Turn Left, Turn Right

Two people live in the same building. John is a violinist, Eve a translator. They met once as children in a park and have been looking for each other ever since. Now they are in the same building, sharing a wall, and neither knows. The reason is a simple habit: when John goes out he always turns right and Eve always turns left. One day they meet in the park and write down their telephone numbers, but it starts to rain and the digits run. Johnnie To directs with Wai Ka-fai. Takeshi Kaneshiro plays John and Gigi Leung plays Eve. The source is Jimmy Liao's picture book. Liao is a Taiwanese illustrator with a wide readership across Asia, and the film's visual language comes straight from his drawings. Johnnie To is better known for hard crime films; this belongs to his romantic comedy vein and to the light productions he made with his partner Wai Ka-fai. The whole narrative rests on coincidence and the film does not try to make it plausible; the constant missing is offered as a game. The design is symmetrical: the frames split in two, the two characters make the same movement in opposite directions, and the humour comes from the repetition. Its limit is length; there is one idea, and to stretch it the narrative leans on secondary characters. Who it is for: viewers who like Hong Kong romantic comedy and visually playful films. Who it is not for: the premise repeats, the characters are thin, and the chain of coincidence becomes tiring.