Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

imutsusemi Mother separates from father. Father loses job. Son couldn't afford school. Father tells son to steal. He does. Son gets caught. He cries. Son has a mad with father. Father remarries. Son grow up like everyone else.Nothing out of the ordinary. No touching moments except when the actors are trying really hard to genuinely show some emotion, signaling to the audience that they should feel the same. Film direction is all over the place, literally (see the final scene when, Boy, all grown up, spots his dad across the river). It's like the Vaseline covered hands of a cameraman repeatedly drops the camera and successfully snatching it mid air, repeat that 10 times. Mediocre acting is apparent except when Aaron Kwok and Charlie Yeung overtly tries to sneak in some Indonesian/Malaysian lingo with conversational Cantonese. Even the swearing was unbelievably abysmal. How can you screw up saying "Pook Guy" in Cantonese? The title of this movie is "Father & Son" in Chinese. It somehow translates to "After This Our Exile" when it translates to English. Let's take a moment to make sense of that.Don't waste your valuable time on this movie and reading extremely inaccurate reviews about this movie. Life is short. The only way to make your life long is to live it with regret forever by watching this movie. The only reason I gave this 1 instead of 2 is that the actor who played Boy did an OK job. Good job mate.

karlweb2002 This movie is not a social criticism, not a social realism, not a naturalism, not about family value or any moral lessons concerning raising a child or being a parent. The movie says one thing: even the biological father-son relationship is contingent and fragile. The love and bond between the father and the son cannot hold the relationship when it is impossible or too painful for them to continue the relationship. The father, mother and the son love each other, but apparently it is the best for them to go separate ways. In the end they all have their own happy life (maybe with some regrets)and their own (new) families. Father-son relation is just like relation between two lovers. If it cannot work out, it would be better just to break up and start anew. That is a very potent (unnerving for some) message of this movie. It is about modern relationship. The whole movie comes down to the surprised ending, which transforms your perspective and gives this movie a different light.

dbborroughs I watched the complete restored directors cut which runs two hours and forty minutes some forty minutes longer than the theatrical cut. I had picked the film up because the description on the DVD case promised one thing, however how it delivered that story was not what I expected. (I also picked it up because I love the English title)As the film opens boy is being sent off to school by his mother. She is being especially nice to him and he suspects something is wrong. sneaking off the bus he returns home to find his mother packing up her things preparing to leave him and his father. He runs off to tell his dad, who returns home in time to stop her from leaving. He manages to talk her into staying, but it isn't for long as his mother eventually leaves leaving him and his father alone to take on the world, and the money men he owes money to from his out of control gambling.Heartbreaking tale of two souls adrift in life's storms is compelling viewing. The performances by everyone involved especially Aaron Kwok as the father are very real and emotional. Its painful at times looking into the lives of these people. They are not good or bad, they are just people which is readily apparent when Kwok, his wife having just left him, breaks down on the couch grasping desperately at his son pleading with him not to leave him too.its a heavy moment. Actually the movie is full of heavy moments, many of them that rung true with me having lived through similar ones with parents and friends.The film is technically a marvel with a look that is stunning, as is the use of the widescreen. Even better is the use of music both in its original score and its use of songs from elsewhere. Patrick Tam who directed is also listed as music designer, a title I've never heard of before but which is aptly put in the present case. If the film has a flaw its that in this cut its a bit too long. As I said earlier this is forty minutes longer than the theatrical version which must move at a better clip. However I would be remiss in not saying I really couldn't tell you what I would cut to speed the film up, or if I did have an idea I certainly wouldn't know where to cut forty minutes.On a more personal note I was slightly disappointed in the very end of the movie.There is something about it that left me unsatisfied. I suspect because it doesn't provide an end rather a stop. its a minor thing that I can't explain, but its what prevented me from completely falling head over heels with the film, something I felt sure I was going to do. Don't get me wrong this is a really good movie, its just the last second of film just made me go "wha?". Frankly I'm going to have to watch the final portion of the film to see if it makes a difference on a second viewing.

edchin2006 Except for the intrusive music which felt like a none too subtle attempt to evoke the sought-after emotion, this was a passable tear-jerker with a bit of sex and comedy. The music was particularly jarring because the solo piano was so much more foreground rather than background, and the distinctly European sound clashed with the tropical Southeast Asian visuals on the screen. To my Western tuned ear, the lack of strings kept the tears, which were yearning to be released, from emerging.The "feel" of the picture was very Malaysian even though the story revolved around mostly ethnic Chinese characters. The interior and exterior shots as well as the scenes showing dining/food added to the "flavor" of the film. (Please, forgive the pun.)Worth seeing? Maybe for a rainy afternoon or a soap opera addict. It is a tad too long and could easily be pared another 30min. I can hardly imagine watching the original version - still, I know people watching a continuing soap opera after 20yrs.