I Miss You When I See You (Cantonese/English)

This was surprisingly a very interesting film. It was mainstream, it was emotional, touching and a story of obsession and love. Interestingly, the topic if depression has become quite mainstream all over the world, and seeing a queer film handle the topic interwoven with a gay love story makes it even more interesting and something very novel. It is slow, but a film of this subject needs that focus as it was given.

The story is about Kevin and Jamie. Kevin is the kind of boy who gets bullied in school all the time. His only close friend is Jamie, but even Jamie does not acknowledge their friendship in front of rest of the classmates. When Kevin tells Jamie that his mother has decided to move to Australia, the two boys finally give in to their feelings and kiss each other. Their passion is broken by local cops after which Jamie decides to play it safe. Years later, Kevin is now in a group home dealing with depression in Australia. Jamie makes a surprise visit. The two old friends reconnect for a brief day and a year later Kevin shows up again Hong Kong on their school reunion day. Since Kevin doesn't have a place to stay or a job, Jamie offers to temporarily live with him and even gives him a job in his teaching school. Jamie's girlfriend does not like this and suspects that Kev has feelings for Jamie which are never reciprocated by Jamie. Jamie meets a student in his class and they both get along since somewhere they are both misfits. The student is more interested in Kevin from a sexual/romantic angle but it seems Kevin is using him more to possibly make Jamie feel jealous. Kevin even moves out. When the student realizes this, he also leaves Kevin. Kevin eventually loses his job also because of professional indiscipline and this leads Kevin to going for random sexual encounters including unsafe sex. The old friends reunite at Jamie's engagement party where Kevin tells him that he is moving back to Australia. And this is when finally Jamie comes to realization about his love for Kevin (not just empathy), kisses him and asks him to stay back.

As I mentioned above, its the treatment of the characters, the emotional ambiguity of their lives, love , work and depression; that makes this film for an interesting watch. If you watch it without those in mind, the film is quite predictable. You get to see what depression does to a person when you see how Kevin is isolated within himself, although in Jamie's presence, he sees hop and need to live. Kevin's presence causes disturbance to Jamie as well because he feels the emotions for him after all these years which he had forcefully suppressed. The moments that show how the two friends try to reconnect over walks, work, hikes with Jamie's girlfriend are all done really well. It was also an interesting portrayal when Kevin and the school student automatically gravitate towards each other as the two misfits. It's a very odd friendship but totally understandable. The actor playing Kevin, does a fantastic job of playing a fragile depressed young intelligent man. Jamie is ok. The young student also does a great job, especially when he plays along with Kevin to make Jamie feel jealous. The film is not without flaws. The pace for once and some unanswered questions. For example, how long has been Kevin depressed and why. It cannot be because of Jamie's indifference over a kiss which was more than 10 years ago. Why is Kevin bullied. Does Kevin has any other issue that prevents him from bonding with anyone else besides Jamie? But the strength lies in honest portrayal of emotions, intimate moments, reconnections, even if they are awkward.

The movie deal with the pressure of conform to social/cultural identity, while trying to maybe stay in closet. Neither of the characters are happy, yet not sure of other alternative. This is a very good watch if you don't mind the pace, because of the subject it offers. (7/10)