Suk Suk

This story is really touching. It speaks to my heart. The characters are very real, and their experiences are pretty authentic. They make you care about them. They make you realise that they, like everyone else, deserve happiness too. Great production as well. I really enjoyed it.

Summary

A delicate, tender (although not without audacity) portrait with that special oriental sensibility of a gay love story between two mature men in today's Hong Kong.

Review Pak (Po Tai) works as a taxi driver in Hong Kong; He is 70 years old, married with two children and a granddaughter, and meets Hoy (Ben Yuen), a 65-year-old divorced retiree. Both will build a loving bond.

Almost from the beginning, we note where Pak channels (and restrains) the homosexual side of him. But it is Hoy, more self-assured, who begins to propose a different path that the first accepts. In what areas will these two men build their refuges for intimacy? How will they reconcile this romance with their well-established family lives?

Director Ray Yeung shows us the tenderness that these two mature men are capable of, with beautiful scenes of sexual intimacy between them. The secret romance and its drifts flow and make their way, alternating with the family vicissitudes of both and connecting with past losses.

The film develops a subplot that refers to young gay activists who seek to create an asylum for homosexual older men (since many of them do not have families to take care of them when they can no longer fend for themselves), the meetings with them and the difficult issue of visibility.

With all these elements, Yeung builds a delicate, entertaining and adult story, not without audacity and fortunately very far from the geriatric romances of American cinema, and with the discreet and tender hallmark of Eastern cinema when it comes to portraying the bonds. Pak and Hoy (both protagonists are remarkable) are two mature men, desiring (it is remarkable how they "rejuvenate" when they are together) and responsible, willing to try a love bond.

Undoubtedly, a sensitive and great love story.

"Pak, a taxi driver already passes the age of retirement, a habitué of a local tearoom, chances upon Hoi, a divorcé and Catholic convert, both have adult children and grandchildren. After consummating their carnal knowledge, they gradually develop feelings for each other, but as a married man, Pak is the one who has a tougher decision to make, whereas for Hoi, audience is explicitly intimated that his son Wan (Lo) has been knowing his secret all the time. While both meditating on a possible future living together as a same-sex couple, that giant leap takes much more than a steely determination and their unalloyed, mutual affection."

read the full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

This is a nice quiet story. It has all the elements to be an indie "darling". It's well done but I think it would have been far superior if we had focused more on Hoi than in Pak. We've seen Pak's story so many times and there is nothing really new there. You could say the same about Hoi but he at least has some nuances and much more heart. He's not only looking for love but giving it all around, to his grandchild and more importantly to his friends.

This last part is what really made the movie stand out. The stories of these various gay Chinese men and their struggle for a retirement home is far more interesting than the love story and I really wish we had seen more of it. A sequel perhaps?

The senior romance, especially the queer ones, is such a rarity. Therefore, the love story between two discreet grandfathers in Twilight's Kiss is worthy of celebration. The melancholic story might be too subdued for its own good since the emotion was a little restrained in giving a more poignant impact, yet it still feels authentic, heartfelt, and moving nonetheless.