The Nightingale

Philippe Muyl's 2013 Chinese-French co-production, a sweet and simple tale of generational reconciliation, was selected as China's official entry to the 2015 Oscars. The story begins in modern-day Beijing, where a yuppie couple is raising a precocious, demanding daughter named Renxing (Xinyi Yang). The husband is estranged from his father Zhu (Baotian Li), who once lost track of his granddaughter during a visit to an outdoor market, but a crisis arises when both parents are called away on business trips, and the wife arranges for the old man to take charge of the girl. Granddad Zhu, however, has plans to travel to his hometown in the south, taking along the caged nightingale that he has long tended as a reminder of his dead wife, and so he brings Renxing along. Initially, Renxing is resistant to the idea of going into the wilderness, but gradually she warms to the rural beauty of the area even as their bus breaks down and they get lost. And, of course, she also develops a warm bond with the grandfather she's barely known until now. What saves The Nightingale from the pitfalls of mawkishness are Muyl's gentle, unforced direction; the charming chemistry between the two leads; and the beauty of the countryside, lovingly captured by cinematographer Sun Ming. Recommended. (F. Swietek)