160 minutes, 35mm, in Cantonese with English subtitles
Directed by: Patrick Tam
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Charlie Yeung, Gouw Ian Iskander

Watch [the trailer] on YouTube.

Showtimes: SUN June 24, 1:30pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets];
SUN July 1, 3:30pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets].
Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately.

AFTER THIS OUR EXILE represents the triumphant return of Patrick Tam to directing after a 17-year absence. Long regarded as one of Hong Kong’s most influential moviemakers, Tam made his name in the 80’s New Wave movement with films like Nomad and My Heart is That Eternal Rose. He’s considered to be Wong Kar-wai’s mentor and besides teaching film he’s kept his hand in the biz by editing movies like Wong’s Days of Being Wild and Ashes of Time as well as Johnnie To’s Election.

AFTER THIS OUR EXILE takes place in nowheresville, Malaysia, where local Chinese eke out their living as bar girls and short order cooks, their personal lives as charred and barren as empty ashtrays. Boy (Gouw Ian Iskander) is a young kid who’s watching his family fall apart in slow motion with his father (Aaron Kwok) being brought down by gambling debts and a hair-trigger temper, while his mother (Charlie Yeung) is desperate to escape her dead-end existence but never quite strong enough to break free. Edited with an urgent, syncopated rhythm, the film is shot with a tossed-off glamour by Mark Lee Pin-bing veteran of several Hou Hsiao-hsien films and the co-cinematographer on Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love. Charlie Yeung, who once owned the Hong Kong film industry in the early 90’s, reunites with Kwok (the two appeared together in Yeung’s big break: a jewelry advertisement) to deliver an unpleasantly real performance as Boy’s mother. But the movie belongs to Aaron Kwok with his chainsaw mouth and the emptiest eyes in motion picture history. He’s a man haunted by himself, constantly wondering whatever happened to the good man he used to be.

See Patrick Tam in person! - at the 30th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) July 19 - 28 @ Asia Society. The AAIFF pays tribute to Patrick Tam, screening After This Our Exile, Nomad, The Sword and hosting a live, on-stage conversation with this influential director. Go to aaiff.org for more info.