May You Stay, Forever Young (2020)

Story: It's predominantly about a sheltered, young man who strives to meet his parent's expectations but also wants to live a life for himself. So when Francis reconnects with Tommy, he follows the latter around town, neglecting his studies and piano lessons.

Acting: Decent enough to portray the relationship between two boys just hanging out.

Music: Nothing to write home about.

Rewatch Value: Once is enough.

Overall Impression: When I searched for other reviews of this short to serve as comparison, there's hardly anything that could be found. Instead another HK film of the same name, the one that uses the 2019 HK protests as a backdrop, was the one usually featured. So it made sense to me, that this particular short, barely registered on the radar. And so is my opinion of the film.

The only pivotal scene that I could commend is the one where Francis finally had his outburst in the final moments. He finally snapped after being subjected to other pursuits he really does not have any interest in. For his mother to profess to care about Francis, she did not do a good job of understanding where he is coming from nor what he really wants in life.

But even with this statement, I wasn't quite sold on what the film was trying to portray, aside from the reality of gay teens living in the shadows of their true nature.

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