My Review of "Tigertail"

We all have stories and this is a story about one man's personal journey to immigrate to the United States. I for one think that a few Asian families can relate to this story. There are layers to this story that aren't really talked about in Asian families. I think the makers of this movie made a bold decision in discussing those things. It's a exploration of duty, love and passing along our characteristics to the next generation.

The movie starts with a little boy named Grover. His family is quite poor and he's left to live with his grandparents at an early age at a farm in Taiwan. He is later reunited with his mother and they live in a little shack together. Each day he would work with his mother in some sort of factory barely making a living. He and his mother have a great relationship as she is often showing him off to her friends in the factory.

Grover is an enthusiastic kid and has big dreams of moving over to the United States and having his mother move with him not having to work anymore. I guess that's generally the big dreams of many would be immigrants. He truly thinks that the US is where his dreams will come true.

Along the way he meets a beautiful girl named Yuan. He falls for this woman but worries that she comes from a rich family and he won't be able to live up to her family's standards. Regardless of his thoughts he continues to pursue her and she falls for him as well.

Just when they've come to accept one another, Grover is approached by his boss at the factory. He wanted someone to marry his daughter and thought Grover was the right guy for her. It's been Grover's life long dream to move to the US so he agrees to marry Zhenzhen, the factory boss' daughter.

They get to America and all is not what he expected. The two are isolated because of the language barrier and they don't know anyone in America. Fortunately, they were able to live with each other long enough to have children to raise but eventually the two would end in a divorce.

This movie explores how Grover's sense of duty didn't do him any good. What he thought was good for everyone ended up making him miserable and holds the world in contempt. He specifically has made it extremely tough on his daughter. Now his daughter lives in a similar situation and he tries to get her to think of what's good for her but what's good for her might be a repetition of his mistakes in the past.

Many Asian families in the past have had stoic and silent parent that barely talk about the past. We always forget how difficult it is for some parents to go back in their past to share their thoughts with their children especially when they've lived through war times or extreme poverty. They also forget that their children do want to know about these things.

I think it was a little lucky that Grover's daughter Angela was able to speak Mandarin and Taiwanese to understand him. Generally that's not usually the situation with next generation Asians. They tend to be assimilated to North America and lose their native language. This would have been an entirely different story should that have happened.

Still I thought it was an interesting take on first generation Asian immigrants coming to America. It's not going to resonate to everyone because not everyone realizes that a lot of Asian parents are actually like Grover. Many of their stories aren't passed down and it's a shame.

Overall, I really liked this story because it really resonated with me and I could understand what the filmmakers were doing. It was a great to see them try to make up a story for one of millions of Asian families. Who knows how many Grover's are out there. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. I was enamored with the story but I don't think a lot of people would be able to relate. It's not a movie I could recommend to everyone but I'm glad I felt represented in this movie.