|
The London Australian Film Festival
A Big and Little Films and Porchlight Production
The Home Song Stories (2007)
Written and Directed by Tony Ayers
Pit Cinema - Barbican Centre
Mar 8 – Mar 10 08
A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Home Song Stories has often been referred to as a ‘brave’ film, and given the fact that it is based on its writer/director Tony Ayer’s own traumatic childhood during which he witnessed the escalating torment of his emotionally and mentally fragile mother, one can only agree. It is Hong Kong circa 1964 and glamorous Shanghai nightclub singer Rose wows the servicemen in the audience, particularly Bill, who invites her to travel to Melbourne to marry him. Rose accepts, migrating to Australia with her two young children, May and Tom. Bill worships his bride, but she leaves him after a week, for unspecified reasons, leading viewers to conclude that she may have merely used him to get to Australia. Rose moves on to Sydney with her children where she remains for seven years, during which time, they are subjected to the foibles of a series of Chinese ‘uncles.’ It is only when Rose realises that she has no other choice that she returns to her overly forgiving husband Bill. After one night, however, he informs her that he will be away ‘on duty’ for the next four months, leaving her under the suspicious, disapproving eye of her mother in law, who’s ‘taking care of his house.’ When Rose sets off looking for adventure in conservative, seventies Melbourne, she is as out of place as a hot house flower in a snowstorm. In search of conversation and some ‘real’ food she drifts into a Chinese restaurant where Rose meets Joe, a handsome young chef/illegal immigrant from Hong Kong, who unexpectedly draws her in, inadvertently propelling her onto the path leading to her final, downward spiral. Joan Chen as Rose gives, what appears to be the performance of her acting life, intriguing viewers nearly as much as she does her onscreen counterparts. All smiles and vivacity one moment, and suspicion and anger the next, Rose initially draws empathy, then, inevitably, contempt from those around her, but remarkably, through Chen’s compelling performance, she always manages to elicit sympathy from viewers. Intermittent scenes, in which Rose is observed accessing her face in a mirror, often commenting on how she sees herself to her children, could be counted among the most unabashedly truthful onscreen moments ever filmed. Older women, she tells her son are ‘like three legged dogs’, in that they are useless. The undeniable credibility of Chen’s performance blanks the mind of all other content, allowing for an ultimately riveting cinematic experience. But Home Song Stories is really Rose’s son Tom’s story of his mother, drawn from his memories of her, which is why this tragic tale is unfolded with such tenderness and love. As the film begins, Tom, as a grown man, (Darren Yap) begins to write her story, in an attempt to come to terms with her tragedy, as we see him typing and hear him relating the tale concurrently. Ayers’ own feelings for his late mother seem to infuse his character Rose with great emotive passion from within, enabling viewers to empathise with her pain, in which, is it is apparent, once we are returned to adult Tom later on, as he tries to explain why he has revisited his mother’s story, he shares. Within the context of the film’s storyline, the boy Tom is played with childish trepidation and resilience by newcomer Joel Lok who has a surprisingly strong screen presence. When Tom feels exasperated by his mother’s serial trysts, one can understand his frustration, likewise, with his sense of loneliness and abandonment in the hands of such an emotionally damaged mother. Irene Chen (no relation to Joan) portrays daughter May’s teenage coming of age with all the sensitivity and intensity such a time of life demands, without ever lapsing into stereotype. Some of Rose’s most poignant moments take place with May as listener as she reveals the buried tragedies of her youthful years.
Joan Chen (Rose), Irene Chen (May), Joel Lok (Tom) (c) The Home Song Stories (2007) As the ever dependable husband Bill, Steven Vidler inspires compassion of a different sort for he is so besotted with Rose that he cannot see beyond his unflagging loyalty. ‘You are a good man,’ Rose tells him and one feels for his unrequited love for her, though her limited, broken English allows for ‘Thank yous.’ Qi Yuwu as Rose’s young love interest Joe cuts a dashingly Westernized figure, with his stylish hairstyle, clothing and car, despite the fact that, like her, he does not speak English. Although he seems quite charming at the outset of their affair, which seems to be a casual one at first, his fickle nature soon wounds Rose’s weary heart, adding greatly to her despair. The film has a vintage picture postcard look with its rich (but never over the top) colouring, slightly reminiscent of Technicolor, which is fitting, as this is an epic story, well worthy of cinematic treatment. And in her best moments, Rose herself has something of the afterglow of the glamorous Hollywood fifties about her. Perhaps it is ironic then, that ever since Chen won China’s Best Actress Award for her role in her second film, Little Flower in 1980, she has been referred to as the ‘Elizabeth Taylor of China.’ Subtle, sensitively executed fades, with scenes slowly drifting from room to room almost seem to sych in with the subconscious, evoking not only Ayers’ childhood memories, but inspiring recollections of one’s own. The majority of Rose’s shots are interior ones, mirroring her growing sense of displacement and desperation. Writer/Director Ayers wisely reserves judgment of his characters, especially in Rose’s case, simply allowing them to convey their actions and reactions, enabling viewers to form their own opinions of Rose and her circumstances at face value. This in turn, tends to generate sharp pangs of guilt in them once the details of her heart-breakingly tragic past are revealed. This delayed reaction to one’s own initial snap judgment in turn triggers valid personal questions as to whether or not we may be too harsh in our everyday, similarly surface judgments of one another. While Home Song Stories is a fascinating film to watch, it is also a deeply moving one, to such a degree that a collective hush lingered over the formerly chatty Saturday night crowd in the cinema following its emotionally powerful conclusion.
Duration: 99 mins
wwwww.barbican.org.uk/australianfilm 1
Copyright © EXTRA! EXTRA All rights reserved
|
