Ben Whishaw (Skyfall, Bright Star) and Cheng Pei Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) star in Hong Khaou’s first feature, a soulful and moving drama – opening the 2014 BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival – about loss and the limitations of language.
Set in contemporary London, it depicts Chinese-Cambodian Junn (Pei Pei) who’s mourning the untimely death of her son Kai (Andrew Leung). She has lived in London for over 20 years but has not assimilated; she doesn’t speak English and is completely isolated by Kai’s death.
Kai never came out to her but after his death, his former boyfriend Richard (Whishaw) gets in touch.
Struggling to communicate without a shared language, Richard brings along an interpreter, Vann (Naomi Christie) and gradually he and Junn begin to talk, and to mourn the man they both adored together.
Lyrical and suffused with tenderness, Lilting is eloquent on the pain of loss, on how the estrangement of grief can mirror other types of alienation, and on both contemporary young gay relationships and cultural divides – but it’s also humorous, particularly in relation to retiree Alan’s (Peter Bowles – TV’s To the Manor Born) romantic pursuit of Junn.
It’s a layered film with sensitive performances that’s sure to generate further excellent reviews and strong word of mouth.