Eternal Summer (2006)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

In a perfect world actor Hsiao-chuan Chang would be a star. He is the most subtle and sexiest actor I have seen in decades. His face is a knockout---especially his perfect lips. But the innocence he brings to his character is heart stopping.Eternal Summer is a subtle and sexy Taiwanese movie that is beautifully directed and written by Leste Chen. Every scene and camera shot is perfection.I found myself going back and watching scenes over and over again---especially, of course, the highly erotic love scene between male actors Bryant Chang and Hsiao-chuan Chang.Gorgeous. Sexy. Subtle. True.Bravo.

ETERNAL SUMMER (Sheng xia guang nian) is a delicate, quiet, understated and eloquent study of youthful interpersonal relationships form Taiwanese director Leste Chen from a screenplay by Cheng-Ping Hsu based on the novel by the same name by Chi-yao Wang. The style of the film allows a wide audience to appreciate the sexual challenges of teenagers and understand the need for finding love and acceptance in a world at times too busy to care.The story begins in grade school where Jonathan Kang (Bryant Chang) is a gifted student asked to 'supervise' another young boy in his class, Shane Yu (the dazzlingly gifted young actor Joseph Chang) who has an apparent learning disorder/attention deficit. Shane is rambunctious and athletically gifted while Jonathan is the quiet, reserved, brilliant student. The boys bond as children and grow up together into young men facing the exams for university entrance. A young girl Carrie (Kate Yeung) meets the two boys: first she challenges the studious Jonathan to take a trip to Taipei (ditching school) where she hopes to have a physical encounter. The hotel room is a disaster and Jonathan feels isolated from both Carrie's desires and from deserting his duties at school - and with Shane, who Jonathan loves far more than merely a best friend. Shane gradually moves into Jonathan's position as Carrie's physical companion and the resulting triangle results in confessions and incidents that allow each of the three involved young people to grow and understand the spectrum of love.The story is captured with exceptionally beautiful cinematic effects by cinematographer Charlie Lam and the atmosphere of play and passion is enhanced by the musical score by Jeffrey Cheng. Yet it is the sensitive direction by Leste Chen that encourages the three superb young actors to become immersed in their roles. Chen knows when to say enough (the sex scenes are sensual and suggestive without even approaching an R rating) and when to allow scenes of quiet and eye contact to carry the drama. This is a very fine film that deserves a wide audience, both young and old. Highly recommended. In Mandarin with English subtitles. Grady Harp

Eternal Summer is essentially about the innately gregarious nature of human existence, that desire of each and every human being to have companionship. Although this topic is certainly not new to cinema, it is portrayed in an original, artistic, and poignant manner in this film directed by Leste Chen. In this simple yet touching story, three teenagers, Jonathan, Shane, and Carrie, are thrown into a tumultuous love triangle out of which they each learn that no one should ever have to be lonely. The first character, Jonathan, is a hardworking and studious student. One day while in grade school, he is asked by the teacher to befriend the rebellious Shane in hopes that Jonathan's obedient nature will rub off on Shane. This unlikely friendship goes well into their teen years, as Jonathan remains the diligent and introverted individual while Shane is still the outspoken and often-times boorish individual, now redirecting that hyperactive energy to sports. During these years, Jonathan has developed a secret homosexual crush on his best friend Shane. Jonathan himself does not realize this until a new girl at school, Carrie, starts to take a liking to him. After confessing to Carrie that he is gay and in love with his best friend, he still remains friends with Carrie, the only outside keeper of his biggest secret. The roles that Shane and Carrie play in Jonathan's life have now changed: Carrie is now Jonathan's true best friend, while Shane is Jonathan's desired lover. In spite of this, Jonathan keeps this love well-hidden and does not act on it. His overwhelming feelings for Shane do not begin to take the best of him until he realizes that Carrie, his true best friend, is now dating Shane. It is now that he realizes that he cannot ever just be "friends" with Shane.Meanwhile, Shane sees Jonathan throughout the entire story as his best friend, the only friend he had as a rebellious young boy. Shane's greatest fear is suffering from the loneliness that characterized his childhood before having met Jonathan, and he never wants to return to that dark place ever again. When Jonathan tells Shane that he never wanted to be his friend, Shane's emotions are utterly crushed, and in a last-ditch effort to salvage their invaluable friendship, Shane gives Jonathan what Jonathan has probably been fantasizing about his entire life: one night of intimate unification. For the desperate Shane, this is the only physical way he can show his best friend how much he does not want to lose their friendship. Meanwhile, Shane does not want to lose his love either, Carrie. Although the love story between Shane and Carrie was terribly underdeveloped, Shane admits that he cannot function without Carrie, his love, or Jonathan, his best friend. The third character in this love triangle is Carrie. A new transfer student from Hong Kong, Carrie initially has her eyes set on Jonathan, the sweet guy at school with boyish good looks. When she discovers that she cannot have him, she shifts her eyes to Shane. In a way, Shane is Carrie's "replacement-Jonathan." Knowing that she cannot have Jonathan as her lover, she settles for having Jonathan as her best friend and Shane as her lover. Being with Shane, Jonathan's best friend, seems to be the closest Carrie will ever have to being Jonathan's lover. This story of the quest for teenage companionship was very richly-colored and profoundly presented. However, a major defect of this film was the lack of believability of how Jonathan could have truly loved Shane for any reason other than Shane's good looks or his athletic body. Shane's treatment of Jonathan was not particularly likable. For example, Shane causes Jonathan's grades to slip by distracting him when he tries to study. Even when Jonathan directly asks Shane to let him be, Shane disregards his alleged "best friend's" request and continues to disturb him. Furthermore, Shane is rather bossy and overbearing. He orders Jonathan to eat with him numerous times to keep him company, and when Jonathan does not fulfill this "obligation," Shane feels the need to punish his friend by making it difficult for him to study. It is truly hard to understand how Jonathan could have really liked Shane for any reason other than a superficial one. A second major blemish of the film was the seemingly illogical actions of Shane. Shane sees Jonathan as his best friend without whom he cannot live. Yet, he is willing to jeopardize that friendship by actively pursuing Carrie after "thinking" that she and Jonathan recently broke up. Good friends do not normally date each other's ex's, especially so soon after a breakup. Furthermore, he sees Carrie behind Jonathan's back, and surprisingly, it is Carrie, who knows Jonathan less well, who suggests that they come clean to Jonathan about their relationship. Furthermore, when he is losing Jonathan, Shane decides to sleep with him in a final effort to save their friendship. Although I admit that this scene was indeed an enjoyable one, it is outright incongruous for a friend to sleep with another friend to save a friendship. Normally, friends use oral communication rather than intimately physical communication to save a diminishing friendship. Unless he actually had intimate feelings for Jonathan, sleeping with him only strains the friendship further and makes it more difficult for them to just be "friends" again.All three characters desire someone to fill the role of "best friend" and someone else to fill the role of "lover." Through their teen quests to find and keep friendships, whether romantic or not, the film shows us that companionship is a deep-seated part of human existence that everyone needs.

I agree with the other review that this film is very moving. It is not a perfect film but I enjoyed it very much. The music is rather syrupy which lends to the film's tear jerking nature. But the story is very well done and the performances of the leads are very strong and they do have very good chemistry. I'm not sure that the sex scene really made a whole lot of sense to me and there seemed to be a fair amount edited out of the story which might have made the film better and fleshed things out a bit more. I think the characters are rather relatable for most gay guys. I certainly had my share of straight friends who I was in love with over the years. And I liked the way the story is told from the beginning of their friendship. I wasn't sure if Carrie was supposed to be the same girl as the one at the beginning who gets her hair cut by Shane. Definitely worth seeing.