Synopsis: A former marine finds his potential soulmate in Hong Kong. 

 

 

The things one will do for love. In Stanley J. Orzel’s Lost For Words, a young United States ex-marine finds love across the world, only that the romance isn’t as spectacular as you would expect it to be in a movie.

 

Michael (Sean Faris) fresh from his tour of duty in Afghanistan, takes a job in Hong Kong. He’s recruited by a college friend Sanford (Will Yun Lee) to take a high ranking job in a country that whose language he doesn’t even speak. When Michael arrives in Hong Kong, he receives a message from his fiancee announcing their breakup. Michael turns into a basket case, somewhat pathetically hanging onto her. Michael’s fortune changes when he bumps into a pretty girl while jogging. Yet another run in at the park (Orzel really milked that premise) leads to an introduction and a start of a romance. A series of hangouts/dates follow, while Michael tries to navigate through a culture and language barrier that exists between them.

 

With a runtime of 107 minutes, Lost For Words is way too slow for it’s own good. It’s supposed to be a romantic love story, but it seldom feels that way. Michael is a detached and uninspiring character. While Sean Faris is a really good actor, the character lacked depth and personality. It’s unfortunate that Faris is a lot more talented, and doesn’t get to fully showcase his skills in this film. Grace Huang plays Anna, Faris’ love interest. Anna is also very dull, seems to actually match Michael’s persona, so maybe this wasn’t the worst match after all. The supporting characters who play the friends of the leads are way more interesting and fun.

 

Give credit to Orzel for bringing forth the backdrop of Hong Kong, which is truly magnetic and beautiful. The city is put on a wide display throughout the movie.

 

 

The pacing is incredibly slow. I mean paint drying like. It almost works in the sense that you feel that the dates are happening in real time, it adds a sense of reality. The dates that the characters go on are simple but fairly realistic. One of the better moment of the movie comes when Michael and Anna are taking a ride on the cable car and are laying and are imagining the different shapes of clouds they are looking at. It’s a nice genuine moment between them.

 

There is a brief climax three fourths through the movie that doesn’t really change much. An email from Michael’s ex that suddenly makes him disappear and not see Anna for days? We can only assume he was still hung up on his ex and not that into Anna, this does little the alter the plot, as his affection for her wasn’t really established until that point.

 

Orzel was attempting to go for the slow burn, and take you through the ride, the problem is that there wasn’t much excitement or passion on this journey between the characters. You need to give the viewer a reason to feel what the characters are feeling for another, but if you have two people that are supposed to be falling in love act so passive to one another. They don’t even kiss till past the halfway point of the movie. The point is to draw in the viewer and care for the romance early on, if there  are no stakes established, there is no reason for the viewer to care.

 

 

There is a bit of rushed turning point for the couple, but that’s done way too late in the movie. The final act is forced and done to justify the end result. This movie was over-developed, for the most part a well developed story is a good thing, but in this case it hinders the characters.

 

Lost For Words had the potential to be a good romantic drama, but the length and ultra slow build kills the romance before we even start caring. Watching Michael attempt to learn the language and communicate with Anna did add to the struggle to connect, it was pretty believable and the right thing to focus on. There were too many empty holes never answered. What does Michael exactly do for work that they recruited him for? It’s often mentioned in the movie how Michael is a workaholic, yet he’s always hanging out with Anna, how does he have so much free time? Why did he leave his fiancee back home and take the job? All these important questions were left unanswered.

 

Additional Thoughts: I’m a big fan of Sean Faris and I’m still surprised he hasn’t gotten the big break and recognition that he deserves. Aside from starring in the film, he also was a producer, so that’s an interesting venture to see him partake. I was really bored watching this movie. I’m a sucker for a good romantic movie, but this felt more like a documentary of one’s romance than a film that’s supposed to have some drama. The real life awkwardness and seeing them bond over Michael’s language barrier was kinda neat to watch, added some genuine reality.

 

Runtime: 107 minutes

Release Date (DVD): June 23, 2015

 

The Lost Words – 4.5 out of 10! 

Lost Me Early On

 

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