In an old house in Hanoi, several generations of a Vietnamese family live. There is the grandfather who has returned from abroad, the unmarried sister yearning to find a husband and lusting after one of her high school students, the young boy who likes to wander through nearby fields. The idea that behind the order of a family structure lie a lot of frustrations (sexual and otherwise) and unbridled passions is common to many movies (from the West or from Asia). Some of it reminds me of the early films of Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang (though the movie is nowhere as scabrous). The movie has some sexual scenes, which are reportedly unusual in Vietnamese films. It includes some nifty shots of busy, hustling Hanoi. In the end, the movie is interesting but a bit undeveloped. Though the movie is unquestionably artistically ambitious, it not always delivers.
Review of Bi, dung so!
