The
Mainland Chinese government forced independent filmmaker Ying Liang into exile,
but at least they also provided some creative inspiration along with the pain
and inconvenience of his separation from family. In 2014, Ying and his wife shadowed
his in-laws across Taiwan while they were on a strictly regimented tour. That frustrating
so-near-yet-so-far pseudo-reunion germinated into his first feature since his
devastating When Night Falls got him
into all that trouble in the first place. An independent Chinese director will
have a very similar experience with a very similar film in Ying’s A Family Tour (trailer here), which screens as
part of the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival.
Yang
Shu’s film is called Mother of One
Recluse, but its premise is identical to that of When Night Falls. It too focuses on the distraught mother of shut-in
son sentenced to death for the murder of six cops. It was again truly a case of
temporary insanity, induced by the injuries he suffered during a police beating
and his fruitless quest to have his assailants brought to justice. The results
for the filmmaking are also the same. Yang now lives as an exile in Hong Kong
with her husband Cheung Ka-ming, a legal, born-and-bred Hong Kong citizen.
Even
though they skype regularly, it has been over five years since Yang has seen
her mother Chen Xiaolin in person and probably even longer since they had a
conversation of real depth. Her husband arranged Chen’s bus tour of Kaohsiung
City, but the Mainland-based company keeps close tabs on their customers.
Nevertheless, the diplomatic Cheung has convinced Peng, the tour director to
turn a half-blind eye. However, their initial meetings are still awkward,
especially after Yang’s mother gives her a micro-recording of an intimidating police
visit she received while Yang’s film was on the festival circuit.
Tour is a breathlessly quiet,
delicately humane scream of protest. Ying does not merely revisit the
circumstances of his banishment. He also harkens back to the dark days of the
Cultural Revolution, drawing sharp parallels between the suffering of Yang’s
parents then and the conditions for dissidents in Mainland China today. It is
especially distressing to hear how family members had to sever contact to
protect each other—and may need to do so again now.
Ironically,
Nai An is probably still better known as an indie producer, but she is one of
the finest screen thesps working today, based on her fearless performances as Chen
here, as well as When Night Falls, Girls Always Happy, Old Stone, and the short film What Tears Us Apart. Granted, each time she has played a mother, but they have
been very different mothers, yet often almost always with acute sensitivity and
overwhelming poignancy.
Arguably,
the work of Gong Zhe as Yang, Ying’s analog, is even more subtly challenging,
but ultimately deeply moving. She has created a tough, painfully human portrait
of an artist who has made some hard choices and must now live with them. Pete
Teo is just achingly earnest as her supportive husband Cheung, while
co-screenwriter “33” (that’s her name, don’t wear it out) is spectacularly
shallow and abrasive as Peng, the busybody.
Clearly,
a lot of pain and frustration went into Family
Tour, but it is also the product of considerable artistic integrity. Yes,
Ying is inescapably critical of the Mainland Communist regime, but he also
refers back to Taiwan’s checkered human rights history. It is just a shame when
governments keep family members apart, but it happens all the time,
particularly in contemporary China. Very highly recommended, A Family Tour screens tonight (9/29) and
Monday afternoon (10/1), as part of this year’s VIFF.
