The Home Song Stories

A terribly sad story told through the memories of the youngest child of a mother and her two children who migrates from Hong Kong where she was somewhat of a cabaret singer, to Melbourne where she really does not find a favourable Fung Sui. I went to see the movie, perhaps with too much expectation. But one expectation I did not have is the down to earth handling of the production. I felt it was not a movie anymore but a tragic event unfolding before my eyes in ordinary Melbourne low key suburb. Lot of things go wrong, and I found myself waiting for a little ray of sunshine, may be you will too. The acting is excellent and the pain is real. The cinematography is just as real, no fancy shot, no "make up" on the images, just the same as you get someone out of bed, nature too was in the raw. I had to accept all this was done in purpose to get a more positive feeling about this film. knowing a fair bit about some aspect of Asian way of life from personal experience, I had a lot of empathy with the characters and their resentment of the an old cow.

I recently got a job at The Embassy Theatre in Wellington, and to just my luck the Film Festival has recently started. We sometimes get to go in and watch the films for free if we aren't doing much. My boss said I could go in to watch, so I jumped at the opportunity (simply because it was a free film).

The Home Song stories is a brilliant film.

The story follows the young Tom at age 10 (i think) as he, his Mother and sister struggle to contain a normal lifestyle, being Chinese immigrants in Australia in the 1970's. A lot of the focus is on his Mother who battles between providing the needs for her children and resenting them, being still quite naive and wanting more freedom.

Joen Chen is fully compelling in probably her best role to date. Joel Lok is already destined to have a great career, who pulled off the most engaging child performance I have seen. For the most part, he reacts passively, with minimal dialogue: it's his woeful looks that draw you in.

The cinematography is fantastic. The color tone seems so natural and real, while still being cinematic. The CU's have great engagement with the character's eyes, with little depth of focus, guiding you to exactly what you should be watching. The slow tracks in and sideways draw you to new developments in the story, working perfectly with the actors' performances.

The story itself is one that is told to its fullest extent that would work for a film, hands up to Tony Ayres! I read some articles and apparently there was a bit more to the story, but would be to much to work structurally.

I am annoyed that after the film finished, I had to leave to get back to work. Because just a few minutes after Tony Ayre himself came out to answer questions from the audience.

Overall, this is one film that SHOULD NOT BE MISSED. Find it! Watch it! I feel like I should have paid for my ticket. But I will probably get the DVD anyway.

I am absolutely sure most people will like this film. It's a beauty. :-)

I went to the Australian premiere of "The Home Song Stories" last night, and I'm damn glad I did.

It's a great film.

Tony Ayres has done a magic job of bringing his life story to the big screen, and he's picked a great cast to do it with.

Newcomers John Lok and Irene Chen are fantastic as the young Tony and his older sister, Mei.

Joan Chen's finally found a great role, after a string of awful ones.

She shines as Tony's mother, a former Hong Kong nightclub singer who moves to Australia in 1971 with her two children, after marrying an Australian sailor... who she promptly shoots through on.

I don't really want to tell you too much about the movie, because I'd rather you went and saw it yourself.

All I can say is that it's a great study of immigrant life in the 70's, and a snapshot of Australia at the time.

I'm not sure how wide a release "The Home Song Stories" will get, but if it turns up in your local cinema, go see it.

I haven't enjoyed a film this much in a long time.

To hear an interview with Tony, go to

http://rastous.podomatic.com/entry/2007-02-25T18_39_35-08_00

Despite an impressive performance from Joan Chen, and a confident technical sheen, HOME SONG STORIES fails to deliver as drama due to a weak, underwritten script, which keeps characters and incidents vague and one-note.

The main problem is that the film doesn't have an act one, deciding to give us character and story foundation in around the same time it takes to boil an egg.

Because of this, we only get a narrow-minded view of Rose (Joan Chen), never getting to know what kind of person she was in Shanghai, never seeing what kind of person Bill (Steven Vidler) was that convinced Rose to move to another country, and what the circumstances were that made Rose leave Bill a week after they were married.

Therefore, we see Rose as a completely irresponsible person, a one-sided look at a rather more complex person.

On the plus side, the film is extremely well-made, and performances by Joel Lok and Irene Chan as the two children are quite believable and natural, while Yuwu Qi also impresses as Joe, one of Rose's many lovers.

The film, however, belongs to Joan Chen, who manages to find an emotional core to the role of Rose, bringing a loving warmth and fractured insanity to a character that is badly underwritten by writer/director Tony Ayres, who obviously has an intimate knowledge of the subject matter, but fails to give it substance within the framework of a feature film.

Despite being watchable, HOME SONG STORIES falls short of its ambitions, a missed opportunity at showing an important part of Australia's immigrant past.

I don't want to go into extravagant detail as the other comments are fairly thorough.

I want to add to the pool of comments that if you happen to have had to care for a mentally ill, depressed, bipolar, etc, etc mother while you were a young child and adolescent, be forewarned. This is a beautiful and affecting film but hits waaaaaaay too close to home for anyone who had a life like mine, a milder version of the movie. I don't know how I sat through the whole thing. I lost it by the time it was over.

The description of the movie in the AFI Dallas Fest program made it sound like a civil rights struggle with a romantic triangle thrown in. That doesn't even begin to describe what this film is about.

Anyway, bring a lot of tissues.