Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE AGE OF GOODBYES [Toronto International Film Festival - Toronto, Ontario]
The concept of lost time and double truths has always been a stalwart of cinematic language. In "The Age Of Goodbyes" [World Premiere/Special Presentations], adapted from a novel of the same name, the main character Du Li (Vivian Sung) is looking for meaning as she works multiple jobs in 1969 in Malaysia. There she falls slowly in love with Lin Seng (Stanley Yau), a teacher who lives with a dark curse or at least a sense of misfortune. Now this concept is based within the wrapper of her grandson looking back on a book that begins at page 513. 1969 in that part of Asia was rife with strife. This part of the film is the most romantic but works on the concept that it won’t work out. Sung is practical but also seems to believe in coincidences. There is a lot of double structure whereas a dress perhaps worn by the same woman appeals to two different men who should not exist and yet they do. Du Yi hopes for something to change but as the years go on she is able to accept that her fate is sealed. Her daughter from her eventual marriage to a would-be gangster is one of convenience but one that carries a certain prestige. But then a certain coincidence rings back into her life that she can’t quite resist.
However her desire or urge to capture the past intrudes on what is exactly going on. The film also blasts backwards using different aspect ratios and color schemes to show a brutality that claimed the ideals and eventual mortality of Lin Seng. Seng misses opportunities and yet people’s expectation of him never wavers. However his own skewed identity which takes on an interesting physical form that comes about to undo Du LI. It affects her in a different way. The choices she makes seem to make sense but tragedy seems to follow her nevertheless yet she stays resilient. Director Edward Yeo doesn’t try to make you feel sorry for the characters but you don’t pity them either. They are simply following their path dictated by circumstances. Sung as Du LI at one point pushes Seng on the fact to take a chance since he will regret it otherwise. She also doesn’t waver later even if she makes a wrong choice. She doesn’t break down. She accepts. But she also keeps secrets from her grandson who eventually finds her, stuck in the same loop she pushed to begin but didn’t escape. The plot mechanizations border on melodrama but they function well enough to establish a sense of novelistic storytelling that permeates the film to the end. 83%/B
By Tim Wassberg
