Review of Hank and Asha (2013) by Alice S — 05 May 2015

Hank and Asha's video penpal friendship starts off enchanting as hell, but the sweet yet staid gimmick eventually commits storytelling suicide. The entire movie is told in back and forth video diaries, and at no point does the narrative structure break into real time or real exigence. By the middle-end, the previously low-stakes conflict blows up into go-to cultural misunderstanding and an unsatisfying, open-ended ending.

Mahira Kakkar is doe-eyed and beguiling as Asha, an Indian film student studying in Prague, and frankly, her letters are livelier and more interesting than Hank's. Andrew Pastides is fine as Hank, but both actor and character rub me the wrong way. Perhaps it's the glassy blue eyes and the self-deprecating mien that projects a Nice Guy sensitivity but actually belies the garden-variety narcissist underneath who prides himself on being such a Nice Guy. I just had to groan and laugh at that vociferous letter in which he bellows at Asha to reject her arranged marriage because he understands her more than her fiancée does (presumably). Really? What does he truly understand about her or her culture?