French-Chinese co-production The Nightingale sees writer director Philippe Muyl adapt his 2002 film, The Butterfly, transporting it to the bustling city of Beijing and the calm and quiet of rural southwestern China.
Zhigen is an elderly Chinese farmer who, in order to fulfill the promise made to his deceased wife, journeys back to his home village with the titular bird and his reluctant granddaughter Renxing in tow.
As the daughter of Zhigen’s successful son Chongyi and his businesswoman wife Qianying, Renxing has grown up in the lap of luxury and is spoilt, pampered and consistently attached to her iPad, providing a substantial generation gap separating her and her grandfather from their shared roots.
The Nightingale follows a recognisable road movie structure, tracking as it does the relationship of the two lead characters as they grow closer emotionally the further they travel geographically. What separates this film from others of the genre however is a combination of beautiful cinematography and nuanced character development. Muyl has crafted a beautiful gem of a film: touching, heartwarming and refreshingly genuine.
