Article by Jazmin Justo
Photo credit Yuchen Liao
“Always” held a grand U.S premiere at Times Square’s AMC Theater. “Always” is one of the newest films directed by Derek Ting and produced by Joyce Yung, who also produced “$uperCapitalist”. Cast members and friends, attended the film’s first screening. AsianInNY.com is a proud media sponsor for the New York premiere and a sold out event.
The film is a tragic melodrama in the midst of the busy metropolis, Hong Kong. Liam Chan (Derek Tian) is a successful financial lawyer, whose sole desire is to keep his family together after his father’s bankruptcy. Introduced as a charismatic earnest man, he’s often confronted by harsh realities. When he meets Yan Li (Danny Wang), it seems as if he finally got his life back together and falls in love. Yan Li, the daughter of a Shanghainese hotelier, she also faces an internal struggle with whether or not to accept her father’s business and stays in Hong Kong to rethink her life. Both characters begin to reevaluate everything that they thought their lives were built upon while facing the consequences of their decisions.
Heartbreaking romances, legal scandals, and a strained family relationship, Liam is an admirable protagonist for his endurance through these hardships. Meanwhile, Yan Li brings forth the tough decisions between choosing family obligations and one’s own desires in life. The film also explores the ironies of life through flashbacks and song lyric. It also captures how the very circumstances that bring people together can tear people apart in one of the most heartbreaking ways.
After the film, there was a Q&A with the producer, director, and cast members. Derek commented how he wanted to explore how everything in life comes around and back around, the circle of life, through symbolism and motifs featured throughout the film. There was allot of setups he purposefully did from the beginning of the movie that lead to the ultimate climax of the film to convey those messages. In questions to production, he wanted to test the boundaries of filmmaking and create a new way to reach the viewer. For Danny Wang, the movie productions experience was different from her previous star role in “Madame Secretary” and “Misfits”. She described how she had more freedom in impersonating the complex persona of Yan Li and did a lot of prep work to accurately portray the young intellectual and her high-class upbringing. She also mentioned how the making of the film was interactive and fun helping each other with the setups and script.
“Always” will be available for preorder on iTunes, October 01.
Follow the cast and premiere updates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alwaysthemovie
For more information about “Always” and “$upercapitalist” visit: http://www.randomartworkshop.com/film/
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