Movie Guide: Migratory Birds

Migratory Birds is another melodrama about Chinese immigrants in a Western city, but this one breaks from the genre by not being tragic. Rather, it has humorous takes on the sexual repression of Chinese people as in Ang Lee's (李安) films. When the immigrants fly between Taipei, Shanghai and Vancouver like migratory birds, how do they deal with loneliness and desire? Funny (Rene Liu), left at home in Canada brings her parents to stay with her because she feels lonely. She then meets a Canadian man, while her husband, meanwhile, makes the acquaintance of an attractive Shanghai lady, following the cliche of Taiwanese businessmen. Their affairs trigger a string of sexual problems and family crises -- grandma suspects grandpa is gay and the two teenagers on a home-stay at Funny's are trying out the forbidden fruit.