Lilting (2014)

A low-keyed oeuvre filmed in 3 weeks that manages to convey a multitude of emotions.

Ben Whishaw has caught my attention since his breakout role in Perfume: the Story of a Murderer (2006), even though he had been working in films and TV since 1999. After Perfume, he's had lead or prominent supporting roles in a series of high-profile movies, like I'm Not There (Arthur Rimbaud as an incarnation of Bob Dylan), Brideshead Revisited (Sebastian Flyte), The International, Bright Star (John Keats), The Tempest (Ariel), Cloud Atlas (in multiple parts), Skyfall & Spectre (Q), Paddington (Paddington), The Lobster, Suffragette, The Danish Girl, In the Heart of the Sea. Also, he starred in TV series such as "The Hollow Crown" (Richard II), The Hour and recently had the lead in London Spy. He came out in 2011 and in 2013 he confirmed that he and his partner Mark Bradshaw had been married in 2012. Lilting is one of a number of films, both before as well as after his coming out, in which he plays a gay man. It's also one of the most interesting.

Story: Set in London, it involves the repercussions from the untimely death of a Cambodian man, Kai (Andrew Leung) for his mother Junn (Pei-Pei Cheng) and his lover Richard (Ben Whishaw). Richard uses a translator, Vann (Naomi Christie), to try to approach Junn, who was unaware of her son's sexuality. Also featured is the romance of Junn with Alan (Peter Bowles).

My review: Language as a barrier and language as a bridge: Richard brings Vann in as a translator for elderly couple Junn & Alan, yet the improvement in verbal communication, instead of bringing them closer, tears them apart. Richard's ultimate purpose is to build a bond between himself and his dead lover's mother. Yet the moment they truly reach that connection, each does it in their own language. The translator, even though she's present, is redundant. So, this is a movie about a hard-earned friendship, accepting loss and forming new alliances (perhaps less satisfying, but still necessary), when life deprives you of the ones that you thought would last forever. If you don't mind being suspended in an air of melancholy for a while after seeing this film, then I strongly recommend it.

Grade: 9/10

Trailer: