Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete "Never Forever" is a deeply flawed movie replete with missed opportunities that whiz right past like rush hour buses in front of a motionless commuter. It is also well worth seeing, for a riveting performance by Vera Farmiga, a suggestive plot, and its treatment of unusual topics.Sophie (Vera Farmiga), a beautiful, blonde, trophy wife, is determined to give Andrew (David McGinnis) her "master-of-the-universe," very wealthy and successful husband, the child he cannot father himself. He is infertile. Her husband is Korean, so she chases down Jihah, (Jung-Woo Ha) an illegal Korean immigrant, and offers him three hundred dollars for every time he has sex with her, and thirty thousand dollars once she gets pregnant. The two perform the act with complete alienation, but eventually develop feelings for each other. The plot, is, of course, implausible. It reaches its height of silliness when Sophie tells Jihah she will pay him the bonus of $30,000 if she gets pregnant. Why the bonus? Would he really not have sex with this beautiful woman for three hundred dollars if he did not get the bonus? Are there other beautiful women out there offering bonuses of $25,000, and does Sophie need to remain competitive? Further, Sophie reveals no knowledge that a woman is fertile for a short window every month. Is she having sex with Jihah outside of that window of opportunity? Apparently so, because no seasons pass; all the action seems to take place during the same month. Finally, why not just go to a sperm bank, or use a turkey baster? Indeed, why does Sophie remove every stitch of clothing? You really don't need to remove everything you've got on in order to perform the act necessary for pregnancy. The film's marketers show a healthy respect for the market appeal of nude Vera Farmiga.Most of the action takes place in Sophie and Andrew's rich, cold, white, empty house and Jihah's squalid, lurid, red-and-green walled tenement. The director did not create enough atmosphere with these two sets. I never get a sense of Jihah's room. In one scene, it rains. That scene should have been milked for all it was worth: two strangers, separated by race and class, united for a moment, in a tiny apartment, as rain falls outside. Sigh.Also, so much more could have been done with the sex scenes, which are rather flat and unimaginative. Sophie and Jihah connect, and transcend barriers of race and class, through this one act. I wish that they had been depicted with more eloquence.In spite of the criticisms, this movie is well worth seeing. It isn't prurient. It's really a fairy tale about connection in spite of distance. Like a fairy tale, the film suggests and evokes more than it depicts, and the viewer's imagination is left to fill in the blanks. "Never Forever" is also worth seeing because it is unusual. This is the only American film with a Korean-born Korean lead with a thick Korean accent that many viewers may ever see. Finally, the film is worth seeing for Vera Farmiga's riveting performance. She conveys volumes with a glance. Sophie is not very bright, and has limited strength. She sits around her gilded cage all day, while her maid cleans her house and her husband works. She's, simply, not very likable, but Farmiga makes Sophie very watchable. Jung-Woo Ha as Jihah is also fascinating. He's not particularly good looking. He makes for a convincing illegal immigrant. He is short, slight, and wears stained t-shirts. As the film draws closer to him and spends more time with him, though, the viewer can see what is special about him, and comes to care about him – this process parallels the experience of falling in love. At first the other may come across as not that special, but as two people get closer together, they see what is special about the other.

pc95 I thought Never Forever despite it's kooky title was pretty effective in it's main drive of the story - Romance. To call it predictable would be putting it mildly. Early on, the story corners itself into a very well-trodden seen before aspect. But that doesn't mean it's dull. I quite enjoyed especially Verma Farmiga and Jung-Woo Ha in their romance - one more out of loneliness. They both looked lost, but came together well. The conflict and circumstances involved unfortunately feels forced and contrived - luckily the actors generally lift up the material. I especially enjoyed the nuances of the sexuality of the affair - starting as a business but becoming something more primal when emotions begin to overcome rationality. The director does a good job of implicating this and giving us plenty of evidence to convince us. We can see, understand, and feel their raw emotions. Pretty good entertainment for the romance and affair itself.

sunahks-1 Watching this movie was a breathtaking experience to me. From the very first scene, it grabbed my attention, and I became more and more involved with the story of this beautiful and desperate woman, Sophie Lee.The movie touches so many important issues such as interracial marriage, faith and religion, class determined by economic factors, and illegal immigrant. Yet those issues are so well blended without distracting the audience' attention from the main story.The main story is purely simple. It's a woman's struggle to keep a man she loves happy. But in the end, she realizes that she has to pursue her own happiness.It's the story of my own life. It's the story of so many women that I know. It's also the story of so many sons and daughters, wives and husbands, and fathers and mothers. That's why this movie touches the very core of my heart - anybody's heart.The visual elements are very powerful. Extremely shallow focus are used in many scenes, isolating the characters from the background and sometimes from each other. However camera is never in the way of story telling.The most notable element of the movie is, needless to say, the outstanding performances by Vera Farmiga, Jung-Woo Ha and David McInnis. Especially I was overwhelmed by the powerful screen presence of Vera's delicate feature. She can be funny, sexy and innocent without even trying. She becomes the woman I'd love to be friends with. She becomes the lover I'd cherish and hold in my arms, and the mother I'd look up to. She arouses so many emotions within me that through her I face my own womanhood and independence.After watching the movie, I thought makers of "Unfaithful" should watch this movie to learn that an affair can have such depth, profundity and purity...

jdnapollo BE WARNED, the plot is revealed ahead, partially.It's a poetic look at a woman's desperate struggle to have a child. In order to please her successful Asian American husband, this blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian woman takes whatever means necessary in order to conceive a child, even if it means sleeping with another man. It's a beautiful looking film that breaks traditional conventions. The movie gives a rare and unique look at what happens in a relationship between an Asian man and a white woman. The camera seamlessly moves back and forth following the characters' faces so that it feels like we're worrying along with them. The story dares to bring sexuality back to Asian men and deserves to be seen.