Beyond the Dream

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Beyond The Dream
Beyond The Dream 2019 幻愛.jpg
Traditional幻愛
Directed byKiwi Chow
Written byFelix Tsang
Kiwi Chow
Based onshort film Upstairs
by Kiwi Chow
Produced byAndrew Choi
Felix Tsang
StarringCecilia Choi
Terrance Lau
CinematographyYat Lui Danny Szeto
Edited byMan Shan Emily Leung
Music byInterMusic Production
Production
companies
Golden Scene
Iner
Photon Films
Distributed byGolden Scene
Release dates
  • 14 November 2019 (2019-11-14) (Hong Kong Asian Film Festival)
  • 2 July 2020 (2020-07-02) (Hong Kong)
Running time
120 mins
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$15.25 million[1]

Beyond The Dream (幻愛) is a 2019 Hong Kong romantic drama film directed by Kiwi Chow and written by Felix Tsang, starring Cecilia Choi and Terrance Lau. The film is based on the award-winning short film Upstairs (2006), which was also directed by Chow.[2] Beyond The Dream enjoyed box office success in Hong Kong,[3] and the film also became the highest-grossing domestic film in Hong Kong in 2020 since the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] The film also won the Best Adapted Screenplay award at 57th Golden Horse Awards,[5] which is Taiwan's equivalent to the Academy Awards.[6]

Plot[]

Lok, a kind-hearted and forthright primary school teacher, which was being treated to recovery from Psychosis. He never dare to fall in love although he was longed for a burning love, he also had an imaginary girlfriend, Yan. The girl fill his heart to full and he also knew it was all just his hallucinations.

One day, Lok met a beautiful and refined young girl Yip-Lam by chance, who looks exactly like Yan, and he fell in love with her at first sight. Another day, Lok was attend to a support group for Psychosis patients, and he met Yip-Lam again as a psychological counselor. They fell in love after getting to know each other deeply. The two developed a forbidden love with suspense and twists, which seemed to be true.

Unfortunately, Lok was haunted by his hallucinations and being sick again while hesitating, and he also discovered that she had utilize him for the sake of her programme. However, Yip-Lam also had her own unpleasant past experiences... Can the two overcome their difficulties? However, the forbidden love was exposed and forced them to separate. Can the two overcome the difficulties again?

Cast[]

Production[]

Script[]

The short film was tend to discuss social issues, talk about the discrimination against patients, and their pain were came from the outsiders. I don't want to repeat the same things, and there are many people who have made it, especially the Hong Kong-made films in recent years. I want to have something new ideas to make my creative desire stronger.

—Director Kiwi Chow

The script of this film can be traced back to 2006. Director Kiwi Chow returned to school as a part-time lecturer two years after he was graduated from Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. At that time, a student talked about the story of filming the story of psychiatric patients, which inspired him to start information gathering, and found that it was very difficult for them to fall in love, so it made him to created a 30-minute short film, named "Upstairs".[7] The short film was well received and won several local and international film festival awards, including the Special Award for Young Film Art at the 2nd Student Television Festival which held in Warsaw, Poland, the Grand Prize of the 2006 Kodak Cinematography Competition (Hong Kong Region), the Silver Award of 2006 Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Competition (Open Category). The impressive achievements encouraged him to extend the story into a feature film, Beyond the Dream. However, it was unfortunately it had not been favored by investors, and the result is nothing. A few years before the film started, the director co-founded "Lightseed Films" with Felix Tsang, another producer and screenwriter. They cooperated to complete several scripts. Chow suddenly hooked the movie that have been shelved for years since they're failed to find funds to start filming. They made further revisions to "Beyond the Dream" and later obtained government funding successfully.[8]

In 2005, a newspaper reported that a female psychiatric patient was undressing on the streets at Mong Kok, and those passers-by took photos with their mobile phones and join in the fun. After watching this, the director was furious and thought they were too much of it, so it was written into the script and whiich became the first scene of the movie.

Although the opening scene of the movie made the audiences think that this was another Hong Kong film that cares about the disadvantaged groups. As the plot develops, it was closer to a pure love story.

The director believed that every film is unique, he expressed instead of just looking at the big picture, he wanted to get into the inner world of the protagonist, it made the movie developed slowly into a movie about psychology.

Funding[]

"Beyond the Dream" was received HK $1.2 million through the Film Development Fund, which accounting for 20% of the total cost. The director had directed a film with sensitive theme, Ten Years, and some investors have indicated that they would not invest in his film, which made him to face difficulties in raising funds. The film was released on the big screen because of some benefactor had donated generously as they don't want to witness the decline of Hong Kong-produced films.[9]

Casting[]

The director Chow found that Terrance Lau performed in a different way within the audition, he's presents a Psychosis patient who seemed to be no different from the normal person, which coincides with his message. As for the heroine, because of someone had introduced her to the director, and the director had seen her performance at "My Very Short Marriage" and thought that she was very refreshing. She plays a professional role in the TV series, which is quite similar to the setting of this movie. In addition, combined with her looks like a highly educated person and her natural performance in audition, those various factors made her the best choice for the heroine.[7]

Filming[]

Some people say that this subject matter was more extreme and the leaning of the tip of a writing brush, which difficult to locate and promote. It was not considered to represent a social phenomenon and caring for the disadvantaged; Is it pure love? How complicated is this love; It's not even a genre film, but it had a lot of psychological elements.

—Director Kiwi Chow

Most of the scenes in this film were filmed at Tuen Mun, Hong Kong. however it was not arranged by the director deliberately. When he discussed with the screenwriter about the character and background of the male protagonist, Chow believed that he was a character with low self-esteem, introverted, and avoids crowds, which was not suitable for living in the city center, but in a more remote location, so it made Tuen Mun as one of the options. In addition, the screenwriter was lived in Tuen Mun, so he was familiar with the scene, which was helpful for filming. Also, the director was requested for the scene of the light rail. These three factors prompted Tuen Mun to be the background for this film.

The filming locations included Wu King Estate（the residence of Lok and Yan）, Tsui Ning Garden（the residence of Yip Lam）, under the bridge of Wong Chu Road between Yau Oi Estate and Tsui Ning Garden (The place where the protagonists were interrupted by the third party when they kissed), Tuen Mun Ferry Pier, Tuen Mun Public Library, Tuen Mun Park, the shopping center of Siu Hei Court, Butterfly Beach Community Hall, Butterfly stop, Prime View stop, Town Centre stop, and Tai Tong Road stop of the Light Rail, PLK Women's Welfare Club Fung Lee Pui Yiu Primary School, Yau San Street and Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Additionally, the last scene was actually the tunnel near Wo Che Village in Sha Tin, the scene of the light rail above the tunnel was added by the use of computer effects, which made the scene more in line with the background settings.

I didn't deliberately divide the different film genre, and then pick one of them to make. I love those genres as well, and that's how "Beyond the Dream" came to be.

—Director Kiwi Chow

During the filming process, the filming crew encountered some huge challenges since the filming cost was only 6 million Hong Kong dollars, the crew were unable to make an appointment for the Light Rail to closed the station for filming, they had to wait for the staff left before proceeding. However, the director later believed that the motion pictures were close to real life when there was no appointment for filming. Besides, the male and female protagonist were in opposite directions while filming at the Light Rail scene, so it was necessary for them to meet and wait at the station which they had completed a scene, and then repeating continuously. Furthermore, because of the director was fascinated with old-fashioned trucks, so the crew spent a lot of time for waiting, and the entire team had to return to work immediately to prepare for filming as the trucks approached close.

In terms of filters, the cinematographer Danny Szeto had performed the classic soft filter to filming the part of Yan. This filter created a ghosting effect on the light source, implying that Yan was just a figure in an illusion. As for the lens selection, he had chosen some older lenses (Zeiss Super Speed). He tested a new lens and an old lens before filming, and they were agreed that the texture and softness of the old lens are just right after observing the test results with the director, especially when the aperture was open wide.

Regarding to the lighting, the use of cold and warm light was changed with the relationship between the male and female protagonists. In the first three counselling scenes, a cold tone was used to show their restraint in the first counseling; it was still in the cold tone prior Yip Lam went to the washroom, but it was changed to used a warm tone instead when the male protagonist was willing to open his heart after Yip Lam is came back and started counseling again. The warm light was used on the male protagonist had already break through the estrangement between the two sides, and revealed all the details about himself and Yan. For the lighting of the male protagonist's home, the cool tone was mainly used for reflect his mood and his mental state. The room of him with his decreased mother was the only place where the warm tone appeared.[10]

Music[]

The production team successfully invited Tu Du-Chih, the well-known film sound engineer in Taiwan, to participate in the sound mixing work. He used the surround sound to present the effect of auditory hallucinations in the climax scene, let the audience to experience Lok's subjective feelings with empathy. He also push through the promotional statement of the movie: On the last day of mixing, he watched the whole movie with the production team from the beginning to the end. After reading it, he believed that "I don't mind" as a thematic effect of the theme, and it was suitable as a promotional statement. The production team also believed that to say something spot on this, which is further connecting the theme to the audience itself, so they added a rhetorical question at the end: "How about you?".

Release[]

"Beyond the Dream" was released in Hong Kong on July 2, 2020, by Golden Scene Films. On the opening day, the box office was bleak for $140,000 Hong Kong dollars only. Fortunately, the box office rose sharply with the urgent support of the actors Chapman To, Kristal Tin, Harriet Yeung, director Wong Ho Yin and the yellow economic circle,[11][12][13] and with many film critics were praised the film also, the box office as high as HK$750,000 on July 4, and HK$900,000 on July 5, becoming the single-day box office championship for two consecutive days. The box office has accumulated to about 2.4 million Hong Kong dollars within the 4 days of opening.[14] By July 9, the accumulated box office exceeded 4 million Hong Kong dollars, became the box office champion of the week. The 5 main creators of the movie went to multiple theaters in person for thank the tickets, more than 100 people had lined up for a photo with the main creator in each theater.[15] As of July 13, the box office has exceeded 8 million Hong Kong dollars.[16] "Beyond the Dream" had reached HK$15.25 million at the Hong Kong box office finally, became one of the top ten movies with the highest Hong Kong box office in 2020.[17]

The DVD/Blu-ray disc of the movie was released in Hong Kong on December 3, 2020,[18] and according to the Hong Kong Record Merchants Association, "Beyond the Dream" had once topped the weekly DVD sales chart.[19]

Director Chow pointed out that "Beyond the Dream" was to be able to make profits by relying on the local market of Hong Kong alone, which is a very rare case for Hong Kong movies in recent years.[20][21]

The movie in Taiwan box office received NT$943,000.

Accolades[]

Year Ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result
2020 The 26th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award Best Picture "Beyond the Dream" Nominated
Featured Movies Won
Best Director Kiwi Chow Nominated
Best Screenplay Felix Tsang and Kiwi Chow Nominated
Best Actress Cecilia Choi Won[22]
Best Actor Terrance Lau Won[23]
The 12th Hong Kong Film Directors Guild Annual Awards Best Newcomer Won
The 3rd Kongest Film Awards The Kongest Actor Won
The Kongest Picture "Beyond the Dream" Nominated
My Favorite Movie Nominated
The Kongest Director Kiwi Chow Nominated
The Kongest Actress Cecilia Choi Won
The 39th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actress Nominated
Best Director Kiwi Chow Nominated
Best Screenplay Felix Tsang and Kiwi Chow Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Szeto Nominated
Best Music Score Duu-Chih Tu and Shu-yao Wu Nominated
Best New Performer Terrance Lau Nominated
Hong Kong Film Screenwriters Association Award 2020 Best Movie Character of the Year Nominated
Cecilia Choi Nominated
Recommended Screenplay of the Year Felix Tsang and Kiwi Chow Nominated
Hong Kong Film Support for the People's Choice Awards 2020 Most Supportive Actress Cecilia Choi Nominated
Most Supportive New Performer Terrance Lau Nominated
The 57th Golden Horse Awards Best New Performer Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Felix Tsang and Kiwi Chow Won
Best Music Score Duu-Chih Tu and Shu-yao Wu Nominated

Influence[]

Set a trend of Tuen Mun fever[]

2021年年初設置在屯門碼頭海濱長廊「幻愛橋」的節日裝飾，雖然被《幻愛》導演周冠威批評觀感不好，但成為市民拍攝熱點[24]

The background was set in Tuen Mun, and the filming locations were considered to be very romantic, which like thee Japanese style painting,[25] and attracting the audiences to revisit the filming scenes in groups.[26]

Reinvigorating Hong Kong-produced films[]

Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, there is a shortage of international blockbusters during June and July, and the release of "Beyond the Dream" made Hong Kong-produced films to fill this window period indirectly. "My Prince Edward" and "Suk Suk" were officially released subsequently, the media collectively referred to the above three films as "3 Treasures of Golden Scene". The "3 Treasures of Golden Scene" not only have their own characteristics, but also arouse different audiences' re-attention to Hong Kong-produced films. It can be regarded as an Indian summer for the Hong Kong films. Those three films were very popular among Hong Kong people, and a variety of peripheral products, such as postcards, novels, theme coffee, etc. were launched rarely in Hong Kong film history.[27][28]

The romance of the leads[]

The male and female protagonists had known each other before filming, but they were not familiar with each other. They gradually fell in love with each other during the filming and became a real couple.[29] In the interview, the male lead expressed that there had a scene was filmed at a light rail station, the emotions he released were very surging and intense which made him exhausted, but he felt that the encouragement by the female protagonist constantly, so made him love.[30]

The derivative work by the bus company[]

Kowloon Motor Bus had uploaded a derivative poster on its Facebook page, which was of derivative from the film, the promotional phrase of the poster was "I don't mind—don't you?". The title was "Sit Down", urging passengers to remember to sit still while the bus was moving, and hold the handrail tightly while standing, and wear a mask most importantly to avoid fines. The poster was warmly welcomed by netizens.[31]

References[]

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External links[]

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