Grand Tour

Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes' (TABU) latest cinefile creation was a Cannes Winner for Direction and that country's official Oscar submission.

It's a heady combination of travelogue and dual personal journeys. We are told by narration that in 1918 Edward (Goncalo Waddington) escapes from his fiancee Molly (Crista Alfiate) and embarks on a 'Grand Tour' of Asia (Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, Japan and China). The location footage is clearly of the present day, which emphasizes the transitory nature of time and experience. There are separate narrators for each of the five countries. The audience doesn't see Molly until past the halfway point in the film as she traces Edward's travel paths.

It's a visually dense production, shot on 16mm and primarily in Black & White. The story is spare and largely secondary to the sensory experience. Waddington's Edward is quiet and taciturn. Alfiate is quite the opposite, vivacious with a distinctive laugh/chorttle.

Gomes' film isn't out for any grand statements, but if one can give themselves over to his leisurely vision, it's one to savour.

Miguel Gomes is a Portuguese director, iconoclast and postmodern. His work may seem strange to us if we are used to the "Hollywood diet". However, his idea of adapting W. Somerset Maugham in these times became «Grand Tour», a story of contemporary resonance. In the film someone says that Westerners will never understand Eastern cultures, and the film is the evidence, but Gomes came out of the test with flying colors with the visual and sound solutions he gave to this great journey, for which he was awarded the Best Director award at the Cannes film festival in 2024.

I think many of us may like «Canticle of All Creatures» (2006), about St. Francis and St. Clare; the passionate romance of «Tabu» (2012) and the experimental short «Redemption» (2013); we may find the musical docudrama of country life «Our Beloved Month of August» (2008) or the self-referential film made during the pandemic «The Tsugua Diaries» (2021) rather complicated, but we all agree that he is an author of great wit.

In the plot of the film, set in 1918, an Englishman named Edward Abbott (Gonçalo Waddington) who lives and works in Rangoon arrives in Mandalay in his wedding suit to meet his fiancée Molly, but he suddenly decides to leave Burma and flee to Singapore. At his destination, a telegram arrives from Molly announcing that she will follow him there, so Edward decides to escape to Thailand by train. When the train derails, thanks to a guide and his three wives he reaches Bangkok, but another telegram from Molly arrives there and Edward flees to Vietnam and from there to the Philippines, Japan and finally China. Along the way he meets fascinating people, but Edward's escape, after an hour, becomes iterative, when suddenly, 63 minutes into the film, we do not see Edward anymore and so enters the scene Molly (Crista Alfaiate), a determined and passionate woman who will dominate the rest of the plot and raise the tone and rhythm of the film until reaching the beautiful poetic ending that the scriptwriters gave to these characters with such an ungrateful destiny.

The story of Edward and Molly is inspired by W. Somerset Maugham's story «Mabel», all the details of the trip were suggested by his travel book «The Gentleman in the Parlour. A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong», and I suppose that the allusions to Edward being a spy are based on the fact that Somerset worked for the British Secret Service during World War I. And indeed, the Cannes award is well deserved for the visual and musical resources it proposes: to illustrate each city of the "grand tour" in 1918, instead of giving us BBC-style period reconstructions, Gomes uses contemporary images of each city, suggesting that these stories take place at any time in history.

Gomes combined black and white with colour images, introduced shadow theatre and puppet sequences, and shot in studio scenes in sets of jungles and interiors of mansions of great plastic beauty (thanks to the Portuguese cinematographer Rui Poças, the Chinese Guo Liang, and the Thai Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, a frequent collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul). The musical selection ranges from Johann Strauss II's "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" (1866) to Charles Trenet's "La mer" (1946), in a 1959 version by Bobby Darin, to Gabriel Ruiz Galindo's classic "Amor" (1944), performed by a band of old Chinese jazzmen in the film.

My only complaint is that the film drags on a bit, especially in the montages of modern views of each place on the tour, which is a brilliant idea, but could have used some trimming. However, «Grand Tour» is different, healthy cinema, not a recycling of old vampires or a story of people of confused gender, but a refreshing take on adventure film and romantic drama.

Miguel Gomes Grand Tour is a visually mesmerizing film that feels like a love letter to Asia, celebrating its rich cultural heritage and landscapes. Every shot is carefully composed, with meticulous attention to framing and timing, creating a sense of immersion that invites the viewer into the world of the film. The use of real locations adds depth and authenticity, making the setting feel like an integral part of the story rather than just a backdrop.

The first chapter follows Edward as he flees from his fiancée, Molly, and embarks on a directionless journey. This section feels disconnected and almost lost, much like Edward himself. It's as the film is reflecting his emotional state aimlessly wandering without a clear path, allowing chance encounters to dictate his course.

In contrast, the second chapter, which follows Molly's determined pursuit of Edward, has a more defined sense of purpose. As she chases him across Asia, the narrative feels tighter, with more focus and direction. Molly's clear objective helps guide the audience through her journey, making it easier to connect with her.

The dialogue, primarily in Portuguese, was a refreshing highlight, and I found myself wishing for even more of it. It's rare for me to see a film where Portuguese takes center stage, and it adds another layer of uniqueness to the film.

In the end, Grand Tour is a beautiful, contemplative work, filled with stunning visuals, soundtrack and a clear sense of care in every frame. It's clear to see why Gomes was awarded Best Director at Cannes his passion for both the story and the setting is palpable in every moment.

And I don't mean the story alright? The artistic choices are downright baffling in a way that made me continuously ask myself "why". Why go through all this trouble to tell this story? Why this story? Why the odd language solutions? Why the anachronism? Is this about colonialism? I ought to be about colonialism because these people are terrible right?

I try to relax and enjoy the cinematic experience but experience what? The photo is good, the costumes are nice, the parts from modern day east Asia could have worked in a documentary. It's soup and meatloaf and dessert mixed as one dish. I would have liked it more if it was just abstract. Now I'm just annoyed, provoked and thinking whether I'm thinking too much or not thinking enough. At least the story will lead somewhere, right? Whelp, never mind.

A film about a couple from 1918 as they trail each other within the Indochina after a failed rendezvous inter-sped with the current world. Narrated in the language of their setting.

Another uneven film. I personally do not think that the 'experimentation' worked. It does not compliment the other elements of the film on any level AND it was just a weird distraction. The pseudo-documentary travelogue lacks a connecting tissue to be honest.

I am also quite mixed about the story overall.

It made more sense as the film went on, especially after getting the second main character takes over BUT the initial story could have been more knowingly hinting of the 2nd half of the film. Its far too concerned in creating the mystery that it loses so much power on its own. Its just sometimes feels so fleeting.

The second half is where the strength of the film really relies. The performance can be distracting (the constant annoying blowing raspberries was so bad) but it is where it made sense and has life. Molly has a sense of meaning AND actual flow that puts a focus in this film. You actually feel that this tour is going somewhere AND maybe not quite well. The initial silliness is suddenly filled with the conscious melancholy. Molly is desperate because she truly is doomed.

Soft recommendation.