Longing is an English reboot directed, written and partly produced by Savi Gabizon, who released a similar French Hebrew version called Ga'agua in 2017.
Businessman Daniel Bloch (Richard Gere) lives a rich life and never wanted children. When he learns from an old girlfriend that they had a son, but he has died, Daniel decides to immerse himself in the old life of his unknown, surviving son. In this way he learns about his life choices and is confronted with the mistakes he has made. He tries to correct these, so that he can leave him with dignity.
Despite the fact that this is a reboot of an earlier, similar film, you would expect the writer-director to have worked it out a bit more. However, there are logical details missing, which makes the film seem vague, far-fetched, or sometimes unintentionally comical instead of truly dramatic or emotional.
Because the father tries to live the life of his surviving son, many moments come to the fore in the film. Because you as a viewer have not really experienced this son, this revival seems rather long-winded than really emotional. Many scenes also go on for too long or have unnecessary, short scenes between the events.
Due to the lack of good direction and writing direction, the cast members also seem somewhat uncertain and unclear, which means you do not really care about their characters. The strange choices they make only make this more difficult.
