Nhu Quynh Movies
From the director of Cyclo and The Scent of Green Papaya comes this tale of three sisters who live in close proximity in present-day Hanoi. Lien (Tran Nu Yen Khe), the youngest sister, shares an apartment with her younger brother Hai (Ngo Quang Hai) and works at a cafe run by oldest sister Suong (Nguyen Nhu Quynh). Suong is the wife of Quoc (Chu Hung), a photographer with whom she has a son. The middle sibling Khan (Le Khanh) is married to Kien (Tran Manh Cuong), a writer in the midst of finishing his first novel. Over the course of one month, the family is convened for the anniversary of the death of the sisters' mother and when reminiscing about their departed matriarch, they bring up the memory of a mysterious man who seems to have been part of their mother's past. Kien begins to look for clues about Toan's identity, and Suong reveals that she has been involved with another man. Lien is sharing sleeping quarters with her brother Hai while keeping track of her flighty boyfriend, and fantasizes about being pregnant. During their husbands' absences, Khan and Suong have a deep conversation about fidelity and reveal secrets they have kept inside for some time; when their husbands return, they begin to question their faithfulness and dedication to them. The Vertical Ray of the Sun screened at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tran Nu Yên-Khê
- 1995
This Asian melodrama, set in Vietnam during the late 1970s, follows a love affair torn asunder by social pressures and border politics. The story takes place in a small community northwestern Vietnam where the Chinese and locals have lived in harmony for many years. A-Chau is a Chinese potter. She is in love with Quang, a fisherman. Unfortunately, she is forced to marry the son of her family's benefactor Ma Cuong, a spoiled selfish brat. He is also ethnic Chinese. A-Chau protests in vain that Ma, her fiance's father, married a Vietnamese. In desperation, she and Quang elope and escape by boat. They live with a village of coral divers until A-Chau gets pregnant and must return where she bears the child. The year is 1978. When the Sino-Vietnamese border war erupts, all ethnic Chinese were exiled back to China, including A-Chau who had to leave her son with Quang. After many years, the lovers are finally reunited. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Regis Wargnier's epic about French Indochina -- from the years of French colonial imperialism to the days when American presence made itself felt and the country became known as Vietnam -- is a story of romance and separation told through the backdrop of a country in turmoil. The film centers on the relationship of the beautiful and imperious Eliane (Catherine Deneuve), a French rubber-plantation owner, and Camille (Linh Dan Pham), her adopted Indochinese daughter. The mother and daughter are very close until a diffident naval officer, Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez) enters their lives. Eliane is in love with him, but Jean-Baptiste and Camille become attracted to each other and fall in love. Thinking that she is doing Camille a favor, Eliane arranges to have Jean-Baptiste transferred to the far-away Tonkin Islands. But Camille flees the plantation to go to the man she loves. As she travels the country, she gains a greater knowledge and respect for the people of her homeland. When the government tears her from Jean-Baptiste and their infant child and arrests her for crimes against the state, she becomes politicized and becomes a supporter of the communists in the country's civil war. As the country rocks in turmoil, Eliane becomes a personification of France, coolly walking amid her peasant workers, neither bowed nor afraid, grimly looking westward. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Perez, (more)
