[yasr_overall_rating]
A woman from 2018 and a man from 1999 wake up in the same bed. They discover they can time travel using the bedroom door, and make changes to their eras, but that their destinies may not be in their own hands.
“How Long Will I Love You” is a romantic comedy in which the two main characters are never romantically involved. They come close but are kept apart. This is only one of the unorthodox elements of the film, but they ultimately can’t come together to save it from being overwhelmingly ordinary.
We first meet Xiao-jiao (Tong Liya) in a real-estate office in 2018. She’s there, not to buy a house, but on a blind date. She lures her unassuming date into a conference room and informs him that she will marry him if he purchases a certain house. We later learn that this is her home from her wealthier childhood, that she lost after her overworked father died in a car accident. We then meet Lu, (Jia Ying Lei) in what we later learn is the year 1999, involved in an equally fruitless real estate deal. He’s in the midst of trying desperately and hilariously to convince a potential investor that the swath of muddy arid land they’re standing on could one day be a central business district, only to have the investor drive off and leave him standing ankle deep in mud. This works as an effective introduction for the only things binding Lu and Xiao-jiao together, a burning desire for upward mobility and the same apartment, 19 years apart.
One morning, they awake to find their apartments have melded together, with one half in 1999 and the other in 2018. This triggers the first of many uninspired montages used as a narrative crutch throughout the film. Each character sees a different vision spelling things out for them: this is a different year. Things remain sleepy for a while with each character essentially trying to live their lives normally while living in this irregular plane. Things look bad for Lu as he deals with his corrupt boss and comes close to losing his job. We learn that Xiao-jiao works behind the counter of a jeweler and is equally unhappy. While at work, an old friend of Xiao-jiao’s comes in to buy a watch for her rich husband. Xiao-jiao quickly scrambles to make it appear she doesn’t work there, and lies to her friend, telling her that she too married rich.
This sets up what is undoubtedly the funniest scene, wherein Lu and Xiao-jiao show up for dinner wearing expensive clothes they plan on returning. Lu stumbles over his adopted fake identity and eventually gives them away. After this, the pair grows closer for a period, hatching a scheme to win the lottery through their time warping abilities. This short period is the only part of the film that could be considered strong, with the two characters developing a charismatic bond over their shared materialism. After this, the narrative takes a sharp left and becomes convoluted and uninteresting. Director Lun Xu loses sight of what this film should’ve been about in the first place: the characters, and their shared struggle in the face of a world divided by class. Though it’s clearly a genuine effort, Xu would benefit from thinking smaller and ditching the montages.
In theaters Friday, May 25th
