'Tigertail'

The American immigrant story does not follow a straight upward trajectory. It is not all pain and suffering in the old country, nor is it the land of milk and honey upon arrival on these shores.

Director and writer Alan Yang makes this point in a somber and wistful fashion in Tigertail, the story of a Taiwanese immigrant reflecting on lost love and a broken marriage after a trip home for the funeral of his mother.

Yang’s background is in comedy. He was a producer and writer for Parks and Recreation, and more recently was the less heralded half of the creative force behind Master of None. Such serious, soulful fare might not seem like a natural fit, but if you have seen Master of None, this won’t be much of a surprise. Yang has been bringing some much-needed emotion, nuance, and texture to the immigrant experience for awhile.

Yang casts Tzi Ma as Grover, the patriarch reflecting on his past. He is almost comically distant from his family in the present day - divorced from his wife, emotionally inaccessible to his daughter. There would not be much of a film here were it not for the flashbacks - it’d mostly be Ma sipping tea alone in his apartment, all shot in cool blue hues.

But the flashbacks brighten the frame and the story. We get a glimpse of Grover hiding from patrolling troops as a young boy. We see him again working at a factory with his mother. And yet again blowing off steam after a shift with his agemates. America is not a central fixture in these scenes. A girl he keeps meeting is. When he is suddenly able to gain passage, he decides to go less because of his determination and more because of opportunism. And he must make the fateful decision to leave that girl behind.

That is not to say that the flashbacks make this anything but a melancholic depiction of the immigrant’s tale. Grover’s ticket to America hinges on an arranged marriage that leaves him personally unhappy and unfulfilled. He might be a professional success, but the personal failings cast a shadow long enough to color his present.

Tigertail is gloomy for most of its runtime, but it ends on a more hopeful note - one that connects all Grover has learned to the next generation. Perhaps more than anything else it cements Ma as someone who should continue to get more leading man material. He was great in The Farewell, and he carries the emotion of this film. What a revelation.