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Life Goes On

KW was offered the male lead in this film only if he would accept the following terms :
1) He had to lose 20lbs for the role
2) He had to shave his head bald

After careful consideration, he finally decided to take this role which later gave him the most unforgettable experience in his career, earning the "Best New Artiste Award" in the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony 1990.

The Story

Life Goes On is a touching story about a fireman fighting his own battle against cancer and how he handled this physical and psychological turmoil in life.

The story began with the main character Kong Ka Wor (played by KW) who had been diagnosed of nasopharyngeal cancer. It was a great shock to a married young man who was enthusiastic in life, having a beloved family and a bright future. However, he decided to keep this secret and fight this dreadful disease all by himself. Meanwhile, as a cancer patient whose life seemed already running short, Kong started making plans for his family such as arranging life insurance benefits etc.. He also tried to remind his parents and his brothers to treasure their lives and their love ones but somehow all that had caused their misunderstandings towards him and he felt so hurt by those unpleasant response. Eventually when his family found out about his disease and realized his good intentions, they all got together to encourage and support him to fight for his recovery.

The story had a very positive ending with Kong and his wife and son happily taking home video on the beach. So, it's like the title of the film - LIfe Goes On.

A Brief Review

Life Goes On is a good film, it is a production of Radio Television Hong Kong which has been renowned for its quality production in TV drama and director Rachel Zen was among one of those 'New Wave Directors' in the 80's. I saw it long time ago and be honest, I can't remember very well the details of the story, but I do remember this film as it had led me into another perspective towards life at that time. Well, Kong didn't die or at least had not died yet at the end, but it's so sad to realize how helpless and fragile human lives could be. Fate is always beyond our control. So, we should all treasure the present and the people around us, live our lives the best we can and never give up any hope till the last second. I think that's also the message that this film intended to pass out to the audience.

Last but not least, I love the Chinese title "¦ýÄ@¤Hªø¤[" which literally means 'if only people were forever' because it had added a feel of romanticism to this sad story, ^.^

My First Encounter of KW

I didn't know who Kong Wa was when I saw Life Goes On, I might not even heard of his name but I was really impressed by his performance. I can still remember in some of the scenes in which he was gradually losing his hair due to radiation treatment. I can't recall precisely how he acted but I was deeply moved by his character and he's the main reason why I still have this film in mind after all these years. Well, KW had definitely proved himself as a good actor since then.

Trivia

KW almost got injured while doing an explosion scene. Luckily he was wearing the well-equipped fireman uniform so he was able to stay unharmed.

Director Rachel Zen was charged with Cruelty to Animal while shooting a scene in which Kong's wife had to kill a turtle to make a soup for her husband. Finally Zen was pleaded guilty and had to pay a fine.

The film was released in Hong Kong theaters on June 22, 1989, just 2-3 weeks after the Tian-an-men Crisis '89 which had been the major concern and topic among most of the Hong Kong people at that time. Therefore, it's difficult for the film distributor and the production company to carry out the scheduled promotion plan for the film in obtaining any effective result. The film only made HK$964,403.00 at the box office but fortunately the highly acclaimed performance by KW earned him the Award of Best New Artiste.

KW successfully lost 20 lbs for the role by just having diet-food instead of normal meals and he did miss all those delicious food during the shooting period. (but I guess that all got paid off later when he took the award home ^.^)

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