It is unclear what the point of this film was supposed to be. While there are some shots of natural settings that are pleasing to the eye, and while almost anything Ben Whishaw appears in is a pleasure to watch, "Lilting" does not work on any level.
Kai, a young Asian man (a lackluster Andrew Leung) is secretly living with Richard (Whishaw), his British boyfriend, while trying to keep his aging mother Junn (Pei-Pei Cheng) in the dark about their relationship. Although this film is only 4 years old, this concept seems extremely dated, for starters.
Next, Junn is far from decrepit, but Kai has decided to put her in a senior citizens' living facility, which, despite many comments and arguments about throughout, is quite nice. But having her there seems to be part of a long list of other issues for Kai and for Junn, and those issues are apparently supposed to contribute to the "drama" of this story. I did not buy any of it.
Then, because Kai "likes to take the bus" instead of taking a car, when he finally goes to pick up Junn and bring her back to his apartment so that she can have dinner with he and Richard, and so that he can tell her that he and Richard are a couple, Kai gets killed in a car accident. Why this required this huge set-up about him taking the bus was pointless. He could have been killed in any number of ways; I hate to say this, but the cause for his death was very pedestrian. Sad, of course, for anyone to lose their life, but since Kai is not really likable and because his character is essentially some kind of spoiled, nervous, closeted gay man who didn't really seem to have a nice word to say about anyone or anything, it was really hard to care one way or another; being killed by a car did not make me have more sympathy for him nor draw me into the story further.
So, now we have the "survivors": the grieving mother and the boyfriend, who still feels compelled for the longest time to hide the truth from the mother about her son's relationship. But why? He was dead; what could be gained from hiding the truth?
Then, in some effort for Richard to gain Junn's trust (I guess this was the motivation), he hires Vann (Naomi Christie), a semi-pro translator, who will help facilitate things between Junn and her senior citizen home paramour, Alan (Peter Bowles). You see, Junn doesn't speak any English and Alan doesn't speak any Chinese.
Okay... but... in the scheme of things... this served no purpose and was a separate story entirely. In fact, for a portion of the film Richard disappears while Vann translates everything so Junn and Alan, who has a thing for her, can communicate.
But then Richard works his way back into the equation by first refusing to give Junn Kai's ashes. Then he gets heated and upset when things don't work out between Junn and Alan, and when Vann accidentally misuses pronouns during a translation, he goes postal on her and cruelly berates her. I could not understand for one second why Vann tolerated this abuse. Richard must have been paying her a ton of money.
And speaking of that: Apparently Kai and Richard were independently wealthy or Junn had some amazing retirement fund or social security income, because nobody in this film seemed to have any job, except for Vann, and even she seemed to have tons of time to help Richard as he worked through his long list of emotions.
Here's the thing: Ben Whishaw has talent. And he is the one person in any of the scenes in this film that stands out. But, as has been pointed out elsewhere -- the script is so bad that it doesn't matter how good he is.
Although this was clearly shot on a budget, and the lighting is fairly dark and atmospheric, the look of the film was fairly appealing. In addition to Ben's talents, Pei-Pei Ching has a certain gravitas about her that is appealing, and Naomi Christie gave a completely natural performance (which still doesn't excuse why she put up with Richard's verbal abuse).
But none of those things matter. Finally, after forced angry moments, Richard tells Junn the truth and then she gives some speech, and then essentially the film is over.
If you isolate moments in the film, such as when Richard tells Junn, "He (Kai)... was my life!" -- then, yes, there are a few powerful moments -- but very few.
Even if Hong Khaou (director/writer) borrowed elements of this story from his own personal experience, and/or of someone he knew -- it doesn't matter. Ultimately it was a bizarre weaving of cultures and languages and I did not feel there was a sense of resolution. Great that Richard finally told Junn the truth (and also that he apologized for not wanting to initially give her Kai's ashes, and then finally does), but... it really did not require a full film to have reached that point.
Also, the "B" story of Junn and Alan, which somehow bobbed to the top for the majority of the film, just wasn't that interesting or believable. Naomi Christie's role was essentially thankless and if she had stood up and stormed out after being mistreated, forcing Richard to use a bilingual dictionary or to somehow otherwise convey the truth of his life via visual aids (hello! the photographs you hid in the bedroom of you and Kai?), the film might have taken some interesting turns. But alas...
I can only assume that "Lilting" was used as the title because of a song that Junn likes that is featured at the top and tail of the film. The female vocalist's voice was indeed lilting, and perhaps, in some symbolic way, the filmmaker was attempting to use that term and the song to indicate the ebb and flow of life. If so, perhaps that might have been the one powerful thing in this movie, but only in a subtle way.
I do not see how anyone could call this film an "absorbing cinematic experience," nor rate it as a 10. I had great hopes for it, based on the trailer, but ultimately I was left with a very empty feeling at the end.
Kai, a young Asian man (a lackluster Andrew Leung) is secretly living with Richard (Whishaw), his British boyfriend, while trying to keep his aging mother Junn (Pei-Pei Cheng) in the dark about their relationship. Although this film is only 4 years old, this concept seems extremely dated, for starters.
Next, Junn is far from decrepit, but Kai has decided to put her in a senior citizens' living facility, which, despite many comments and arguments about throughout, is quite nice. But having her there seems to be part of a long list of other issues for Kai and for Junn, and those issues are apparently supposed to contribute to the "drama" of this story. I did not buy any of it.
Then, because Kai "likes to take the bus" instead of taking a car, when he finally goes to pick up Junn and bring her back to his apartment so that she can have dinner with he and Richard, and so that he can tell her that he and Richard are a couple, Kai gets killed in a car accident. Why this required this huge set-up about him taking the bus was pointless. He could have been killed in any number of ways; I hate to say this, but the cause for his death was very pedestrian. Sad, of course, for anyone to lose their life, but since Kai is not really likable and because his character is essentially some kind of spoiled, nervous, closeted gay man who didn't really seem to have a nice word to say about anyone or anything, it was really hard to care one way or another; being killed by a car did not make me have more sympathy for him nor draw me into the story further.
So, now we have the "survivors": the grieving mother and the boyfriend, who still feels compelled for the longest time to hide the truth from the mother about her son's relationship. But why? He was dead; what could be gained from hiding the truth?
Then, in some effort for Richard to gain Junn's trust (I guess this was the motivation), he hires Vann (Naomi Christie), a semi-pro translator, who will help facilitate things between Junn and her senior citizen home paramour, Alan (Peter Bowles). You see, Junn doesn't speak any English and Alan doesn't speak any Chinese.
Okay... but... in the scheme of things... this served no purpose and was a separate story entirely. In fact, for a portion of the film Richard disappears while Vann translates everything so Junn and Alan, who has a thing for her, can communicate.
But then Richard works his way back into the equation by first refusing to give Junn Kai's ashes. Then he gets heated and upset when things don't work out between Junn and Alan, and when Vann accidentally misuses pronouns during a translation, he goes postal on her and cruelly berates her. I could not understand for one second why Vann tolerated this abuse. Richard must have been paying her a ton of money.
And speaking of that: Apparently Kai and Richard were independently wealthy or Junn had some amazing retirement fund or social security income, because nobody in this film seemed to have any job, except for Vann, and even she seemed to have tons of time to help Richard as he worked through his long list of emotions.
Here's the thing: Ben Whishaw has talent. And he is the one person in any of the scenes in this film that stands out. But, as has been pointed out elsewhere -- the script is so bad that it doesn't matter how good he is.
Although this was clearly shot on a budget, and the lighting is fairly dark and atmospheric, the look of the film was fairly appealing. In addition to Ben's talents, Pei-Pei Ching has a certain gravitas about her that is appealing, and Naomi Christie gave a completely natural performance (which still doesn't excuse why she put up with Richard's verbal abuse).
But none of those things matter. Finally, after forced angry moments, Richard tells Junn the truth and then she gives some speech, and then essentially the film is over.
If you isolate moments in the film, such as when Richard tells Junn, "He (Kai)... was my life!" -- then, yes, there are a few powerful moments -- but very few.
Even if Hong Khaou (director/writer) borrowed elements of this story from his own personal experience, and/or of someone he knew -- it doesn't matter. Ultimately it was a bizarre weaving of cultures and languages and I did not feel there was a sense of resolution. Great that Richard finally told Junn the truth (and also that he apologized for not wanting to initially give her Kai's ashes, and then finally does), but... it really did not require a full film to have reached that point.
Also, the "B" story of Junn and Alan, which somehow bobbed to the top for the majority of the film, just wasn't that interesting or believable. Naomi Christie's role was essentially thankless and if she had stood up and stormed out after being mistreated, forcing Richard to use a bilingual dictionary or to somehow otherwise convey the truth of his life via visual aids (hello! the photographs you hid in the bedroom of you and Kai?), the film might have taken some interesting turns. But alas...
I can only assume that "Lilting" was used as the title because of a song that Junn likes that is featured at the top and tail of the film. The female vocalist's voice was indeed lilting, and perhaps, in some symbolic way, the filmmaker was attempting to use that term and the song to indicate the ebb and flow of life. If so, perhaps that might have been the one powerful thing in this movie, but only in a subtle way.
I do not see how anyone could call this film an "absorbing cinematic experience," nor rate it as a 10. I had great hopes for it, based on the trailer, but ultimately I was left with a very empty feeling at the end.