'Tigertail' A Review

Tigertail is a family drama about the life of Pin-Jui(Tzi Ma/Hong Chi-Lee) a Taiwanese boy who immigrates to the United States as a young man making personal sacrifices to make a better life for his family. The film opens on Pin-Jui as a young boy living with his grandparents in rural Taiwan, the film flashes forward to Pin-Jui as an old man being picked up at the airport by his estranged daughter Angela(Christine Ko). The story cuts back and forth throughout Pin-Jui's life as he reflects in old age and attempts to connect with his daughter.

Given the structure and multiple actors playing the central characters none of them are given quite enough time to really dig in. Ma is wonderful as the oldest Pin-Jui but many of his scenes are simply set up for flashbacks where he sits silently reserved. Chi-Lee as young adult Pin-Jui comes across a little green and isn't quite able to get to the nuance required but part(if not all) of that is a result of the scope of the narrative which clips through a lifetime. Both Kunjue Li and Fiona Fu as young adult and older Zhenzhen(respectively) Pin-Jui's wife-by-necessity are both wonderful and have more of an arc to play but both essentially exit the film right when their performances start to bloom. Pin-Jui's first love Yuan is played by Joan Chen and Yo-Hsing Fang who are also dynamic but again constrained by the amount of the story that's being told. The cast sound confusing? It isn't but it does hamstring the emotional umph of the film by having 8 actors play 3 characters across 60 plus years.

Alan Yang's directorial debut(also writer and producer) has scope and ambition and heart but unfortunately it's not particularly cohesive. In attempting to encompass the entire life of the main character it almost falls into the trap many biopics fall into, it becomes formulaic. Yang's talent isn't in question and here's hoping he's already working on a sophomore film. Tigertail doesn't offer much in the way of innovation or surprise but it is a thoughtful, affirming look at the Asian-American immigrant experience.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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