10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars

As technology evolves to care for our every waking need, enhancing the human mind would seem to be the most logical next step. Would taking a pill that examines human behavior be enlightening, or would it be a hindrance to social interaction? Guidance is an examination of romance and secrecy disguised as a sci-fi drama. Within this film is a story about lovers who don’t know what to do without one another and the secrets they keep from each other, even if keeping those secrets tears them apart.

In the near future, society is still in the midst of restoration. On a trip to the countryside, a young couple tests out a new nanotechnology app known as “Guidance” under the presumption that it will strengthen their bond. However honest these lovers portray themselves, both hold dark truths and will do whatever it takes to undermine Guidance in hopes of saving their relationship.

Jia Sun (who plays Han Miao) and Harry Song (who plays Mai Zi Xuan) stun with remarkably complex performances. They love one another so deeply that they nearly decimate their relationship, professing to be one hundred percent honest with each other when in reality they are hiding what they believe to be unspeakable secrets. Han has cheated on Mai with her childhood sweetheart and now boss, Su Jie, played by Francesco Chen. She suspects Mai hasn’t been faithful either. Han’s lies eat away at her, manifesting themselves as these torturous nightmares of drowing. She wants so badly to catch Mai in a lie, but her own guilt is too much to bear. Jia shapes so much of Han’s fear and determination, becoming so tense that the smallest disturbance results in uproar, like when she finds out Mai named his audio function after his ex-girlfriend.

Mai is inept at creating a deceptive narrative. Harry Song offers a more serene nature to his character, constantly asking Guidance for advice on how he should approach the situation. He is helpless without Han - he can’t risk losing her, but is too scared to tell the truth. Mai believes his lies are selfless, meant to protect her from heartbreak. They both want desperately to be honest, but the glooming fear of tainting the relationship feeds this devious game of deceit.

Director and co-writer Neysan Sobhani breaks ground with his feature directorial debut. Attracting attention with his previous award winning shorts Dimensions and Broken Places, Sobhani is uninhibited while exploring the influence and impact of dishonesty. He is able to invoke true expressions of love and how isolating a relationship can be. Also making their own feature writing debuts with Guidance, co-writers Wang Pei You and Anders R. Fransson aid Sobhani’s vision, keeping the story coherent and honest. However, the 93 minute runtime is not enough to fully develop the relationship.

At times, it’s difficult to believe their love, only knowing how the couple deceives each other. For much of the film, it appears that Han and Mai’s relationship is actually void of love. The way they test one another too often presents itself as vengeful, as if it’s the fear of being alone - not a genuine attraction to each other - that is keeping them together. This could easily be resolved with an additional 15 to 20 minutes of exposition to flesh out the history and nuance of the relationship further. The time could be used as well to expand on the technology. What else is Guidance capable of? What other types of apps were being developed with the technology? Grander details are alluded to, but never elaborated on. The concept felt more like a narrative push rather or passive plot device rather than the life changing technology it is reported to be.

Guidance is right on the cusp of greatness. The film is brimming with stellar performances, expert direction, and dazzling cinematography, yet it falls short in expanding the narrative. Sobhani displays a break in trust between the couple at the center of this story, but he never details how their bond was originally unified in the first place, leaving an unfortunate disparity between the film I watched and the more complete, comprehensive version of this film I would like to have seen. In the end, will Han and Mai’s relationship last or will their love go in vain? A little more guidance on the narrative direction may have derived a more satisfying answer to that question in this film.

MOVIE REVIEW: "Guidance"; No More Lies