Longing, Richard Gere’s new film is one that keeps it’s destination hidden, taking you through a story which twists and turns in ways that are unexpected and, at times, bordering on non-sensical. A remake of a 2017 Israeli film sees the original writer/director Savi Gabizon return to repeat his duties for an American audience.
Gere plays Daniel Bloch, a successful business man with nothing to tie him down and a single mind toward his success in the corporate world. That all changes when a former girlfriend, Rachel (Suzanne Clement) ask to meet for dinner. Here is where the first of many bombshells will drop. Rachel informs Daniel that, shortly after they parted ways she gave birth to a baby boy…his baby boy. If that wasn’t enough, she follows that by telling him that their son was recently killed in a terrible car accident. Talk about a 1-2 punch! Bloch decides to take Rachel up on her request to visit his son’s grave. Upon arrival to his son’s native Canada Bloch begins learning about the son he never knew. What starts out as a standard walk through a teenagers life, quickly turns dark as he uncovers his son wasn’t the angel he was made out to be. Stories of drug deals, stalking, and graffiti lead Bloch to meet Alice, his son’s teacher and the apparent object of his desire.
I expected twists and turns based off the trailer when I sat down for Longing, what I didn’t expect was just how far off into the odd those twists were planning to take me. I expected a film about a father uncovering his son’s “other” life and maybe even something about his death being not as accidental as it seemed. Most of the film followed that narrative but one storyline in particular seemed to only serve to increase the “Huh?” factor of the whole thing. I’m referring to Gere’s Bloch meeting a kindred spirit at the cemetery in Allan, a father who’s lost his daughter to suicide. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve lost plenty and totally understand that grief makes us do weird things but when the two grieving parents organize a post-mortem arranged marriage via some ancient Taoist ritual…honestly I was just left wondering what this did for the plot. While this is the most egregious example of the story going where you don’t understand the entire film is glazed in an odd sheen. There’s an otherworldly quality to the way that Bloch can bend the will of others to his wants and needs and don’t get me started on the way he picks up the creepy mantle previously held by his son for stalking the hot teacher.
Now, plot oddities aside, this is a Richard Gere film and Gere, for all his years, is still a pillar of Hollywood and it’s clearly for a reason. The role of Daniel Bloch is a heavy one and Gere proves he still has the chops, not only that but the stranger points of the plots delivered by anyone lesser then an actor of Gere’s status would result in a film that was distracting at best, unwatchable at worst. Diane Kruger, who plays the “hot teacher” role of Alice comes in on a smaller role but one that has tremendous impact. She plays the role with such a mixture of archetypes that it absolutely plays into the intrigue of film allowing you to remain in a state of uncertainty with regard to the real nature of the relationship in question and her motives.
While Longing, at nearly 2hours long, would have been served by simply cutting the more out there segments of the plot it remains a compelling film even as is. For those of us who appreciate a good crime-noir, mystery type film you could do a lot worse then clicking play on this film.
