The Home Song Stories, based on a true story, stars Joan Chen as Rose. Joan Chen was born into a family of doctors and educated in China during Mao’s era. Chen is considered the Elizabeth Taylor of China and delivers a powerful performance in this movie, which won a slew of foreign awards. Rose is a lost soul with two children who moves to Australia after marrying an Australian sailor she meets in Hong Kong.
It is late in the 1960s and the Australian sailor turns out to be an admirable character. You would have to see the movie to discover why.
Later in the movie, it is revealed that at sixteen Rose was sold to become a concubine for an older man. Rose fell in love with her master’s younger brother, an artist, and they run off. A few years later, the love of Rose’s life dies from tuberculosis. To survive, Rose becomes a night-club singer who takes a string of lovers. The story is told from the son’s point of few, who is a child. Rose’s daughter is a teen for most of the movie.
I couldn’t find copies of The Home Song Stories in the US but did find copies on ebay from Australia. It’s too bad this movie did not gain wider attention in the US.
Discover more Chinese movies, Not One Less
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.
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