Grand Tour
Directed by Miguel Gomes
Written by Telmo Churro, Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes, and Mariana Ricardo
Starring Gonçalo Waddington and Crista Alfaiate
Unrated
Runtime: 2 hours and 8 minutes
In select theaters starting March 28th and streaming on MUBI starting April 18th

by Andrea Schmidt, Staff Writer

Shot primarily in beautiful black and white, Miguel Gomes’ genre hopping film bridges over a century of time across East Asia. A critique of the colonial project, the film shifts between 1918 and contemporary East Asia, often mixing the two time periods. The plot of the film begins with a madcap travelogue: Posted in Burma (now Myanmar), British government official Edward (Gonçalo Waddington, bridging swoon and goofy like a modern-day Cary Grant), awaits the arrival of his fiancée Molly (the magnetic Crista Alfaiate) after a seven-year engagement. With no explanation, he decides to flee his fiancée via a boat to Singapore. However, shortly after his arrival, he receives a telegram from Molly informing him that she has followed him to the city. What follows is a Grand Tour of East Asia, as Edward goes from country to country with his fiancée on his heels. At about the half-way point of the film, the narrative focus shifts to Molly, as she encounters adventures of her own. The ridiculousness of the plot and characters reflect the absurdity of dying colonial empires trying to hold onto their last vestiges of power. The use of anachronistic references draws parallel with the present day. Near a massive jungle trainwreck, a character picks a smartphone (purveyor of instant and constant disinformation) out of the grass.

At the same time, the film highlights technology and artistry as potential vectors of human connection. The film opens with a color sequence, a nod to one of the predecessors of the “cinema of attractions,” a carnival ride. The gondolas flip past, mimicking film frames on a reel. It's thrilling to spot the local carnival crew on the wheel beams, contorting themselves as they draw on physics to power the machine. The film will constantly revisit references to movement, theatrics, and the compression of time—all informative towards the development of cinema itself. Edward tries to make his escape via steam train, with many of the shots mimicking early cinematic depictions of the then relatively new technology. Burmese marionettes and shadow puppetry make an appearance throughout, with artists acting out the love stories of ancient gods and local wild birds.

All of the performances are wonderful, particularly Crista Alfaiate, whose charming Molly channels the screw-ball comedy heroine. She guffaws at the cold-feet of her seven-year fiancé. Gonçalo Waddington plays Edward in such a way that his decision to abandon mystifies, but one cannot help but still find him likeable. Lang Khe Tran, playing Ngoc, adds a layer of complexity to a supporting character. (The second half of the story really benefited from the performances of these two actresses, both very charismatic onscreen.) Cláudio da Silva plays a potential love interest to Molly with an air of quiet resignation.

I would be lying if I said I did not struggle at times with the obliqueness of Gomes’s cinema. A decade ago, I unfortunately did fall asleep at a screening of the hypnotic Arabian Nights Part 1. Yet, at the point where I felt Tour teetering on the brink of frustrating self-indulgence, a directorial or actor artistic choice would bring it back into the realm of the engaging. The film makes use of multilingualism in such a way that it subtly denotes the shifts in location, as well as the reinforcement of colonialist power structures. Move over, the film has a knack for capturing transcendent moments of performance, whether via his diegetic characters, the many dance and theater artists depicted, or even amateur karaoke singers. A man belting out “My Way” at a restaurant and then collapsing into sobs has to be one of the most moving moments captured on film I have seen in the longest time.

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