Owl and the Sparrow (2007)

In modern-day Saigon, three lonely strangers form a unique family as a ten-year old orphan plays matchmaker to a zookeeper and a beautiful flight attendant.

Director:

Stephane Gauger

Writer:

Stephane Gauger

Stars:

Cat Ly, The Lu Le, Han Thi Pham

7 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Cat Ly	...	Lan
The Lu Le	...	Hai
Han Thi Pham	...	Thuy
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Trong Hai	...	The Captain
Pham Thi Han	...	Thuy
Nguyen Hau	...	Uncle Minh
Teresa Michelle Lee	...	Bartender
Hoang Long	...	Soup boy
Bui Thi Noan	...	Orphan director
Danvy Pham	...	Dancer
Thi Han Phan	...	Thuy
Nguyen Kim Phuong	...	Phuong
Le Nguyen Vu	...	The magician

Storyline

A child's resilience and the kindness of strangers. Thuy is 10, an orphan, working in her uncle's factory outside Saigon. He berates her constantly, so she runs away to Saigon. Over five days, we watch her survive on the streets selling flowers, while her uncle looks for her. She encounters Hai, a reserved zoo-keeper whose fiancée has jilted him. She also sells a flower to Lan, a flight attendant in the city for a layover, unlucky in love, who buys dinner for Thuy and offers her a place to stay that night. Thuy, who thinks of Lan as a sparrow and Hai as an owl, determines to bring them together. If she succeeds, then what; and what about her uncle?

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Plot Keywords:

saigon | stranger | orphan | flight attendant | matchmaker | 

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Taglines:

An orphan girl plays matchmaker to a flight attendant and lonely zoo keeper.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements and some smoking

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Film had its world premier at 2007 Rotterdam Film Festival

User Reviews

A moving story

The Owl and Sparrow is a great effort of a Viet Kieu.

It's a moving story of a 10 year old orphan who ran away from her cold-hearted uncle to the hustle and bustle of Saigon and ended up making friends with a flight attendant and a zoo keeper. One was stuck in relationship with the captain who was married. One locked himself up in the world of animals trying to get over his ex girlfriend. In the middle of an 8 million populated city, they found each other.

The beginning of the movie is a little bit too unnecessarily shaky and hard to watch but it gets better as the story goes on. The dialogues are fairly good for a script written by a half Vietnamese American though there are lines that are a bit unnatural.

The film looks like a documentary which makes it real and lively. Honestly if I hadn't read about the movie and downloaded it, I would have thought it was a pure Vietnamese film made by a Vietnamese filmmaker.

I would not say much about the leading actors and actresses as for a film like this, their acting is probably enough to make the story believable.

Owl and Sparrow is not some kind of a must see but would be interesting to those who are an expat in Vietnam, used to live in Vietnam or has any relation to this lovely country.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Vietnam USA

Language:

Vietnamese

Release Date:

2 August 2008 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Cinco días en Saigón

Filming Locations:

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,475, 18 January 2009

Gross USA:

$47,071

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$170,324

Company Credits

Production Co:

Annan Pictures, Annam Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1