2020 / 91m - USA
Drama
2.5*/5.0*
Tigertail poster

Watches

July 02, 2020

2.5*/5.0*

Alan Yang follows in the footsteps of Ang Lee and makes a drama about Taiwanese immigrants, focusing on family and relationships rather than external immigration problems. It isn't the most appealing of setups to be honest. I didn't really like the early Lee films, sadly Yang doesn't add much to what Lee had to offer 30 years ago.

The presentation is okay, though it borders on cheesy. Rather static but clean camera work, good use of colors, sadly the indoor scenes tend to look a little bland. The soundtrack is somewhat disappointing too, and so are the performances. Tzi Ma is on point, but clearly outclasses the rest of the cast.

The drama simply wasn't strong enough to make me care. The melancholy of the flashbacks didn't really grab me and Ma's current problems were rather pedestrian. Yang doesn't do enough to add the necessary intrigue to the characters, which results in a decent, but derivative and forgettable drama.