Diary of a Mad Old Man

This captivating chamber drama from versatile auteur Wayne Wang (last at the Festival with 2019’s Coming Home Again) draws us into the troubled psyche of an aging widower whose sudden onset of disability coincides with the development of an unnervingly intimate relationship. Featuring a brilliantly graded performance by veteran actor Lily Franky (familiar to TIFF audiences from Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters and Chie Hayakawa’s Renoir), this adaptation of revered Japanese author Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s eponymous novel ushers us into a realm of beguiling signals and unruly desire.

The night before his 69th birthday, Utsugi (Franky) had a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body. Since then, he’s been cared for by his sister-in-law Hana (Yūki Kudō, star of Jim Jarmusch’s cult classic and TIFF ’89 Official Selection Mystery Train) and his daughter-in-law Susu (Fan Bingbing, TIFF ’16’s I Am Not Madame Bovary). When the family is set to go on holiday for the summer, Utsugi insists on staying home — with Susu as his sole caregiver. While Utsugi believes his stroke has reduced him to a wretched state, he becomes convinced that Susu is flirting with him. Left alone together, Utsugi and Susu bond over suspicions, extravagances, and increasingly erotic gestures.

As evidenced in beloved films such as Smoke and TIFF ’93’s The Joy Luck Club, Wang expertly stages tales of unlikely alliances and complicated family dynamics. With Diary of a Mad Old Man, he’s fashioned his most delicate depiction of the schism between our inner worlds and outer realities.

Content advisory: mature themes