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Edmund Lee

4/5 stars
Mental illness and altered psychological states have been popular subjects for bleak human dramas, and served as plot devices to make high-concept crime thrillers or nonsensical horror movies tick. But filmmakers in Hong Kong have rarely come up with nuanced romantic psychodrama to match those of peers in the art-house circuit abroad. Beyond the Dream is a first step towards correcting that.
A fairy-tale urban romance complicated by one party’s unreliable mental state and the other’s seriously flawed personality, this thoroughly captivating film is the second full-length feature by Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai, who directed and produced the film and co-wrote its screenplay. Chow made his directing debut with 2013’s A Complicated Story, before contributing the prophetic segment Self-Immolator to Ten Years , the 2016 Hong Kong Film Awards best picture.
Adapted from Chow’s award-winning short film Upstairs (2006), Beyond the Dream is best viewed with no prior knowledge of its story – you are encouraged to stop reading here and watch the film first.


It begins with a chance encounter on the street between recovering schizophrenic Lee Chi-lok (Terrance Lau Chun-him) and a kind and beautiful woman (Cecilia Choi Si-wan), who Lok soon learns is named Yan-yan, and is a neighbour in his public housing estate.
The two fall in love behind the back of Yan-yan’s abusive father, but their happiness proves short-lived. Lok, whose mother has recently died, soon realises his girlfriend exists only in his own mind. The story proper takes place six months later, when Lok meets the actual woman he first saw: Yip Nam (also Choi) is a postgraduate student, privately desperate to become Lok’s psychological counsellor and take his unique case of erotomania as her research subject.

What transpires is a multilayered and deeply emotional tale of desire and yearning, as Lok and Nam – both damaged, vulnerable souls – navigate the taboo territory of the relationship to find solace in each other. While Nina Paw Hee-ching, as Nam’s thesis supervisor, and Poon Chan-leung, as her married lover and academic colleague, provide decent supporting turns, this film belongs to the leading duo, who bring their characters’ internal turmoil alive.
It takes a leap of faith on the audience’s part to buy into Lok’s mental condition – the film’s central conceit – but Lau, a stage and television actor making his feature film debut, more than earns our sympathy with his tortured portrayal. Choi, recently seen in the Taiwanese hit Detention , also nails her dual roles in her first Hong Kong film appearance. The subtle transformation of their characters alone calls for repeat viewings.
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Cecilia Choi, in her first Hong Kong film, and Terrance Lau, in his first big-screen role, star in a Hong Kong rarity – a nuanced romantic psychodrama
One has a deeply flawed personality, the other an unreliable mental state. We could say more, but Kiwi Chow’s film is best seen without knowing its story



Kiwi Chow’s film is that rare thing – a nuanced romantic psychodrama made in Hong Kong. Starring Cecilia Choi, in her first Hong Kong film role, and Terrance Lau, in his first big-screen role, the film is best seen without knowing its story.


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Review | Beyond the Dream film review: mesmerising romantic psychodrama by Ten Years director starring Cecilia Choi and Terrance Lau