previously published on Asian Movie Pulse
Amos Why got some notoriety with his debut feature, the romantic drama “Dot 2 Dot” (2014) which revolved around a girl who came to Hong Kong from mainland China and got fascinated by the place’s culture. His next film was “Napping Kid” (2018), a tech thriller with some political undertones that ultimately suffered from the convoluted plot.
Why is back to the romance genre with his latest work, “Far Far Away” based on a simple premise of a shy and nerdy IT guy who all of a sudden draws the interest of five different good-looking girls. The film premiered at the last year’s edition of Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, while its theatrical release was scheduled for this year’s Valentine’s Day. We caught it at Osaka Asian Film Festival, where it had its international premiere.
Hau (played by very charismatic Kaki Shum) is a 28 year-old computer geek who worked as a developer of a dating app despite his dating history is short. Once he gets the courage to ask his pretty co-worker (Cecilia So) out, the whole new world opens up to him. At the preparations for his friends’ wedding, he meets the “professional bridesmaid” Fleur (Crystal Cheng) who feels pressured to get married and have kids herself soon and also Lisa (Hanna Chan) on whom his high school friends all have crush. A chance encounter with Mena (Rachel Leung) who has the same car (brand, model and even colour-wise) as he does results in a fling. And finally, there is also his college friend Melanie (Jennifer Yu) he feels very comfortable around.
Apart from dealing with Hau’s prolonged growing up, Why also deals with the geography and contemporary life, including also social, economic and toned-down political aspects, in Hong Kong. The reason for that is that all the five girls live in different remote corners of Hong Kong, and the sheer “geography” is one of the reasons why keeping up a relationship with any one of them demands some compromises on Hau’s side.
“Far Far Away” starts pretty much as a basic romantic flick with some attempts at broad comedy, laced by forced structure (the first half of the film is divided in chapters called “lessons”), stereotypically underwritten characters (the nerdy guy is simply too nerdy, while the pretty girls are approaching the movie star-level of prettiness) and even predictable directing in which Why tries to overcome the blandness with some flashiness in the graphics department and the mandatory slow-motion entries. Even the more appealing local aspect seems aimed at the local audiences and connossieurs of Hong Kong’s layout, while the outsiders could remain confused with bits and pieces of data Why feeds them with.
Luckily, it gets better later on in almost every aspect once the structure is dropped and the plot starts evolving more freely. The romantic and other issues feel more organic and even the directing style loosens up, replacing the endless reverse shots from the fixed positions in conversational scenes with controlled camera movements. Even the predictable gentle pop tunes make more sense. That way, the viewers can appreciate not just the story, but also the details in the background of it, the inter-personal dynamics between the friends and love interests and the numerous details of the Hong Kong culture and way of life, making the film actually more of a love letter to the city than a story of one’s search for true self through the relationships.
What works best here is casting. Why deliberately chose his cast from the ranks of the younger up-and-coming actors and actresses who might not be as recognizable as the bigger stars, but who make up for it with their youthful energy and compelling chemistry in the scenes they share. Finally, “Far Far Away” is quite an enjoyable little movie.
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