Lilting - Hong Khaou

"Coming out" seems like so 1999, and there are thousand and thousand LGBT-themed movies about that. Lilting is really a simple story, I can't really say much without giving anything away. It's about coming out and it's not about coming out. The choice of focusing the story on the mother (Cheng Pei Pei) and her deceased son's secret lover (Ben Whishaw) is some what weirdly captivating. It's also interesting because they don't have a common tongue, they couldn't understand each other, they couldn't communicate. So how this relationship works? (I guess you have to find it out yourself.)

It is a really slow paced movie, nothing much happened visibly. Khaou brought something fresh and not often seen on the table, the prospective of a mother in a gay movie, it's not about accepting. It's more about self-realisation. The struggles within the 2 characters. Things are in the tip of your lips but you do not date to let them slip. Things that you never admit to yourself or even dare to think about it.

I am trying to compare it with other similar movies, but I couldn't think of any, despite the fact the amount of gay movies I have seen. I genuinely think there isn't anything like this in the market or even something close that has a similar approach.

Lilting is a touching debut from Hong Khaou, with brilliant actors that move us all.