Distance sucks. There’s really no other way to put it.
Sure, with the Internet expediting communication and shows like “Catfish” glamorizing transcontinental romance, you’d think it’d be easy to surmount hundreds of miles in pursuit of love. The 73 minutes of incredible filmmaking that are“Hank and Asha” exist to test that hypothesis. This is a story of boy-never-meets-girl.
Asha (Mahira Kakkar) reaches out to budding filmmaker Hank (Andrew Pastides) via video message to gush about his film she just saw. He didn’t show up to the question-and-answer session after the screening, so she uses the Internet to pick his artistic brain. Unfolding in alternating video clips, the action centers around these two radically different people as they try to connect across the ocean.
There are definite differences in the personalities of the two eponymous characters. Asha is an Indian student abroad in Prague, tied to her culture and to the strictness of her family. Hank is a free spirit stationed in New York City, estranged from his parents and unafraid to impress his Internet crush with a streak of boldness. Hank’s scenes earned serious laughs from the crowd, whereas Asha’s were greeted with cutesy giggles. Opposites attract, and the chemistry isn’t as disconnected as their computerized courtship may suggest.
Eventually, the honeymoon phase passes — secrets build up and emotions run high. Hank attempts to shore up the cracks in their foundation with an idealistic portrait of the future and a proposed trip to Paris; Asha is decidedly less keen on making big plans. The emotional ride for the last 20 minutes of the movie is as shaky as the realistic sway of the handheld camera work.
It’s a simple concept. Boy meets girl, boy desires to relentlessly pursue girl, boy encounters hurdle, boy is undeterred. Updated for the 21st century, “Hank and Asha” offers a fresh spin on what the romance film can do, and it remains genuinely human despite its digital backbone.
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