[rating:2.5/5]
“Hank and Asha,” the debut feature film from documentary filmmaker Julia Morrison (PBS, The New York Times), chronicles the relationship between a student filmmaker and an established industry professional.
The film begins with shots of love locks on bridge railings, the venerable display of young affection in Europe, and Asha (Mahira Kakkar) talking into her camera, an unsettling feeling that makes Hank (Andrew Pastides) uneasy. He responds with a video message of his own.
Shot entirely through the lenses of the doe-eyed couple, their relationship doles out through these recorded messages. The film ping-pongs between New York City, where Hank lives, and Prague, where Asha is studying film. They’ve forgone real-time Skype sessions, presumably for the romance that accompanies incessantly checking email inboxes, echoing the young adults’ yearning for genuine romance.
After a failed engagement, in an attempt to get away from his father’s business, Hank moved to New York City, giving himself one year to make it as a filmmaker. Though his day job is that of a chauffeur, shuttling around a reality television show star, he pours his energy into filming himself for Asha, into experiencing love again.
Once settled with the idea of seeing each actor so candidly – as if they’re speaking to the viewer rather than each other – the narrative shifts with ease through their daily lives. With each video, a new backdrop. Hank orders a beer in a bar one afternoon and comments on how cheap they are in Prague. Asha has never tried beer and orders pints at a bar near her. Being 24, her birthday approaching, she welcomes the new experience.
This constant change in setting helps make the otherwise predictable dialogue enjoyable as the couple navigates the uncertainty that accompanies young love. A perilous what-if conversation becomes the story’s crux when they plan to meet for the first time in Paris.
For the two actors, both firsts on the big screen with previous appearances on off-Broadway and bit television parts, steady banter and honest humor makes their humble performance as recognizably adolescent as their experience.
With little ado, “Hank and Asha” unsuccessfully seeks an epithet to digital romance as more people are extremely hungry for the opposite, of human interaction of a deeper kind. The rise of both love locks and digital dating align with how people today are feeling emotionally distant.
“Hank and Asha”
Duration: 73 minutes
Cast: Andrew Pastides, Mahira Kakkar
Producer: Julia Morrison, James E. Duff
Writer: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Director: James E. Duff
[Featured image courtesy of Flickr, infomatique]
