I'm Just Lilting

I heart Ben Wishaw.  

I desperately wanted to save him as Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited, fell hopelessly in love with him as Freddie Lyon in The Hour and felt the intensity of his suffering as John Keats in Bright Star. The genuinity of this wonderful man's character portrayals are evidence of his infinite ability to evoke in his audience, such vivid and lasting emotions. For me, he is an artistic genius and he isn't half bad on the eye either. 

So after a friend told me about his latest film Lilting, which hit the big screen (well, independent cinemas) earlier this year, I knew that I had to check it out. 

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Ben Wishaw plays Richard, a young man who is struggling to come to terms with his lover, Kai's recent death in a tragic road accident. In order to somehow deal with the loss he finds himself facing, Richard hires a translator to ignite the fires of communication between his deceased lover's elderly Cambodian-Chinese mother, Junn and her English OAP beau. However, beneath this generous deed is Richard's burning desire to connect with Junn, who he feels is his last remaining association to Kai. 

This tastefully low-budget creation deals impeccably with the intertwining themes of love (both young and old), language, the clash of cultures and memories. Ben of course lived up to all expectations, playing Richard with both vulnerability and irony, however what I particularly enjoyed about this was the very anti-hollywood ending. Though both Richard's and Junn's misconceptions about each other are gradually resolved, there is no dramatic finale   depicting the protagonists' newly formed bond, but simply a sense of realisation of the love and loss that they mutually feel.

If you too fancy seeing Ben in action, you can watch Lilting on the Curzon Home Cinema online.