Published in Rolling Stone magazine, March 2008 issue
The Home Song Stories – directed by Tony Ayres
The cross-cultural experience that comes with moving across oceans is never easy and often confusing, as Tony Ayres shows in his gripping and profoundly personal drama The Home Song Stories.
Based on Ayres’ own childhood, the AFI award-winning film (including best actress, best director, best screenplay, best cinematography and best music score) is the story of Rose (Joan Chen), a promiscuous Shanghaian singer who moves to 1960s Melbourne with her two children, sixteen-year-old May (Irene Chen) and ten-year-old Tom (Joel Lok), to marry navy nice-guy Bill (Steven Vidler). Upon arrival, Rose begins an affair with a young Chinese waiter, Joe (Yuwu Qi), sending the family on a whirlwind descent into a web of deceit, betrayal and a very twisted kind of love.
Narrated through the writing of a now adult Tom, the dynamics of the Chinese-Australian experience unfold with heartbreaking precision as the children become trapped between cultures and Rose within herself. It’s harrowing to watch Joan Chen disintegrate into Rose’s destructive lifestyle, and eleven-year-old Lok is a skilled master of pathos as he hammers his woeful glances into the camera lens.
With outstanding performances and shocking turns, Ayres has crafted a disturbing family portrait that also serves as testament to the ultimate ability to rise above all adversity.
