Lilting
So I went to see Lilting just over a fortnight ago + it is such a beautiful and melancholy film. I held off from writing about it because I saw it on my mum's 84th birthday + I went to see her later + I was terribly upset because she wasn't even awake for my visit. She died 5 days later (she'd been in a nursing home as she was so ill + had dementia) so now the film really hurts for me. Not just for the themes of grief + bereavement but the old mother stuck in a nursing home who really doesn't want to be there + relies too much on her child.
Anyway I love the way it's been filmed - even tho' it's set in London there's an intimacy + a quiet grace to the scenes. When I read the plot synopsis I did worry Ben Whishaw was going to spend the entire time weeping + yes, there are sad moments but I think they've done a good job in making the characters seem well-rounded. Cheng Pei Pei plays the mother, Junn, + they could have made her just some old battleaxe but they bring out her humanity + show how hard it must be for her to struggle on without the son who supported her so much. I loved Naomi Christie as the translator + Andrew Leung as Kai, the son of Junn+ partner of Ben's character, Richard who is shown in the intimate moments he shared with his mother + partner.
There were lighter moments to balance out the emotional weight of all the grief + personally I liked the fact that they didn't just go for a cliched Hollywood happy ending. I think it worked really well for such a low budget film. One thing that made me think was it's actually quite rare to see British Asian characters (in terms of Chinese/Cambodian etc. ancestry) in British-made films/TV dramas - I can think of a few but there aren't that many. I look forward to seeing what Hong Khaou (the director/writer) does next. (Also when I tweeted how much I loved the film he tweeted a thank you which really cheered me up).
Anyway I love the way it's been filmed - even tho' it's set in London there's an intimacy + a quiet grace to the scenes. When I read the plot synopsis I did worry Ben Whishaw was going to spend the entire time weeping + yes, there are sad moments but I think they've done a good job in making the characters seem well-rounded. Cheng Pei Pei plays the mother, Junn, + they could have made her just some old battleaxe but they bring out her humanity + show how hard it must be for her to struggle on without the son who supported her so much. I loved Naomi Christie as the translator + Andrew Leung as Kai, the son of Junn+ partner of Ben's character, Richard who is shown in the intimate moments he shared with his mother + partner.
There were lighter moments to balance out the emotional weight of all the grief + personally I liked the fact that they didn't just go for a cliched Hollywood happy ending. I think it worked really well for such a low budget film. One thing that made me think was it's actually quite rare to see British Asian characters (in terms of Chinese/Cambodian etc. ancestry) in British-made films/TV dramas - I can think of a few but there aren't that many. I look forward to seeing what Hong Khaou (the director/writer) does next. (Also when I tweeted how much I loved the film he tweeted a thank you which really cheered me up).