166 Romancing in Thin Air

[Finch]

Movie star icon Michael (Louis Koo, Throw Down) sinks into a depression after being publicly dumped at the altar by his former fiancée. After embarking on a drunken bender, he is found in a mountain forest, lost and barely responsive, by Sue (Sammi Cheng, Internal Affairs), who runs the local guesthouse and is still grieving the loss of her husband, who mysteriously disappeared in the woods several years prior. As Sue slowly nurses Michael back to health and the pair learn more about their shared pasts, they embark on a journey to find catharsis in each other. While best known for his crime and action films, legendary director Johnnie To (Election, Drug War) also directed over a dozen romantic melodramas, and Romancing in Thin Air is one of the very best in its genre: a powerful and moving meditation on loss, grief, and the power of cinema itself.

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

High-definition digital transfer
Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 audio tracks
Newly recorded interview with screenwriter Ryker Chan
New audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Dylan Cheung
New visual essay on Johnnie To’s romantic melodramas by Sean Gilman
Extended behind-the-scenes footage
Making-of featurette
Theatrical trailer
Newly translated English subtitles by Dylan Cheung
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Jake Cole
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[andyli]

Interesting choice to break the To ice (if we are not counting A Moment of Romance). I'm under the impression that this film is more popular outside of the Chinese-speaking territories and hope Radiance do great business with it. It is as good a starting place as any to explore the lesser known subset of To's works that can probably be labeled as romantic melodrama. But don't stop just there. Discover the talent that is Sammi Cheng, with whom To has made a series of drama/comedies, all very well worth watching. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts is my personal favorite, but she is also part of a great long running romance duo with Andy Lau in films such as Needing You, Love on a Diet, Yesterday Once More, and of course Blind Detective. I hope the visual essay and the commentary track touch on this wide array of films, not just the one film on disc.

[therewillbeblus]

Oh man, easily my favorite To. My thoughts:

Romancing in Thin Air is clearly the best of the lot so far. I'm not sure how to praise it except that it takes the labyrinthine romance-mystery epic and whittles it down to economic narrative meditations and profundity that feel calculated and earn sentiment. And yet the film doesn't feel 'doctored' - it's fluid and graceful and interesting, and it's not hurried, as To is clearly very interested in what he's doing in this project too. The 'tweak' on the genre is fun, where instead of digging up history that's meaningful to a couple, there's forward momentum occurring as the past is a meaningful barrier to active love for one. The grand gesture of what the other-focused (now free of egocentric addiction) partner does in the narrative mirrors that of what the medium can offer us all, and it's one of the more effective uses of self-reflexivity I've seen in this realm. Anyways, strong rec.

[Mr Sausage]

Discover the talent that is Sammi Cheng…

I loathed Blind Detective, but came away a fan of Sammi Cheng. That’s a testament to her charisma. I just wish the movie had treated her better. I didn’t laugh much at her constant humiliation.

I haven’t seen Romancing in Thin Air yet, but blus enthusiasm + Sammi Cheng really makes me want to.

[Finch]

I haven't seen this one but I can't wait. The letterboxd reviews from the people whose opinions I trust were very complimentary.

[bad future]

I remember loving this when I saw about 6 years ago and had considered an expensive HK Blu-ray import a few times over the years. Very pleased and surprised to see it pop up from Radiance!