What makes it different from others?

Some things I liked some I did not.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

I have watched this movie several times and every time I tremendously enjoyed it: its theme, its ambiance, its atmosphere, its actors, its camera, its music, its dialogues, its editing, and most of all its directing… For me, this is really a marvelous piece of art, so gentle, emotional, responsive, so well-balanced and, hence, so… beautiful! This movie is the best example that a gay relationship and all contradictions with respect to it can be represented in a discrete, dignified and distinct way. This is what makes this movie so different from all the others with a similar theme. Simply excellent: 10!

Absolutely loved this movie. As a Australian Chinese with a family who speak a language other than English, this movie made me appreciate my relationship with my partner and his relationship with my parents even more. The music combined with the cinematography evoked profound emotions in the viewers. Ben Whishaw and Cheng Pei Pei gave stellar performances. The story is well told without too many dialogues, the acting says it all. Somethings are better left unsaid. Love it a lot!!! Watched it twice already and still want to watch it again!! It is quite a hidden gem. Glad I found it. Reminds me of another Asian gay themed movie called "Saving face" but a lot more sombre.

Lilting: (adj) pleasant rise and fall of the voice Like its title, this movie exhibits that spoken language can't be as good as emotions to connect two different people, who shares grief for the same person they love deeply.Richard, a British guy, trying to communicate with Junn, a widowed Cambodian-Chinese woman who is the mother of his dead boyfriend, Kai. Richard intends to help Junn, who lives in London but doesn't have any other family taking care of her after Kai's death. It turns out to be difficult, because Junn doesn't speak English and she hates Richard for getting in between Kai and her. She doesn't know her son was gay, and Richard feels responsible to tell her because Kai was about to come out before he died.To help oil the communication wheel, Richard hires translator, a Chinese descent girl named Vann. She helps translate for Alan, an old man who likes Junn and lives in the same nursing home. However, as Vann helps Richard talk to Junn, somehow the translator got carried away emotionally; she tries making Junn understand that Richard is the love of Kai's life, and the person who can get her son's attention as much as she does. And they need to help each other to move on.I think the most fascinating element of this movie is that, despite the communication problem, eventually Richard and Junn manage to understand each other by showing their true feelings to Kai. Ben Wishaw has delivered impeccable performance as the achingly suppressed Richard. Every time I remember about Richard's face crumpled with grief, it saddens me. That's how good Wishaw's acting is. Hong Kong actress Cheng Pei-pei also succeeded to portray the stoic and conservative Junn.The end of the movie is beautifully artistic, depicting Junn's true feeling and why she refuse to adapt to the new culture she's been facing for years. And like any good mother, she'll always love her son unconditionally. Here's Junn's great monologue toward the end of Lilting: Through plenty of crying, I've learnt to be content that I won't always be happy, secure in my loneliness, hopeful that I will be able to cope. Every year on Christmas Day I get very lonely. An incredible feeling of solitude. On this day, everything has stood still, even the trees have stopped rustling, but I'm still moving, I want to move, but I have nothing to move to, and nowhere to go. The scars beneath my skin suddenly surface and I get scared. Scared of being alone.The sub-conflict between Junn and Alan – who get the benefit from the translator in the beginning but then stop after discover each other bad habits – adds humor to the gloomy story. In a nutshell, the first move of Cambodian-born British director Hong Khaou is a reflection of sensitive subjects, such as same-sex relationship, transcends through cultural barrels: it can be amusing, intense, and poignant. Hong did a tremendous job by making this debut looks personal and real, with the help of wonderful cinematography done by Urszula Pontikus and melancholic music by Stuart Earl.

Though being generally positive about this film, I must admit upfront that I had problems with its use of flashbacks featuring the deceased Kai. I only understood afterwards on the way home what I missed, while apparently easily picked up by others whose reviews I saw. The first example is the scene with Kai and Junn, shown twice, the first time ending when someone entered the room to replace a light bulb but does not see Kai, making clear for most viewers (apparently, but not for me) that Kai existed only in Junn's mind. The second appearance of this scene ended before the bulb-change person entered, so I had no chance to reconsider. Kai died some time ago, and I only knew that from reading the synopsis beforehand, and a virtual visit like this one was Junn's own way to keep the reminiscences of her son alive. A second example where I missed the obvious were the scenes with Kai and Richard at home, apparently (again, in hindsight) happening in the past, where they talk about living together with or without Junn, in either case how and when to reveal the true nature of their gay relationship. Rationally speaking (again, while looking back), it is abundantly clear that these flashbacks were inevitable to clarify the respective relationships. Yet I think there could have been thought of other ways to accomplish that, without hampering our chronological narrative way of thinking that usually works best. The way it is done now feels a bit artificial, and it hampered my viewing experience. I am prepared to admit that the latter can be my fault altogether.Perfectly clear throughout the whole running time is that Junn and Richard belong to two different worlds. There is much more than merely a language barrier that withholds them from really communicating. The interpreter he hired, Vann, dismisses Junn's lack of knowledge of the English language, calling her a "lazy bitch" which was obviously a common phenomenon under female immigrants. On one hand they could depend on their spouse or children to interface with the outer world, and on the other hand it demonstrates Junn's bland refusal to adapt to the world where she lived in for many years. That also explains how the English way to take care of the elderly, being very different from her own traditions, stood between Junn and Kai for a long time, in spite of Kai repeatedly saying that the home for the elderly she was put in, was just a "temporary" measure. Anyway, Kai did not have to cope with a language barrier, and still failed to drive the message home, particularly as he kept postponing a decision to explain the real relationship between himself and Richard, fearing she would not understand and working disruptively on the relationship between mother and son.A nice find is the introduction of Alan as Junn's would-be lover. They "dated" several times before, both without understanding a word what the other was saying. This courting formed an excuse for Richard to hire Vann as an interpreter, fitting nicely his own hidden agenda to come closer to Junn. The relationship between Alan and Junn changes as soon as their communication improved. It brings several differences to light, some not so important but others seemingly insurmountable. Junn is not the modest passive woman we assumed at first sight; she can make her position very clear when felt necessary.The final scene demonstrates hope for their future. Junn and Richard seem to be able to communicate without interpreter Vann translating each sentence (this is rather implicit, but even I understood by virtue of their body language). We see a mutual trust and understanding growing between the two when exchanging sentences, in spite of not really knowing what the other was saying. I must admit being a bit lost during this final scene. It took some time on the way home to grasp all the things that were shown implicitly. The preceding scenes were abundantly clear in comparison, but this one needed some afterthought. We can imagine for ourselves how their relationship is about to continue, this being left as an exercise for the viewer.