It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (2015) – Review

Meeting new people can sometimes be a challenge as you never know if you can get along with someone in advance. Starting a conversation might be easy, but if are both on different frequencies it might lead to uncomfortable silences. If you do have that connection though you keep talking, time seems to fly and that meetup with a stranger can turn into a friendship or more. If you meet someone abroad while on holiday and you are both not from that country it creates a bond, something which Lost in Translation managed to capture perfectly. Director Emily Ting had an experience like that when had to work in Hong Kong for a while and she has based her first feature film on her experiences there.

Ruby (Jamie Chung) is an American designer who is in Hong Kong for work. She has agreed to meet up with some of her friends but as she doesn’t know the city, she gets a bit lost. She asks an American expat, Josh (Bryan Greenberg), if he can give her directions. He decides to walk her to her destination and the two start talking. The conversation they have is about a lot of things, why they are both in Hong Kong, what they do for a living and what they dream about. There is a strong connection between Ruby and Josh which might turn into something more, but the question is whether this is the right time and place for that.

 I talked to Emily Ting about this movie (which you can find here) and she told me movies like the Before trilogy and Lost in Translation inspired her. It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong really manages to create that same vibe those movies have. The first meeting between two strangers, the long walks and a foreign city which is a silent third character are all there. Such a movie only works if you as a viewer feel a connection with the main characters. Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg, who are a couple in real life, manage to convincingly portray the playfulness, curiosity and chemistry between the two. The conversations they have feel completely natural. This is the type of movie I have a weakness for, so it’s no surprise I loved this film. The end (which I won’t spoil) was exactly what I was hoping for. So if you love “walk and talk” romantic movies I suggest you check this one out.