Whew – two weeks of awesome and interesting movies at the Vietnamese International Film Festival. I attended quite a lot of movies and days (and spent way too much money – how come they don’t have a fixed-price all-unlimited festival pass?). Here are the films I’ve seen and my opinion about them (beware of spoilers):
Sad Fish by Le Van Kiet
Le Van Kiet’s second feature film was an interesting experimental improv movie, where much of the lines and screenplay were made up and negotiated on the fly by the actors and actresses. Many of the actors and actresses played very out-of-character roles. The best and realistic performance I thought was still the mother trying to cope with her son’s homosexuality.
Days on the Shore by Alfred Nguyen
Whoa—this was my vote for best short film at the entire festival. It’s an anime piece of arts unlike any other you have seen in the Vietnamese film industry. Comprised of many extreme close up, diagonals, dark tones, and a tense scene that keeps you so focused, this short anime depicts the escape of Vietnamese boat people from Vietnam and an encounter with a Vietnamese communist boat out at the ocean. Almost every other frame could be made into an aesthetic print ready to put into a gallery -- it’s an absolute masterpiece comparable to the Animatrix series, but at only 8 minutes, you only wished that this would be a full-length feature film. I am looking forward to see more of Alfred Nguyen’s work!
Blindness Series by Tran, T. Kim-Trang
“kore” and “operculum” are two very abstract art films that explores the eyes, desire, sexual fear, cosmetic surgery. They are rather old movies (from the mid 90s), and just a bit too abstract for me. It’s one of those artsy films that make you go “huh?” at the end.
Never Perfect by Regina Park
Regina Park chronicles a Vietnamese American’s choice of doing eye lid surgery, and the background behind this. I very much enjoyed watching this documentary, and found it very revealing for the subject matter to explain her family background, her choice to undergo yet another cosmetic surgery and her before and after reaction. I commend Regina’s work in trying to be neutral on this matter.
It’s Also a Life by Nguyen Dinh Thang
This was more a slideshow by a non-profit (Boat People SOS) asking for people’s help in uncovering the truth about the plight of migrant workers. With some apparently secret footage shot at the factories, we witness the inhumane brutality by which these migrant workers are first victimized by their employers in their host country, and the secondly victimized again by the Vietnamese government when an investigation was called. Lastly, as these migrant workers were rescued and returned to Vietnam, they were interrogated yet again in Vietnam. It’s a shocking, and heart-wrenching reality documentary that makes you sad and angry at the same time.
Match Made by Mirabelle Ang
Mirabelle Ang chronicles a Taiwanese man’s journey to Vietnam to utilize a Taiwanese-based marriage service/mail-order bride. The documentary was highly interesting, as one hears about this all the time, but never has this been revealed so publicly in a documentary. We witness the bizarre scene of a soon-to-be-groom sitting in a hotel room filtering out his bride from a group of women like choosing clothes. Unfortunately due to a screening problem at the film festival, we all missed the last 20 minutes of this documentary – but I have heard that the ending had an interesting twist. Hm.. must find another screening of this.
The Finished People by Khoa Do
My vote for best full-length feature film at the entire festival goes to Khoa Do’s “The Finished People”. Khoa’s first full-length film about the “finished people” in the Australia then-ghetto Cabramatta, those with no homes, jobs or decent future. Shot almost entirely with real-life “finished people”, it’s captivating and human and from the QA Khoa described how many of the finished people he originally casted went on and worked with him on future film projects. That’s really cool! Very well acted for non-actors!
When Autumn Sunlights Comes by Bui Trung Hai
This 2007 movie from Vietnam tells the story of a Hanoi graduate student intertwined between two relationships, family dynamics and the decisions and problems he faces. Albeit just being two years old, the choice of music, script and quality somehow just wasn’t up to par (I have seen much better movies from Vietnam).
All About Dad by Mark Tran
One of the most refreshing Vietnamese movies I have seen in the past. It’s a very funny, refreshing story of how a Vietnamese father handles the different situation as his children are not growing up to be the persons he wants them to. It’s a well-done and well-acted comedy that will speak to many Vietnamese Americans growing up here in the United States.
(I already reviewed Audience Award-winning “Operation Babylift” in an earlier post, and saw “Footy Legends” and “Oh, Saigon” at another film festival before and reviewed it there).