Review: ‘Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong’
Do you ever have that moment when you’re binging one of your favorite TV shows you’ve seen a thousand times, and you realize that you’ve never seen some of these actors’ other work? This happened to me yesterday. I was watching One Tree Hill and I thought, huh, I’ve never seen Bryan Greenberg anywhere else (Jake for those of you who know the show) and I bet he’s got some good stuff out there. I dove into his IMDb credits and came across a couple of flicks that piqued my interest. I narrowed it down to two titles and settled on an independent film that nabbed a few nominations and wins at various film festivals. I don’t know about you guys, but 99% of the time I will choose a well-received indie over a big, blockbuster hit. They’re usually better.
Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong is a 2015 walk and talk romcom starring Bryan Greenberg and Jamie Chung. Now, for those of you who don’t know what encompasses a walk and talk, allow me to enlighten you. A walk and talk is a storytelling technique that usually consists of exactly that — actors simply walking and talking. It’s dialogue-heavy and in my opinion, a challenge to execute successfully because there isn’t much action, and the actors have to be very, very good at their jobs. This type of movie can act as a love letter to the place in which it is filmed. In this instance, it’s Hong Kong. With this shooting style, it tends to build anticipation leading up to a grand finale and hopefully, that grand finale was worth all that dreaded anticipation. All of these characteristics are present in Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong and in my humble and honest opinion, the film crushed the walk and talk technique (crushed as in a good way).
Ruby (Chung) meets Josh (Greenberg) at a restaurant in Hong Kong while visiting from Los Angeles on a business trip. Josh is an American expat who’s lived in the city for a decade so when Ruby is unable to figure out how to get across town, Josh offers to escort her to her destination. At the end of the night, things don’t exactly end on a high note and the two go their separate ways, only to cross paths again one year later. Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong makes you ponder this — what do you do when you meet the right person at the wrong time?
Chung and Greenberg hold your attention the whole way through while making their way around the beautiful, vibrant city of Hong Kong. The chemistry is obviously there and you’re rooting for them as a couple, even though you’re not so sure you should. It may help that the two actors are married in real life but I’m cool with that. Emily Blunt and John Krasinski have done some bomb work together, too. Anyway, I could imagine there was a lot of pressure on the actors to carry the movie on their shoulders and not let it flop. But they did it and they did it brilliantly. Don’t know how I completely feel about that ending but I think I dig it.
Something else I found interesting about this movie is that there really are no other characters besides Ruby and Josh. Aside from the brief scene with the Fortune Teller (Richard Ng), your entire focus is on the two of them and their budding relationship. At first, a film like this may sound boring but no sir, not for me. I think you have to thank the writer (Emily Ting) in part for that. The dialogue is thought-provoking and makes you consider how judgemental society can be. The characters talk about meaningful things that go beyond the surface level, and they do so with such sincerity. It’s a beautiful film y’all.
You can watch Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong now on Hulu.
