China’s biggest actor and a woman grieving a missing husband connect and help one another find closure in Johnnie To’s 2012 melodrama Romancing in Thin Air, now on Blu-ray via Radiance Films.
In Johnnie To’s 2012 romantic flick Romancing in Thin Air, Chinese movie superstar and pop culture icon Michael Lau isn’t doing well. At the height of his fame, with a public adoring his relationship with his female counterpart and fiancée, his world crashes down when she leaves him at the altar for her reappearing first love. Dropping into a drunken stupor, he ends up in the back of Sau’s truck. She runs a barely hanging-on hotel at the top of a mountain (the thin air). It’s been seven years since her husband disappeared into the woods nearby. Spooky woods that cause disorientation and are easy to get lost in. (shades of last year’s Haunted Mountain, or there horror nut wanted to go there; but this ain’t the type of movie kid). What will happen when these two people, both stuck in personal eddies of despair and loss, meet?
Kudos to writers Jevons Au, K-Fai Wai, Ryker Chan (uncredited), and Nai-Hoi Yau for not taking the expected path with the Hallmark set-up. And I mean that, the opening keeps that light, airy “oh will they wont’ they” and a purposely cheesiness, playing it broad and big. Silly even. Especially with Sau’s employees playing the goofy besties. I even wrote in my notes, “cool to see another culture’s Hallmark film.” But that’s not the reality of Romancing in Thin Air. After the initial setup, it settles into a better, deeper movie. One of redemption and reset. Both Michael and Sau, thanks to the other, come to a head with their own struggles. There’s a poignancy in its character-driven melodrama. Romance in Thin Air is a film about catharsis. It’sa bout finding yourself before others.
Both Michael, as played by Louis Koo, and Sau, played by pop superstar Sammi Cheng, are fascinating, complex characters. There’s a truth in the performances. They both carry so much in their faces and furtive looks, of loss and rebirth. It’s a melodrama, with so much emotion, but not overplayed. Although Michael is officially more of the lead, we follow him first and last, but she gets her backstory with the husband story, echoing this one. I was rather impressed with her. While Chen Ji, as her husband in flashback, serves as a foil, he makes a good show. I loved the way To used two different color palettes for the past and now; the past brighter and the modern a darker, more shadowy, dimmed look, indicating this is more her story than his. Outside of the color palette, the film has a great look, making beautiful use of the locations.
However, Romance in Thin Air is longer than it needs to be, and muddies in the center, waiting for the next push as characters and themes are repeated; almost caught in the same eddies of the characters. It does go a bit of a different route in the back, appreciated, taking a purposely avoiding the cliche. A way that leads to a deeper closure and character. And yes, it is a romantic film and follows in those tracks, but I appreciate the alternate methods for finding it. There are times when the melodrama overtakes the more grounded overall film, almost feeling like a different movie.
Romancing in Thin Air is a well-done, low-key film of personal breaking of cycles and self-imposed destructive cycles. It’s nice to enjoy something with Chinese roots that isn’t punchy-punchy.
The Packaging
Radiance presents Romancing in Thin Air on a single Blu-Ray in a clear case with a reversible sleeve with original and new art by Time Tomorrow. As always, it has an OBI strip, removable to keep the case clean. A booklet fits inside.
The Presentation
Romancing in Thin Air is a newer film, from 2012, and shot on digital, so it’s no surprise it looks phenomenal. With a primarily outside visual setting, the colors and details are sharp. The audio is Cantonese 5.1 and 2.0 with English subtitles, newly translated by Dylan Cheung.
The Features
Commentary (new)
Hong Kong Cinema Expert Dylan Cheung gives a very worthwhile commentary. He gets into fine details of everyone involved (big careers here), how the film was made, and the world around its creation.
Ryker Chan, screenwriter (new)
Uncredited on IMDb, Chan gives a great interview on how the film was written from the ground up, based on an idea and molded and shaped for everyone involved. A great look at how something comes together (15m)
Another Side of Johnnie To (new)
This visual essay on the To’s romantic melodramas by (fellow Seattle Critic, whoo!) Sean Gilman is fantastic. Highly appreciative of To’s work (which I am unfamiliar with), especially looking at how he turns genres around, whether it be his action flicks or romantic ones. Fascinating. (28m)
Extended BTS (2012)
Fly on the wall footage of filming. Awesome to see how it was done. (25m)
Making-of featurettes (2012)
EPKs while filming. Standard but solid. (9m)
Trailer
Booket
A beautiful, bound 30-page booklet featuring production photos and writings. “The Rise of Johnnie To and Milkyway” by David Bordwell is excerpted from a book and an archive. A great overview into To and the production company Milkway filled in missing knowledge for me, as my knowledge of Hong Kong cinema is more action-based (although lacking, but I’m working on it). “Altitude Sickness: Johnnie To’s Romancing in Thin Air” by Jake Cole is new. It’s good writing about the shift from financial failure to well-loved and the meta-context of it all.
Final Thoughts
Romancing in Thin Air is a well-done, solid melodrama that avoids running in the same circles as one would expect, especially in purposely doing so in the first act. Well performed and beautiful, with a nice set of supplements, check it out to see how this genre is done in other corners of the world. The Radiance Films Blu-ray is due for release on April 21st, 2026.