NEVER FOREVER

Money can't buy happiness

By LAURA DARGUS

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Never Forever's characters are not people with whom you can empathize, nor does that seem to be writer and director Gina Kim's goal, at first. But the strength with which I came to care for Sophie Lee (Vera Farmiga) by the film's end was surprisingly overwhelming. An affluent American woman, Sophie is eager to soothe her despondent husband, Andrew (David McInnis), following his father's death and the slow realization of his own inability to conceive a child. At the fertility clinic, she happens upon an illegal immigrant, Jihah, (Jung-Woo Ha) who bears a striking resemblance to her Korean spouse, and ends up propositioning him to impregnate her. Her reasoning is marred by desperation as Andrew tries to kill himself (babies are not Band-Aids, people); and the pressure she feels is only heightened by Andrew's steadfastly religious family, their He-will-provide-type intimidation and her own insecurity with the concept of prayer.

Ultimately, it is this consideration of others before her that has defined Sophie her whole life. It's what her husband cites as the reason he fell in love with her and what motivates her questionable choices throughout the film. Jihah is curious about what Sophie wants from life, and when he asks, it comes across as the first time anyone ever has. Their affair becomes the one thing Sophie selfishly and assertively enters into.

Kim's screenplay reeks of human fallibility, though there are moments I thought the story would have been more apropos for the stage. Some of the momentum and transitional scenes play out artificially—too convenient, too soon. But this is overshadowed by the craft with which Kim builds and layers the tension and the subtly charged performance Farmiga puts forth. We see Sophie develop into a woman no longer defined by her posh lifestyle or the people around her.

And when faced with her hardest choice, Sophie doesn't falter from self-discovery. She prays.

NEVER FOREVER

RATED | R

OPENS | 5.16.08