I don't know you well, but if we did and hung out outside of Imdb, I'd bet bet you love eating, acting and singing as much as I do, and will enjoy this charming new musical comedy:
"IN THE KITCHEN OF THE N'GUYEN" is not just a fun escapade, as it spins the tale and struggles of 30'some newcomer to watch Clotilde Chevalier, a plump both expressive or stonefaced aspiring Musical actress forced to come home to her mother's vietnamese family restaurant in the PARIS suburbs: "You are jobless, husbandless, old and can't cook" shoots Mrs. N'Guyen, a frail tough widow, intent on fixing most of these perceived failures (starting with an hilarious matrimonial-candidate, homeboy and karaoke fan Dr Georges Tek) plus enforcing on her only daughter both boat people guilt-feelings and Vietnamese diaspora-roots..."Then why did you & dad call me Yvonne, like General De Gaulle's wife?" - "Well it was the only french name that sounded vietnamese, like Van, that we could pronounce".
Yvonne's reconnects with old friends and foes, gets by singing advertising in the local mall dressed up as the "Queen of Nems", and goes on hunting musical castings dowtown, until she chances on The big opportunity: a competitive stage selection, the opening of a new life or of an old dilemma?
This small budget and gay friendly gem is closer to 1998's "Jeanne and the Perfect Guy" than Demy's "Les demoiselles de Rochefort" or the Hollywood extravaganzas "Singing in the Rain" or "La La Land" , but it hits all the right and musical buttons. It is the 1st feature film of talented and ecclectic actor-director Stéphane Ly Cuong, who this same year played a small part in "Emilia Perez" and co-penned arthouse hit "A Winter in Sokcho" (a sensitive feminine/parenthood drama set in Korea).
"Dans la cuisine des N'Guyen" won several Comedy-Festivals (Vevey, etc), was released in France on march 23, and will come out in other countries such as Italy (this summer after premiering at the Pompei International Film Fest).
