Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong movie review (2016)

Ruby and Josh both have off-screen partners who make their presence known through phone messages or Outlook reminders of an upcoming Skype call. Their emotions towards their respective partners are ambivalent at best, and the problem with that is that the two come off as people looking for an excuse to cheat as opposed to a situation much more unstable and important. You know a "romance" film isn't working when you think in exasperation, "Oh, go ahead, just cheat if your relationship bores you so much. No one'll know." Or: "Break up with your partner. For God's sake, you're not married. No harm no foul." It's not the most romantic vibe.

Cinematographer Josh Silfen provides a welcome variety of angles to all the talk, the camera sometimes following the two from behind, or swinging around to move along ahead of them. Silfen also shows a visual sensitivity to the lights of Hong Kong: they blur and twinkle in the background/foreground, creating a dreamy atmosphere. It's a poetic style that serves a purpose: despite the attention-getting surroundings, the focus is on the one-on-one interaction of Ruby and Josh. 

The style keeps "Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong" from being a glorified travelogue, but unfortunately it also hones in on the lack of chemistry between the two leads. Both Greenberg and Chung were executive producers on the film. Both are obviously talented. Greenberg is effortlessly charming in a very real-guy kind of way. And Chung manages the switch-backs of mood and energy with ease. But Josh and Ruby "bond" during a conventional shopping montage, where they haggle over the price of a selfie stick, and an awkward scene where they get their fortunes told. Think of River Phoenix and Lili Taylor in "Dogfight," which has a similar "sightseeing" structure, or Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in "Before Sunrise" paying the guy lying by the river to write a poem for them, and the difference is palpable. What is missing is the magic of connection.

"Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong" is in the long tradition of extended "meet-cutes," films like Vincente Minnelli's "The Clock," David Lean's "Brief Encounter," Nancy Savoca's "Dogfight" and Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy. There are elements of cultural disorientation too, reminiscent of Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation." It is clear that Ting knows the "bucket" in which she wants to place her story, and the mood of self-control and bittersweet longing she wants to create. There are moments, brief moments, when that tone is achieved, but overall Ruby and Josh's connection has more in common with the feather-weight "relationship" of Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro in "Falling in Love" than the torment of "Brief Encounter" or the urgency of "The Clock." If nothing else, "Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong" is an object lesson in just how difficult it is to make a film successful with this story-structure. It reminds us what a miracle "The Clock" or "Before Sunrise" were, the stories shimmering with delicacy and inference, in-depth conversations leading to connections more intellectual than sexual, masterpieces of barely-controlled passion and longing. "Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong" suffers in comparison.

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