michaelr-40112 While the romance genre is something I'm new to, I'd have to say this was one of the best ones I've seen (please remember, I've only watched about 5 romance movies in my 32 years of life).A love that develops between people of two different races and cultures is something that I find very fascinating. It proves that we all want the same thing, no matter what creed, culture, race, nation, religion, whatever we come from.That being said, Vera Farmiga puts on her best "desperate woman" role (I believe she won the Emmy for Bates Motel for playing a character I'd describe as such). Desperate to please her Korean-American husband and his family, she goes to a sperm clinic alone and witnesses a Korean man with an expired visa getting rejected as a donor.Intrigued by the possibility of covertly and unmaliciously fooling her husband by having sex with a Korean man simply for the sake of having a baby she can at least pretend belongs to her and her husband, she follows the rejected sperm donor and eventually gives him a business proposal.What follows is story of inner conflict, the desire (and simultaneous torment) to live up to societal and cultural expectations (and how they can get in the way of true love), as well as how other things out of our control can get in the way of being with the one we want.While the epilogue left me a little confused, I was for the most part enraptured by the film. I think it'd be appealing to anyone having trouble finding true happiness and love.Also, did Vera break the 4th wall at the end?

ferrule2 I set out to enjoy this movie, hoping for something that would take the best elements of movies such as Unfaithful and The Rabbit Hole and mix them with some independent flair and lesser known, but capable actors.The problem with this film is that there is one actor who is convincing... Farmiga. What's she manages to convince a pragmatic viewer of is another matter for later in this review. The two male main characters do workmanlike, unremarkable jobs of portraying relatively stereotyped characters, that of the depressed, middle aged man who can't have everything he wanted in life and a naive 20 year old kid who falls in 'love' because he receives the one thing guaranteed to cause a 20 year old to throw caution and logic to the wind. Never mind that it's delivered with more than a nod to the old saw "Love like you're being paid."Moving on to Farmiga, I think it's helpful to examine the absurdity of the plot. She's obviously almost as clinically depressed as her husband. Any of these ring a bell:"feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and/or helplessness" "persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings"I hope so, because those, and five other clinical symptoms are displayed in endless scenes of hand wringing, melodramatic expressions of pain, listlessly staring at walls while in a near fetal position, conversing as if it takes EVERY... LAST... BIT... of energy... Is this really good acting?The plot is also beyond silly. She does all this for her husband who she 'loves'. She achieves what she has stated is her only desire and he responds with warmth and spark that had been utterly lacking before. Of course, her response to this is to dream of dirty sex in a filthy tenement with a kid who's actual dialogue has mainly consisted of publicly implying, quite crudely, that she's a confused tramp who needs 'what he has', and isn't referring to the procreation aspects of their transactional trysts.If her mooning about seems like good acting, then I guess the above weirdness seems like a love story destined to break through barriers and walls that most could not. I was not terribly moved by this movie, although it was interesting watching it all play out. Farmiga is better when her talents are focused on helping a better movie play out logically.

jhailey A woman in love with her husband (he's suicidal) decides to have a baby to save his life. She's been to a fertility clinic - as has the lover she takes - so both know how artificial insemination works; but, instead of using the method thousands of people use every year around the world (the $5 turkey baster), they engage in coitus. We also are to believe that although the immigrant is in love with his fiancée, he doesn't suggest the obvious alternative to intercourse. Further, even though this is a business arrangement, the first time she's with her sperm donor, she takes off all her clothes, as if it's a seduction. Plus, her husband doesn't notice when $30,000 goes missing from their bank accounts. Does all this seem to demand more willing suspension of disbelief than even most Hollywood fare? Far fetched on all counts.

thebanquet Never Forever is a rare gem in the film industry, an art-house film enjoyable to watch on a Friday night. Though I think English native speakers might have a bit of a problem with the male lead Ha Jung Woo's English speaking ability, otherwise it's perfect. Sophie Lee(Vera Farmiga in a superb performance)is a white girl from a plain American family who marries Andrew(David McInnis),a successful Korean American lawyer from a high class family. The couple have a perfect life except for one thing. Andrew's sperms aren't strong enough for Sophie to have a baby. This one factor leads Andrew to attempt suicide.Next we see Ji Ha. Ji Ha is an illegal immigrant who is saving money so that he can bring his girlfriend to America, but because he's living illegally, there are many things he can't do like selling his sperms to a clinic for a small amount of money. After being rejected by the clinic, he comes home depressed to find a strange white woman sitting in front of his doorstep with a dangerous proposal. Every time he has sex with her she'll give him 300dollars and if she gets pregnant he gets thirty thousand dollars in cash.That white woman is Sophie. Seeing as getting pregnant was the only choice to make her husband happy, she buys Ji-Ha's sperms after seeing him by chance at the clinic. What started as a strict business relationship starts turning into passionate love.I will stop here about the plot because if I write more,it'll probably become a spoiler but the main reason I liked this movie wasn't the plot. It was the superb performances of Vera Farmiga and Ha Jung Woo(a relatively unknown in the international movie industry, having bit parts in acclaimed director Kim Ki Duk's film 'Time'and 'Breath'.)I've only seen Vera Farmiga in 'The Departed' and 'Running Scared',yet the depth she put into Sophie was something I rarely see an actor or actress perform. Not to mention full frontal nudity. Not many actresses like to take their clothes off even if it's necessary and if they do, they ask for tons of money but Vera willingly did it in a three million dollar low-budget film. Ha Jung Woo is, how can I say it, a phenomenon. I knew he was good looking after seeing him in 'The Fox Family'(not many actors look good when they're dressed like a total nitwit.)but didn't know the extent of his acting abilities. His English tongue is not perfect,sure,but how many actors can act so well speaking a language that they're not completely fluent in? I cried my eyes out during one scene where he whispers into Vera's ear "Saranghaeyo"(in English it means "I love you"), the only Korean line he speaks .Overall, Never Forever is a fantastic film. Go check it out when it opens(if it opens)in a theater near you.(It's also worth knowing that the theme for the movie was composed by Michael Nyman, the man behind the music for The Piano,directed by Jane Campion.)