Re: Vietneamse movies (from my perspective)

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

> Lucky you! I think most of the movies I mentioned were from TV,
> since I didn't have money to go to the cinema very often,
> and back then I didn't like "phim tam ly xa hoi". You're quite
> right in that there is a huge difference between watching a movie
> on TV and in a real movie theater with wide screen (even without 
> air conditioner :) So what movies were you managed to watch?

There was a screening room at the "Quo^'c Doanh Pha't Ha`nh Phim
va` Chie^'u Bo'ng". All the new movies distributed to Nghe Tinh
were always shown there first for the employees of "Quo^'c Doanh...",
for free, of course. I watched so many new films at this place that
now I only vaguely remember some of them. :-)

> However, I still remember my curiosity and enthusiasm before
> each movie was shown on TV (do you guys remember the well-known
> opening little tune before the film program? 

We had no TV at the time.

> About Indian movies, I really hated them,
> even now. Overacted love stories. Well I admit that the actresses
> are often very good-looking, 

I liked some of them. Now I don't. :-) Hey, this is the same experience as
reading "Ma?nh tra(ng cuo^'i ru+`ng" ( a "beautiful" love story between a
"li'nh la'i xe" and a "em thanh nie^n xung phong") in 85 and now. Now I 
found it artificial, at the time I didn't. :-)

> I nearly cried during the movie, since
> it made me think back to some of my poignant childhood memories
> that I experienced in Vietnam. Watch it, and you will see that India
> is not much different from Vietnam, not at all!!!

If you want to be reminded of your experience in VN, how about watching 
some of the new Chinese movies, such as "Farewell, my concubine", "Blue 
Kite", "To Live", etc? 

> BTW, you can find some international movies in a real small section
> in Blockbuster, Movie Gallery or similar places. If you're lucky,
> you may catch some good stuff, but chances are you will never find
> the mentioned Russian movies. 

There are independent, small, art video-rental shops in most big cities
in the US. These places carry a lot of foreign films. If you don't know 
them, just ask your advisor or some professors who look young and "hip"
at your department. They should know such places. Chances are that you 
will find a lot of French and Japanese films, and some
Russian films at such places.

> film festival in 80-81), "Bao gio cho den thang muoi" (according to my
> mother, lots of people swept after the movies, those who lost
> some family members in the war). 

Yeah, I like "Bao gio+` cho dde^'n tha'ng mu+o+`i". Heard that the 
director, DDa(.ng Nha^.t Minh, also made some great films later, but 
don't know which. "Bao gio+` cho dde^'n tha'ng mu+o+`i, lu'a chi'n tre^n 
ca'nh ddo^`ng gio^ng ba~o", or something similar was the poem from which 
the title was borrowed.

> BTW, what was the first Vietnamese movie with a sex scene? I think it's
> a big thing in a country like ours where censorship is a king; 

Dunno. But I remember there was a shower scene in "Vu. a'n vie^n dda.n 
la.c", in which the main girl character entered the shower, took off
her T-shirt, and ... cut. Later, VNese press commented on this scene: "The
film was pretty good, but the shower scene was a "ha.t sa.n trong ba't 
co+m" :-). This was around 83, I think.

Best, Hai.