Original Title: Permanent Residence (永久居留)
Release Date: 2009
Genre: Drama
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Language: Cantonese | English
Sub: English | Chinese
Director: Scud
Movie Summary:
Ivan is an IT professional who works hard and has no time for dating. The young man is forced to come face-to-face with his sexuality when Josh from Israel asks if he is gay during a television talk show in which the two are guest speakers and a life-long friendship begins.
After entering the gay world, Ivan meets Windson，who professes to be straight. A curious friendship blossoms between the two involving many episodes of nude wrestling, swimming, embracing and sharing a bed. Though apparently attracted to the free-spirited Ivan, Windson insists on limiting their relationship to nothing more than kisses and fondling.
When Windson announces he plans to wed his long-time girlfriend, Ivan is devastated and sets off on a journey of discovery that takes him from Israel to Thailand to Australia and finally back to Hong Kong.
Permanent Residence is flamboyantly out. With the bodies of avid gym-goers, both leads take delight in celebrating their naked, muscular flesh for the audience’s viewing pleasure （for me, in fact too much full frontal nudity）. The gay never-never land is effectively contrasted with the confining world of social norms that force Windson to stay with a woman who expects wedded bliss. The coming out will strike a chord with many Asian audience. Alternating between homoerotica and existential contemplations on life and death, the film is unique and intuitive. The photographic images present a tactile materiality that far exceeds the controlling needs of story, bringing to the natural realm an unexpected poetry and perspective.
