Cade’s Review of: “Tigertail”

Cades+Review+of%3A+Tigertail

Cade Campbell, Writer

Tigertail. A film by the infamous Alan Yang, who worked on Master of None and Parks and Recreation. This 2020 Netflix film was extremely heartfelt, but in a way that wasn’t expected. The film’s opening scene in the rice fields of Taiwan in the 1950s was a near perfect scene to get to know the little boy, Pin-Jui. 

 

The film travels back and forth through time, and although it is a little confusing at first, after a good 15-20 minutes it’s easy to comprehend and it definitely successfully highlights the parallels in the story. What helps to signify what is present day and what is not is the fact that the present day scenes are clear, great quality, while the scenes that take place in the past are grainy and feel a little bit older. A smart and unique choice for flashbacks. 

 

The cinematography itself is quite great. There wasn’t anything too unique or attention grabbing but some shots did signify certain emotions and capture a certain feeling that wouldn’t have been able to be captured otherwise. The script wasn’t spectacularly written and an over-dependence on voiceover made the film more bland than it should have been. Most of what was said on a voice-over could’ve been shown or interpreted in the film. 

 

The film was a very emotional story, and although, surprisingly, tears did not touch my eyes, the movie did touch my heart. The film’s width of emotion was a surprise. It covered difficult choices that truly did have a consequence on the rest of his life, and how he chose not to grieve over everything he had lost, because that’s what he was taught. Pin-Jui’s dream was to move to America from Taiwan, but doing so required great sacrifices, and even after he moved, life was not what he expected. But it was too late to turn back. He wasn’t that type of guy anyway. All his life he just worked and worked and worked. That who he is. A guy that just wants to make things work. A guy that works, no matter if he’s 20 or 50. 

 

The film also covers how that type of guy affects his home life. He strives to do his best in everything, and he puts that same expectation on his kids. He’s always working so he’s not at home with his family when he should be. He doesn’t know how to express his emotions, because of the way he grew up and what he had sacrificed in the past. He put a strain on his relationship with everyone, and that’s one thing he never cared to work on. Except that we get to see him try to do that. Try to establish those. He’s not trying to redeem himself, but he’s trying to fix things while they can still be fixed. 

 

This story, based loosely upon Alan Yang’s own life, as well as his father’s hit in areas that were unexpected. The story overall was emotional and soulful, but there was no specific scene that showed a large dose of emotion or heartiness or sadness. The scene’s themselves were kind of bland, in a way, except when Pin-Jui was always eating. He was always eating alone in his later years, and the film did a great job portraying that loneliness through the camera without a word ever being said. 

 

Tigertail was good. It truly was. A good movie with a good story, but nothing screamed EXCELLENT on screen. It was attempting to be a movie that really hit home, that really struck it deep, but I didn’t have anything deep in it. It was difficult to feel much for the character’s and some scenes even felt forced when it was trying to be emotional, which ultimately hurts the acting and the writing. 

 

This movie was good, but a bit too watered down. Just a bit too much water in the vase to make it look pretty enough.