common in the country’s cinema, thus straying away from the cliches of the category, to a point at least.

Furthermore, the way Lin Ge sacrifices his time and essentially his life repeatedly for Qiu Qian, provides the perfect hero for such a movie, through an altruism that reaches the higher levels. Lee Hongchi embodies the aforementioned elements excellently, anchoring the film with a great performance that highlights his character’s inner struggle of for the difficulties he faces in order to help Qiu Qian, and the fact that he has to appear always happy and cheerful in front of her. Li Yitong as Qiu QIan mostly reacts to his acting, but her performance is also quite convincing, while their chemistry, which also owes a lot to the fact that they are both extremely good-looking, is one of the film’s best traits.

Sometimes, a great story and a great presentation are enough for a movie to be entertaining. “Love You Forever” delivers both, in one of the best films of the year.