the home song stories

the story of an immigrant lady from hong kong and her 2 children
told by the youngest child a boy named tom and framed at start and finish by tom as an adult
who in fact is tony ayers the director who is presenting this film as an autobiography
i may have missed it but i presume the film's title relates to the mother's career as a nightclub singer
throughout the film tom is a young pre-teenage boy devoid of emotional contact
his mother rose is self-obsessed and unable to give much but demand plenty
sister may has her own struggles as a girl growing into a woman in a fairly bleak background
you can imagine the absolute clash of cultures that exists
when an immigrant chinese family lands in the middle of suburban australia in the 1970's
though the focus of the film really is on the family's own problems
and not any imposed on them by their surroundings and people they encounter
rose brought her family to melbourne because she met and subsequently married an australian sailor
and the family starts out living with bill and his mother and this provides their one anchor point
for most of the film we are on the move as rose stumbles from one disaster to another
dragging her children along from bad to worse accomodation arrangements
as a parallel to this we see rose attempting suicide on more than one occassion
leaving her children to survive as best they can in their relatively hostile environment
luckily there are a couple of heroes in bill and later boyfriend joe who both do their best to provide
all in all it's a fairly uncomfortable journey they and we are on
there's not much happiness or joy in this film
for even the failsafe of family love is stretched and tested to the limit
i particularly felt for the boy who really just yearned for just one friend inside or outside the family
i'm sure any woman watching this film would feel the same way for his older sister
who likewise really just needed someone who could help steer her through her puberty
maybe mothers would similarly relate to rose and all the problems she had to face
so in that sense the film has a lot to offer as various reference points are available
i must admit at various times throughout the film i sat watching
thinking we're going round in circles here as the point was hammered home
fairly repetitively and i sense mainly to fill the story out to feature film length
the director tries to mix it up with some strange and almost annoying dream sequences
and there are some quite well presented flashbacks to the mother country
the film eventually finds it's way to it's inevitable conclusion
i really tried to like this film and in a way i did out of respect for the story
it is quite a bleak film and almost depressing in it's honesty and likely reality
most interesting though is the respective careers that may and tom take on
not wanting to spoil the ending for anyone
but the most touching scene in the whole film
is the last one