Eternal Summer (2006 film)

Eternal Summer
Promotional poster for Eternal Summer
Traditional	盛夏光年
Mandarin	Shèngxià Guāng Nián
Directed by	Leste Chen
Produced by	Leste Chen Patrick Mao Huang
Written by	Hsu Cheng-ping
Starring	Joseph Chang Ray Chang Kate Yeung
Cinematography	Charlie Lam
Edited by	Hsiao-Yun Ku
Distributed by	Flash Forward Entertainment Rolling Film Entertainment
Release date	13 October 2006 (2006-10-13)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Taiwan
Language	Mandarin
Box office	$255,440[1]

Eternal Summer (Chinese: 盛夏光年; pinyin: Shèngxià Guāng Nián) is a 2006 Taiwanese film starring Joseph Chang, Ray Chang and Kate Yeung. It was directed by Leste Chen. In 2006 the film received four nominations at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards, where Ray Chang won the award for Best New Performer.

Plot

Three high school students experience the agonies and ecstasies of love in director Leste Chen's sensitive tale of friendship and yearning.

As a child living in a seaside town in southern Taiwan, studious Jonathan (Bryant Chang) was asked by his concerned teacher to look after rebellious classmate Shane (Joseph Chang). Ten years later, what was once a good-natured obligation has since blossomed into a warm friendship, with Jonathan still on the academic track and Shane now finding his calling on the basketball court.

Taiwan-born schoolgirl Carrie (Kate Yeung) arrives from Hong Kong to join her mother after a disagreement with her father and transfers to their school. She befriends Jonathan and convinces him to join her on a secret day-trip to Taipei and in the evening she seduces him in a sleazy hotel but Jonathan backs down clearly distraught. Eventually, her observations of his and Shane's friendship leads her to believe that he is gay and in love with his best friend.

Carrie then meets Shane through Jonathan after a school day where Shane develops an interest in Carrie. Despite her initial misgivings about the boorish Shane, she eventually gives in to the troublemaker's roguish charms. She accepts his offer to become his girlfriend on the condition that he manages to enter university.

Later, Shane pulls his act together and gets into university, while Jonathan, distracted by his burgeoning sexual identity crisis, does not. Shane does his best to keep secret his feelings for Carrie in order to protect the feelings of his lifelong friend. Despite all their best efforts to keep their personal feelings secret, the truth eventually emerges, forcing all three to view their relationships in an entirely new light.

Cast

• Joseph Chang as Shane (余守恒)
• Ray Chang as Jonathan (康正行)
• Kate Yeung as Carrie (慧嘉)

There is an underlying poetic subtext based on the astrological significance in the character's Chinese names:

• Shane: (Chinese: 守恒; pinyin: shou heng) represents (Chinese: 恒星; pinyin: heng xing) star (the Sun).
• Jonathan: (Chinese: 正行; pinyin: zheng xing) represents (Chinese: 行星; pinyin: xing xing) planet (the Earth).
• Carrie: (Chinese: 慧嘉; pinyin: hui jia) represents (Chinese: 彗星; pinyin: hui xing) the Comet.
• The Sun always shines.
• The Earth follows its route surrounding the Sun, but cannot approach it.
• The Comet brings surprise to the solar system.
• The picture is incomplete without any one of them.

Soundtrack

Awards and nominations

Eternal Summer won one awards out of four nominations at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards in 2006.

References

External links

• Eternal Summer on IMDb
• Eternal Summer at AllMovie