After This Our Exile 2006

Chow Chow Cheung-Sheng is in a troubled relationship with his girlfriend Lee Yuk-Lin and their son Chow Lok-Yun in Malaysia, where daily life feels strained and unstable. Frustrated by the ongoing abuse, Lin makes several attempts to leave, hoping for a fresh start away from the volatile dynamic they share. The trio plans a cruise vacation that promises to change their fortunes, but on the day of departure, Lin appears to fall ill, and Sheng asks Lin to stay behind so the trip can still go ahead. When Sheng and Boy return, they discover Lin has vanished, leaving behind questions and a web of uncertain truths. Lin’s friend Jennifer denies knowing Lin’s whereabouts but concedes Lin had been planning to leave and hints at an affair, complicating Sheng’s sense of betrayal and prompting him to confront his own choices.

A downward spiral follows as Chow Cheung-Sheng loses his temper and gets fired from his restaurant job, leaving him unable to cover mounting debts, including Boy’s school bus fees. With threats from loan sharks looming, Sheng and Boy move to a hotel in a different city to escape the pressure, while Sheng begins a volatile romance with an escort named Fong. The relationship is transactional and tense, and Sheng quickly falls into a precarious role as a pimp to attract clients, a situation that strains his integrity and their fragile bond. The hotel becomes a backdrop for their desperation, as Sheng even hands over a stolen watch to the manager as a substitute for rent.

Meanwhile, Boy returns to the old neighborhood in search of Lin and encounters her again through [Jennifer], who reveals Lin’s ongoing communications and hints at a new life. Lin has moved on, remarried and pregnant with a new partner, a revelation that intensifies Boy’s anger and sense of abandonment. Lin pleads with him to stay, but the wounds of abandonment push him back toward Sheng, and Sheng’s fury toward Lin’s alleged infidelity pushes him toward drastic decisions. The tension escalates when Sheng contemplates leaving for England, hoping to start anew and leave Boy with Lin, but loan sharks track him down and beat him, leaving him physically and financially broken.

The injuries halt Sheng’s ability to work, and he snaps into a grim plan to have Boy burglarize houses, beginning with the same classmate’s home from which the watch was stolen. Inside a wealthy residence, Boy is overcome with emotion and is caught after tearing up at the sight of a loving family caring for a sick child. Sheng arrives, spinning a story to the family that his own son was angry with him and fled, an attempt to shield himself from accountability. Frustrated by his failed theft, Sheng abandons Boy, who is left to navigate the fallout alone. In a moment of hardened resolve, Sheng decides to stop forcing Boy into crime and vows to help him find legitimate work, but the grim cycle resumes as they walk through another neighborhood and Sheng pushes Boy to break into yet another home. The attempt ends in a loud confrontation as the homeowners discover the break-in.

Sheng ultimately lands in prison, and during a prison visit, Boy bites Sheng’s ear in a raw burst of anger and lingering resentment. Years pass, and an older Boy returns to the hotel, seeking to reclaim the stolen watch, asking the manager to sell it back to him. He tracks down the father of his former classmate and returns the watch to its rightful owner, tying a fragile knot to the past. As Boy revisits his old neighborhood, he glances toward the possibility of Sheng and the entire childhood he endured, offering a quiet, poignant reminder of how far they’ve come and how far they still have to go.