Tigertail

From Alan Yang (Master of None) comes Tigertail; due on Netflix April 10th, the upcoming feature focuses on a Taiwanese factory worker’s move stateside. It’s an intergenerational drama—Grover (Tzi Ma) moves stateside and grows up unsure of this decision, having left his love and home in Taiwan. His daughter, Angela (Christine Ko), appears to be going through a parallel struggle.

The musical selections for this trailer, perhaps unsurprisingly, seem to reflect both these two characters and the generations they represent, in addition to the compare and contrast approach taken to life in Taiwan in the past and in America in the present. The first song, “Heartbreaker” by Yao Su Rong, is a late-60s hit by one of Taiwan’s first pop stars and perhaps the most famous one from the 1960s. As they often deal with love and sadness, many of Yao Su Rong’s songs were banned due to the martial rule of Chiang Kai Shek (which ended in 1975). All this is to say that the choice of song is very much steeped in the milieu and context of the film’s story. It also carries symbolism in the sense that the music clearly borrows heavily from the US’ popular music of the day.

If the first musical selection is a fair representation of Grover and his struggle, origins, and story, then “Love Peas” by College (featuring Chinese singer Hama) focuses squarely on Angela. The 2017 track by the French synth artist (David Grellier, going by the stage name College) is part of a record named after and inspired by Shanghai. While not Taiwanese, there’s clearly a Chinese focus here as well with Hama featuring on the track. The atmospheric nature of the music is both contemporary in feel while also complementing the flashback montage, which seems to alternate between Grover’s earlier life and the present moment.

These musical selections, which more or less play as a single, uninterrupted backing track each and with about equal time allotted, closes out at the 1:32 mark when Grover reveals to Angela that he has much to tell her—and the trailer quietly closes out.

In this case, less is more as the focus of the family drama is reinforced by two well-chosen songs and a tight, practically 1:30 run time versus the typical two-minute-twenty-second trailer. While most of the target audience would at least detect the Chinese lyrics of the first song and get a general sense of past versus present between the first and second selections, some will also understand the significance of choosing a song by Yao Su Rong, in particular. It’s this sense of progressive disclosure—working well for most of the public, working even better for some—that makes for great musical selections in trailers, and with the trailer for Tigertail that sensibility is well demonstrated.

— Curtis Perry