A love triangle involving a young man and
two girls is a very common film topic. But the story can be weird if the man’s two
lovers, one existing in real life and the other in imagination, happen to be
the same girl. In the film “Beyond the Dream” this is what happens to Ah Lok, a
patient of delusional disorder, who craves for and experiences true love. The
film, in fact, tells a unique love story, which keeps the audience emotionally
engaged throughout the entire time.
Ah Lok is a primary sports teacher. On
regular medication, he is a well-liked young man full of vitality. But when the
disease gets out of control, strange things can happen; he cannot tell between
what is real and what is imagined. And what triggers this may be a disturbing incident
such as the one that occurs in the street at the beginning of the film and it
is also where and when Ah Lok first encounters the girl.
Making frequent use of big close-up shots, the
director wants to impress the audience with the characters’ inner feelings, such
as Ah Lok’s helplessness when drifting in and out of half awake hallucinations,
Yip Nam’s happiness when she feels Ah Lok’s love and the professor’s disappointment at Yip Nam's
determination to give up her doctorate.
determination to give up her doctorate.
There is also emphasis on the relationship
between humans and the environment. The repeated top-view shot of the spiral
staircase implies that a patient of mental disorder often finds himself subject
to confinement. The same effect is also achieved with the scattered shots of
the subway and the cruciform block of public housing estate. In addition, a
light rail station appears several times, highlighting Ah Lok’s feeling of
loneliness amidst the commuters hurrying past him. Moreover, the blurred shots imply doubt as to whether it is reality or imagination, comparable to Ah Lok's actual state of mind.
Above all, as the director remarks at an
interview, the film is telling a love story. It delivers the message that patients
of mental disorder are humans just like any of us. They also crave for love and
are capable of true love. And, while Ah Lok is participating in the counselling
project, we audience can join him as we also need counselling about genuine
love, sacrificial love and accepting love.
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