Tony Ayres Movies

An 11 year old girl from a broken home strikes up an unexpected friendship with her Alzheimic grandfather in this earnest family drama starring John Hurt. When Lou's father walked out on his wife and three daughters, the sensitive young girl withdrew from the world. Convinced that her mother was to blame for driving her father away, Lou (Lily Bell-Tindley) constructed an impenetrable emotional wall and vowed never to let anyone in. Just then, Lou's mother announces that her estranged father Doyle (Hurt) has been stricken with Alzheimer's disease, and is coming to stay with the family. When Doyle absentmindedly begins mistaking Lou for his late, beloved wife, the damaged girl senses an opportunity to use her grandfather as a tool to strike back against her mother. But the more time Lou spends with Doyle, the more her vindictive impulses dissolve into genuine affection and concern for her forgetful grandfather. In time, Lou discovers the incredible healing power of love in the last place she ever expected to. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A combination of circumstance and poor life choices turn to young children into the caretakers for their unstable mother in writer/director Tony Ayres' semi-autobiographical family drama. As aging writer Tom (Darren Yap) sits down to pen a screenplay detailing his life story, memories quickly transport him to the Shanghai nightclub where his single mother Rose (Joan Chen) would captivate Western servicemen. A beautiful thrush with a magnificent voice, Rose eventually packed up children Tom (Joel Lok) and May (Irene Chen) and set off for Australia after accepting a marriage proposal from Melbourne sailor Bill (Steven Vidler). When the relationship between Rose and Bill withered after just one week, the mother set her sights on Sydney. In the following seven years, Rose and her two young children would bounce between a series of "uncles" as stability continued to elude the trio. Though desperate Rose would eventually return to Melbourne with her children and attempt to rekindle her relationship with Bill, that too would eventually result in failure when the impulsive woman entered into a heated affair with local restaurant employee Joe (Qi Yuwu). Enraged when younger lover Joe takes note of May's blossoming beauty, Rose once again begs Bill's forgiveness though his generosity finally seems to have been exhausted. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi