This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
Cuong is a gay nightclub owner who is in a vey happy and take relationship wit his husband Han who also performs as a drag queen in the club. They go through the usual couple banter throughout their day. One day their son Hoang comes home and announces that he wants to get married to his girlfriend , but his parents are from a conservative family and may not understand the whole family situation of theirs. Politely they ask Han to probably stay away from the home when she and her parents come to visit. The girl's father is a teacher in school and is up for promotion as the principal. Heart broken Han swallows his pride and decides to do the right thing for their son like the couple has always done. The club owner reaches out to the mother of their son to be present for this meeting, but her failure to show up forces Han to show up as Hoang's mother. Confusion and chaos follows hen the real mother also shows up. Soon the truth is revealed. After initial hesitation, the parents agree and finally the couple gets married.
The film, in my opinion, fails miserably, in portraying the anguish , the love, the sacrifices and everything that the couple has done for their son. Him asking Han, the drag queen to leave him for one night was downright disgraceful, in today's day and age. Also, I wonder how come the father doesn't bat an eyelid and they together try to do the right thing. The main couple had amazing crackling chemistry and their insecurities and cute fight is something you can imagine from any couple who has been together for so long. But in the whole process, their son, comes off as a villain, which I am guessing is to what the makers wanted to show. First of all, the actor playing the role was really bad. He had these wooden dead pan expressions on his face, which you just couldn't tell what was he thinking. So even if he felt regretful or remorse for treating the amazingly loving parents for the ay he did, there was no way the audience could know. The girls parents have some funny dialogues and those scenes were something that saved this film, besides the gay couple. The young straight couple failed miserably both as characters and as actors. The house help was a hoot and I enjoyed him a lot.
The film could have been a great opportunity to dress issues of homophobia, transphobia and educate people win a very funny way, but instead it just takes things for granted. I wish the makers modified the story from the 80s and 90s and suited it for today's times. Things would have been much better. Its Han, as the mother and the drag queen that saves this film, just about. (4/10)
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