What It’s About
In the Rangoon, Burma of 1917, British civil servant Edward (Waddington) awaits the arrival of his fiancée, Molly (Alfiate). Suddenly, he gets cold feet and hops a train to Bangkok. Undeterred, Molly tracks him across Asia. The star-crossed lovers experience a variety of colorful adventures on their respective travels, but will they ever get together?
Why We Love It
Gomes’s time- and mind-bending travelogue through Asia was shot mostly in black and white on sets during the pandemic, evoking the Golden Age of Hollywood. Intermittently, the director sprinkles in modern-day footage of Asia and other cultural signifiers like puppet shows, lending the film a dreamy, surreal quality. (The fact the English central characters speak Portuguese only adds to the dislocation.) Alfaiate steals the show as the buoyant Molly, whose infectious laugh recalls Carole Lombard or Diane Keaton. Tran is also memorable as Ngoc, the Vietnamese beauty who Molly befriends. For a trek into Asia no travel agent could replicate, take this “Tour”.