A Family Tour

Alongside his companion piece "I Have Nothing to Say", Liang Ying delivers an autobiographical tale based on his own family holiday and struggles as a political filmmaker, as well as growing concerns of mainland Chinese political influence growing in Hong Kong.

Shu (Zhe Gong), a film director and lecturer, travels to Taiwan from Hong Kong with her husband Ka-ming (Pete Teo) and son. Attending a festival where her film from five years ago will be screened, the trip is a cover-up for Shu to meet with her mother Xiaolin (Nai An), still living in Shanghai - a place where Shu is unable to visit, being that she is living in a self-imposed exile in Hong Kong.

To offer Xiaolin the opportunity to meet her grandson for the first time, Shu and her family follow Xiaolin's coach tour of Kaohsiung, but at a distance to ensure their secret remains safe, so as Xiaolin will avoid interrogation from the authorities on her return to Shanghai as to her reasons for visiting Taiwan.

A natural distance, therefore, is shown, both physical and emotional, Shu not having seen her mother for five years. To start, the pair are unsure how to respond on seeing each other for the first time. Ka-ming acts more as the linking presence due to his frequent visits to see his mother-in-law; free to move between Hong Kong and Shanghai. But as the film develops, they open up more as to the complex situation. But, with Shu having difficulties getting her next project off the ground and learning that her funders have disappeared, it becomes apparent that all will not be well for Xiaolin upon her return.

Taken ill as the trip draws to an end, Xiaolin has to return to Shanghai early for treatment. Ka-ming flies back with her, but she leaves Shu knowing that it will be the last time they ever see each other.

Despite its release before "A Family Tour", "I Have Nothing to Say" shows the aftermath of the trip: Xiaolin interrogated about her visit to Taiwan. Entirely in black and white, episodes from the holiday and meeting with her daughter are shown from the mother's perspective as she reflects on them. "A Family Tour", however, is entirely in colour, with some of the exact same scenes featuring again, though more vibrant.

The colour also adds more life to the situation. "I Have Nothing to Say" is recalling memories of the trip from Xiaolin's perspective, whereas "A Family Tour" shows more angles, with more equal focus on the mother, her daughter and her son-in-law. But where its predecessor focused more on past events, "A Family Tour" has more of a future focus. Ying obviously puts his own anxieties on the table in depicting Shu's difficulties with getting her new film project made. Not having made a film for five years, she struggles to get actors to take on the film about the Umbrella Movement. Greater fears are shown in the film's backers mysteriously disappearing when in China.

Ka-ming takes a positive outlook, but Xiaolin shuts this down as Hong Konger nonsense. Ying perhaps has even greater anxieties regarding the growing influence of China in Hong Kong, having experienced difficulties himself. The film Shu is in Taiwan to screen is Ying's own 2012 film "When Night Falls" - the film which led to his exile in Hong Kong after angering the authorities. There is, therefore, a lot of Ying in this film: based on a trip he took with his in-laws to Taiwan, with Shu's situation reflecting his own.

Taiwan is shown as a nice medium - a happier place with its independence - but "A Family Tour" isn't too heavy-handed in its politics, despite being present throughout. There is still a story of a divided family being shown, with Ka-ming almost serving as a link between the two women, and seemingly having a better relationship with his mother-in-law than his wife does with her own mother. To start, her grandson is cold towards Xiaolin. But by the film's conclusion, he is happy to sit with her and pose for photos, which he refused on first arriving in Taiwan. The tour guides also offer some comedy and light-relief to stop it getting too bogged-down in politics.

Despite coming after "A Family Tour" chronologically, "I Have Nothing to Say" acts as a good appetiser, giving a brief glimpse before the main event sheds more light on the journey, but also serves as a reminder that in making this trip some people believe Ying has a lot to answer for.