Perhaps it’s because “The Family Tour” is semi-autobiographical that this intelligently affecting story of exile and displacement is Ying Liang’s most highly polished film to date. Or more likely, it’s because the five years since his previous feature, “When Night Falls,” have matured his already well-honed aesthetic. Dating back to his powerful 2006 debut “Taking Father Home,” the dissident director has been casting a sharp, unflattering light on Chinese society deformed by decades of Party rule. Currently in exile himself after running afoul of the government, Ying has externalized his conflicted feelings of disconnection in this story of an independent mainland filmmaker living in Hong Kong who can only meet up with her mother in Taiwan, where she has booked her on a strictly monitored tour of the island. Sensitive and surprisingly intimate given Ying’s fondness for long shots, “Family Tour” should travel widely via festival bookings.
- 8/6/2018
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
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