Directed by:
Hong KhaouScreenplay:
Hong KhaouCinematography:
Urszula PontikosComposer:
Stuart EarlCast:
Ben Whishaw, Pei-pei Cheng, Peter Bowles, Naomi Yang, Morven Christie, Andrew Leung, John Matthews, Leila WongVOD (1)
Plots(1)
Set in contemporary London, Lilting tells the story of a Cambodian-Chinese mother mourning the untimely death of her son. Her world is suddenly disrupted by the presence of a stranger. We observe their difficulties in trying to connect with one another without a common language. Through a translator they piece together memories of a man they both loved dearly, and realize that whilst they may not share a language, they are connected in their grief. A delicate and heartfelt drama about memory, love, language and loss, featuring a powerfully compelling central performance from Ben Whishaw. (Artificial Eye)
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Reviews (2)
The director's more recent film, Monsoon, left me quite cold, but Lilting definitely made me shiver and left a strong impression on me. Hong Khaou relies on an intimate atmosphere and mostly minimalist acting, something he would use again in Monsoon, but here he managed to portray several storylines in an audience-engaging way, which were in the spirit of overcoming certain barriers – language, generational or cultural – but also the actual overcoming of grief over the loss of a loved one. Apart from the modest but all the more moving musical score, I must especially praise the acting of Pei-pei Cheng, whose mere glances were often enough to convince me of her character's inwardness.
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With its sensitive dialogue between four people about hidden proximity, loneliness and loss, in a bilingual presentation with constant interpreting that draws the film out to full feature length, one would almost cynically remark that if it wasn’t the interpreting and the presence of a third person in the intimate dialogue of the couple that brought some alleviating humor into the sad poetics of the film. The mother’s acting performance overshadows everyone else, but she does not pull the film out of the realm of boredom and long-windedness.
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