LILTING ****

"Lilting" is one of the great LGBT films; more significantly it's just a great film, faultless in both the writing and direction from first-time director Hong Khaou and in the performances. It's very funny and also deeply moving. Richard, (Ben Wishaw), and Kai, (Andrew Leung), are lovers. Richard is English and Kai is Chinese but then Kai is killed in an accident and Richard attempts to channel his grief by meeting with Kai's mother, Junn (Pei-Pei Cheng), who doesn't speak any English while he doesn't speak Mandarin so he hires a young translator Vann, (Naomi Yang), to help them communicate. However, Junn has also embarked on a relationship with Alan, (Peter Bowles), a fellow inmate of the home she lives in so Vann finds herself doing overtime in her translating duties.

This is a very simple movie about communication, about grief and about love that moves back and forth in time so we also get to meet the dead Kai and it could have been grim or sentimental but that's not Khaou's style and there's a great deal of comedy on view though fundamentally it's the relationship between Richard and Junn that gives the film its heart. The performances from everyone are excellent but Wishaw and Cheng are outstanding and for a film in two languages it's the moments of silence that are the most affecting. This isn't just a great feature debut but one of the best British films of recent years.