Tigertail: Review by @Kush_Hayes
Tigertail, the new movie written and directed by Alan Yang and distributed by Netflix is one of the few movies Ive seen that I think needs to be longer. Why longer? Isnt 90 minutes your go to enjoyable length?
Yes, but… most of the times in those situations its to keep a simple movie from trying to be a complicated mess. In this case, Tigertail tells the story of a man who created a complicated mess by making the wrong choice with his misdirected ambition and tries to simplify it. And after the sum result of his misdirection he forces the audience to sit through a series of flashback, that if you blink, you wont be aware is a flashback right away, nor will you completely understand what the context was, until we are back in the present.
We meet Grover, who is now a retiree and coming home from his mothers funeral back in Taiwan. And to be fair after one loses a parent, you are compelled to sit back and reflect on choices. Its a very natural human reaction, that unfortunately doesnt work in this story.
Bare in mind, despite him giving us a narrative in the beginning of how he lost his father when he was only 1, we still dont know who this man is played by Tzi Ma. Tzi Ma youll know from recent hits such as The Farewell and 2016s Arrival. He was also due to be in Disneys Mulan that has been pushed back indefinitely as the world goes through the COVID-19 pandemic. But Tzi Ma has been around since the 1980s with Star Trek TNG, MacGuyver and LA Law just to name a few gigs on his successful resume.
Thanks to flashbacks we get to meet “Young” Grover, played by Hong-Chi Lee and like most men his age, early twenties, he is lacking direction, despite knowing hes not meant to be a factory worker, especially with the unsafe conditions that his mother is subjected to daily. And through these flashbacks we discover theres two separate personalities in Grover. Theres the focused and determined individual who not only wants more for himself, but wants more for his family. And then theres the fool in love who enjoys life, who appreciates tiny moments and unfortunately when Grover makes his trek to The United States with his new bride thats not the woman he falls in love with, we dont see a lot of that guy.
That woman who has captured Young Grovers heart is “Young” Yuan played by Yo-Hsing Fang who comes from a family in a higher tax bracket than Grovers. Its implied that her parents will never approve of Grover, but its never really confirmed. Its seems to be more of an insecurity of Grovers than a stated fact. However this leads to the two doing a lot of stuff in secret. And because its such a short movie, it feels like this relationship was only a few weeks at best. Its one of the reasons you want this movie to be longer is to explore the dynamic of these two together and its Fang and Lees chemistry together that keeps your attention and actually makes you root for the two, as well as wag your finger of shame when Grover is dishonest with Yuan, which happens a few times.
Once Grover and his new bride arrive in The States, he becomes all business, shedding any personality he had, all to do the right thing and provide for his family in their new home. His Bride, “Young” ZhenZhen, played by Kunjue Li, is having trouble adjusting to life in America.
This is due to her not knowing English, not having any friends, being afraid to leave the house in the dangerous neighborhood they live in and still being part of the culture where women are to stay home, not talk back unless talked too and of course never get a job. Shes all bottled up to the point that the few times Grover tries to unwind and asks her to dance in their living room, she doesnt know how to respond, thus spending a Friday night on the couch twiddling their thumbs and just passing time. This is also because Grover is spending all day doing double shifts at his job to make ends meet, so they never get to know one another. Another time we see Grover surprise her with an electric piano with the idea of its something they can do together. And thanks to a montage of Grover opening and closing the corner store he works at, its discovered that the piano only became an item to keep coats on. Theres a lot that could be built up upon with this one device and it goes nowhere except to show that once they had children Grover pushed this activity hard on the kids.
Speaking of kids, we discover Grover and Zhen had two children. The son is apparently a successful musician who we never see as an adult. The daughter, Angela, played by Christine Ko is still around but has no real relationship with her father while her own relationship is crumbling and crumbles in a montage. Through no fault of her own, Angelas whole thread in the film feels undeveloped.
There are some very beautiful shots here and captured in a fun way with the flashbacks being filmed on 16mm and the present day being digital. Or so my IMDB trivia source tells me, which means my wifi was going strong the night I watched this. And that explains why some scenes in the past felt so dark with the lighting. The ending shot of the film is fantastic and I appreciate the way they hold on it as long as they do.
This is a story expanding over 40 years, and theres a lot of good in this story with compelling characters that you would like to be more invested in and its the films run time that ultimately holds it back. Id like a film about Grovers youth in Taiwan. Id like a film about Grovers marriage in The States. And then Id like a film about Grovers third life dealing with his daughters issues as well as still adjusting to his marriage being over. If thats not a solid dramatic film trilogy, its a solid limited series that the same [Netflix] platform can deliver in nine to ten episodes.
Three Blueberries out of Five.
Rated PG for some thematic elements, language, smoking and brief sensuality
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