MEASURE IN LOVE (他年她日) (2025)

Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Director: Kung Siu Ping
Cast: Greg Hsu, Angela Yuen, Jack Tan, Stephen Tung, Chan Fai Hung, Thor Lok, Natalie Hsu, Yoyo Tse
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Purple Plan and Golden Village
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 3 October 2025

Synopsis: After a massive earthquake, the world is split into two—Aurora Zone and Evergreen Zone—separated by the Wall of Gravity, which distorts time and gravity differently on both sides. One day in the Aurora equals an entire year in the Evergreen. The barren Evergreen suffers from shortages of clean air, flowers, medicine, and even food. On her first weekly visit to the Evergreen, Anne-Jean, a member of the White Doves from the Aurora, runs into a thirteen-year-old petty thief named Tato, who falls in love with her at first sight. Wanting to be closer to her, he decides to join the White Doves.

Movie Review:

It was envisioned as a tender, dreamlike moment. Anne-Jean, the heroine, was to rise gently into the air, while Tato, the male lead, would soon follow, floating toward her until the two hovered together in the skies. The scene was probably meant to capture the feeling of love so powerful that it transcends gravity itself.

But when the sequence played out on screen, the intended magic didn’t quite take flight. The CGI effects, which were supposed to lend a sense of weightless wonder, looked a little awkward. Instead of gasps of awe, some chuckles were heard at the preview screening we were at.

The two characters’ ability to float stems from the strange physics of their world — one torn apart by an earthquake that split it into two realms: the Aurora Zone and the Evergreen Zone. Between them stands the Wall of Gravity, a divide where time and gravity twist and fold in unpredictable ways. In this fractured reality, a single day in the Aurora equals a whole year in the Evergreen. This crucial bit of world-building is revealed through text at the very start of the film — so make sure you’re not late for the movie.

Anne-Jean (Angela Yuen) hails from the Aurora Zone, a land of abundance and light — a stark contrast to the Evergreen, where people struggle daily with polluted air and scarce medicine. She’s part of the White Doves, a compassionate team of doctors who cross into the harsh Evergreen to bring aid and hope. It’s there that she meets 13-year-old Tato, and — as the script would have it — the two form a bond that blossoms into love. Thanks to the warped flow of time between the two worlds, it doesn’t take long before Tato grows up into the handsome Greg Hsu. (Remember: a day in the Aurora equals a year in the Evergreen.)

And so it begins — a romance that viewers can sense from the outset is headed for a less-than-perfect ending. Directed by Kung Siu Ping, this high-concept film brims with ambitious ideas that sound compelling on paper but turn convoluted — and at times unintentionally silly — when translated to screen. The overcomplicated storytelling distracts from what should have been the emotional core: the bittersweet love between Anne-Jean and Tato. One can’t help but wonder if the film might have resonated more deeply had it been grounded in a simpler, more relatable setting.

But all is not lost. Die-hard fans of the ever-charming Greg Hsu will no doubt flock to cinemas to support their idol. The Taiwanese star delivers a decent performance, and it’s easy to see why he remains such a bankable leading man, with his effortless charisma and soulful gaze. Angela Yuen holds her own as Anne-Jean, convincingly portraying a woman torn between love and destiny. Elsewhere, Malaysian actor Jack Tan turns in a touching performance as Tato’s long-suffering younger brother, while veteran Hong Kong action choreographer Stephen Tung adds gravitas as the enigmatic ferryman. This ambitious project is an uneven film, but one lifted — at least partly — by its cast.

Movie Rating:

(A high-concept but uneven romance that manages to stay afloat with the cast's earnest performances)

Review by John Li