Lilting

Lilting

Set in contemporary London, LILTING features intensely moving performances by Asian cinema’s martial arts legend Cheng Pei Pei  (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as Junn, a Cambodian-Chinese mother grieving the untimely death of her only son Kai (Andrew Leung), and Ben Whishaw (I’m Not There, Bright Star) as her son’s lover, Richard.

Set in her old-fashioned ways and not fully adjusted to the foreign culture she lives in, the mother’s fragile world is suddenly disrupted by the presence of a stranger (Whishaw) whose attempts to communicate are first met with rejection and distrust.  Although they don’t share a common language, Vann (Naomi Christie), a young translator hired by Richard, helps piece together the tender memories of the man they both loved, and the two strangers gradually learn to develop a bond with each other. Vann also helps Junn go through the somewhat comical courtship of a smitten English gentleman.  Graceful, moving and humorous, LILTING is a gem of a chamber piece about unlikely connections and how loss can bring us together even when cultures and generations set us far apart from one another.