Veteran Hong Kong director Johnnie To is most known in the West for his taut action dramas, such as Election, Exiled, and Throw Down. His forays into other genres rarely surface here, marking the release of this 2012 romantic melodrama as its first appearance on Blu-ray outside of Hong Kong. With top-tier Hong Kong celebrities in the lead roles and To’s assured direction, the mostly charming film’s only glaring fault is an ill-advised late flashback detour.
Buy Romancing in Thin AirThe story is set at a rustic high-altitude mountain resort run by Sau (Canto-pop icon Sammi Cheng), seemingly deserted except for a few dedicated employees. When a famous actor/singer named Michael (famous actor/singer Louis Koo) is dumped at the altar and spirals into an alcoholic decline, he eventually surfaces at the resort and is nursed back to health by the staff. Sau is nursing her own heartbreak, as her husband disappeared in the nearby woods years ago while searching for a lost child, never to be seen again. Inevitably, the two broken souls find solace in each other’s company, only complicated by developments in the lost husband’s case and the pressing industry demands of Michael’s massive celebrity.
Koo and Cheng are both veteran performers in To’s Milkyway cinematic universe, having each separately teamed with him on multiple films, but only combining in one previous outing, Love for All Seasons (2003). Their rapport is obvious and infectious, making the character romance entirely believable and palpable. These are characters who we want to succeed, and any impediments to their happiness only hamper the film. And that’s where To runs into a bit of a problem due to the script.
In true melodramatic fashion, once the budding lovers are seemingly on their road to happiness, tragedy threatens to derail their plans. In this case, the husband’s fate is finally revealed, but that reveal grinds the plot to a halt. Rather than simply resolve his story, the film instead goes through the lengthy process of reenacting his journey, a needless sidetrack that balloons the runtime to nearly two hours. We already know all we need about the husband from the initial setup, making his perspective on his marriage and his sojourn in the woods little more than time we’re kept away from Michael and Sau.
Aside from that unfortunate delay, the story is charmingly predictable and a showcase for the well-matched stars. To keeps the rest of the narrative on track while also giving his stars ample time to live in the moment of their scenes. There are dashes of comedy along the way, mostly revolving around Sau’s attempts to conceal her longtime obsessive fandom of Michael, but the lingering sad outcomes of their prior romances and the tragic impediment to their future happiness put this firmly in the melodrama column.
The Blu-ray presents the film in 2.35:1 aspect ratio with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound. Images are crisp and clean, with colors appearing a bit drab and subdued in keeping with the rustic setting. I’d prefer a bit of a color-grading boost for the HDR era, but Media Asia doesn’t appear to have restored or enhanced the film prior to providing the hi-def transfer to Radiance, retaining its original specifications. They have provided some of the original Hong Kong bonus features though, represented by nearly a half hour of extended behind-the-scenes footage and a generous making-of featurette.
In addition, Radiance has included robust new features, primarily an insightful half-hour visual essay on To’s romantic melodramas, a 15-minute interview with one of the screenwriters, and a new commentary track by a Hong Kong cinema expert. The 3000-copy limited edition also includes a booklet with both new and archival writing about To’s Milkyway productions and the film.
