[vmovie] Chơi Vơi/ Adrift
director: Bùi Thạc Chuyên
producer: Dang Tat Binh, Claire Lajoumard
screenplay: Phan Đăng Di
camera: Lý Thái Dũng
production designer: Lã Quý Tùng
music: Hoang Ngoc Dai
setting: Hanoi in the 21th century
production company: Vietnam Feature Film 1, Acrobates Films
TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwLzzZ4QIb8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjLsVagVRVc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Ots2JHQoU
SYNOPS
Duyen gets married to Hai and she thinks she is happy, but the life of the young couple is soon dotted with flickers of emptiness. Duyen has a girlfriend—Cam, a writer. Older and secretly in love with her and troubled by the vast emptiness brought by Duyen’s marriage. To hide her real feeling—a kind of love deemed immoral by the Vietnamese society, Cam pretends to be tortured by the love for a man named Tho. On a rainy day Cam is ill, heartbroken. Duyen vitits her and Cam asks her to take a letter to Tho. This meeting allows Duyen to discover a man charged with sexual desire and uncover the voids in herself. This is the beginning of a series of plotting jealousies, involving everyone’s feelings and lives and contrasting the established traditional morality.
credit: La Benniale
CAST
Phạm Linh Đan
- Indochine (Oscar-winning French/ Vietnamese movie; César-nomination for best actress)
- The Beat That My Heart Skipped (César award for best actress)
Đỗ Hải Yến as Duyên
- The Quiet American (Golden Satellite Award nomination for best actress)
- Story of Pao (Golden Kite Award - best Vietnamese movie 2007)
Johnny Trí Nguyễn as Dũng
- Spider-Man/ Spider-Man 2 as stuntman
- The Rebel
- Power Kids/Haa Hua Jai Hero (Thai movie)
Nguyễn Duy Khoa as Hải
- winner of singer contest Sao Mai Diem Hen
- Lều chõng (historical drama 2010)
NSƯT Như Quỳnh
- Indochine
- Vertical Ray of Sun
- Les filles du botaniste
- Golden Bride (Korean drama)
PICS
Official Selection:
Venice Film Festival,
Toronto International Film Festival,
Bangkok International Film Festival,
Vancouver International Film Festival,
Pusan International Film Festival,
London Film Festival,
HongKong International Film Festival.
source: TIFF
QUOTE
Set in modern Hanoi, Adrift is a sensual, intimate and atmospheric drama about a newlywed couple that explores sexual awakening, lesbian desire and marital infidelity. These topics are still largely taboo in conservative Vietnam, but due to the country's transition from communism to a form of capitalism, the rapidly changing economic reality means a shift in social mores. Nevertheless, age-old traditions are still largely observed, especially with regard to the sacred ritual of marriage.
The film opens with the wedding of Duyen and Hai, both in their early twenties. Hai, the groom, is a taxi driver. Constantly doted on by his controlling mother, he remains pure at heart – almost childlike. The beautiful Duyen assumes her role as the wife, but it becomes clear that, though they are fond of each other, the pair have little in common. Hai's sexual inexperience also means their marriage remains unconsummated.
Duyen's best friend, Cam, is a writer. Older and wiser, she is also quietly in love with Duyen – though she knows her feelings are forbidden by society. For reasons both selfish and otherwise, she orchestrates a plan to have Duyen seduced by a man named Tho. The scheme works, but it only plunges Cam deeper into her loneliness.
Director Bui Thac Chuyen skilfully uses languid takes to highlight the emptiness and solitude of the characters, while slowly expanding the story to encompass a whole cast of fascinating personalities. Even more remarkable are the moments of sheer eroticism – all subtly executed with nary a glimpse of flesh. The top-flight cast, which includes The Quiet American's lead actress Do Thi Hai Yen, The Rebel's Jonny Tri Nguyen and Linh-Dan Phamof Indochine and The Beat That My Heart Skipped, admirably sustain the film's delicate, muted tone.
Bui, along with screenwriter Phan Dang Di and others, is leading a new artistic renaissance in Vietnamese cinema. Perhaps Adrift is just ahead in the floodgates.
The film opens with the wedding of Duyen and Hai, both in their early twenties. Hai, the groom, is a taxi driver. Constantly doted on by his controlling mother, he remains pure at heart – almost childlike. The beautiful Duyen assumes her role as the wife, but it becomes clear that, though they are fond of each other, the pair have little in common. Hai's sexual inexperience also means their marriage remains unconsummated.
Duyen's best friend, Cam, is a writer. Older and wiser, she is also quietly in love with Duyen – though she knows her feelings are forbidden by society. For reasons both selfish and otherwise, she orchestrates a plan to have Duyen seduced by a man named Tho. The scheme works, but it only plunges Cam deeper into her loneliness.
Director Bui Thac Chuyen skilfully uses languid takes to highlight the emptiness and solitude of the characters, while slowly expanding the story to encompass a whole cast of fascinating personalities. Even more remarkable are the moments of sheer eroticism – all subtly executed with nary a glimpse of flesh. The top-flight cast, which includes The Quiet American's lead actress Do Thi Hai Yen, The Rebel's Jonny Tri Nguyen and Linh-Dan Phamof Indochine and The Beat That My Heart Skipped, admirably sustain the film's delicate, muted tone.
Bui, along with screenwriter Phan Dang Di and others, is leading a new artistic renaissance in Vietnamese cinema. Perhaps Adrift is just ahead in the floodgates.
“Choi Voi” up for awards in Venice Film Fest
QUOTE
VietNamNet Bridge – After leaving two prestigious international film festivals – Venice and Toronto – Bui Thac Chuyen’s “Choi Voi” (Adrift) will go to Thailand to participate in the Bangkok International Film Festival.
At the ongoing 66th Venice International Film Festival, one of the biggest international film festivals in the world, “Choi Voi” or “Adrift” was nominated for the Orizzonti Award.
The award has a separate jury and honors feature films and documentaries outside the official competition that set new trends in world cinema.
“Adrift” is also up for the Queer Lion Award for films that touch on homosexual topics.
After a press conference introducing the film crew on September 6 in Venice, “Adrift” was screened on September 7.
After Venice, the movie will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 15, 17 and 19. “Adrift” will also stopover for the Bangkok International Film Festival from September 24-30 and then make a return to Canada for the Vancouver International Film Festival from October 1-16.
Directed by Bui Thac Chuyen and produced by Feature Film Studio 1, the film tells the story of newlyweds Hai and Duyen, the complicated love between Duyen and Cam, her close girlfriend, and the carnal passion between Duyen and Tho, a sexually attractive man.
It features Nhu Quynh, Hai Yen, Johnny Tri Nguyen, Vietnamese-French actress Pham Linh Dan and Duy Khoa, who won the Promising Singer award at the 2008 Sao Mai – Diem Hen (Morning Star – Rendezvous) contest.
“Adrift” will be screened nationwide at the end of the year.
Hanh Phuong
VietNamNet
At the ongoing 66th Venice International Film Festival, one of the biggest international film festivals in the world, “Choi Voi” or “Adrift” was nominated for the Orizzonti Award.
The award has a separate jury and honors feature films and documentaries outside the official competition that set new trends in world cinema.
“Adrift” is also up for the Queer Lion Award for films that touch on homosexual topics.
After a press conference introducing the film crew on September 6 in Venice, “Adrift” was screened on September 7.
After Venice, the movie will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 15, 17 and 19. “Adrift” will also stopover for the Bangkok International Film Festival from September 24-30 and then make a return to Canada for the Vancouver International Film Festival from October 1-16.
Directed by Bui Thac Chuyen and produced by Feature Film Studio 1, the film tells the story of newlyweds Hai and Duyen, the complicated love between Duyen and Cam, her close girlfriend, and the carnal passion between Duyen and Tho, a sexually attractive man.
It features Nhu Quynh, Hai Yen, Johnny Tri Nguyen, Vietnamese-French actress Pham Linh Dan and Duy Khoa, who won the Promising Singer award at the 2008 Sao Mai – Diem Hen (Morning Star – Rendezvous) contest.
“Adrift” will be screened nationwide at the end of the year.
Hanh Phuong
VietNamNet
Vietnamese tale of tangled love screened in Venice
QUOTE
HANOI — A Vietnamese story of tangled love, which explores changing social values in the traditional communist nation, will be screened at the Venice Film Festival in a rare mark of recognition for the country's film industry.
"Choi Voi" ("Adrift") sketches a modern Vietnam where ancestral Confucian values, centred around the family, are increasingly replaced by individualism.
The film shows people caught up in complex games of seduction and knocks down traditional moral markers of the society. Scriptwriter Phan Dang Di says it blurs the boundaries between good and bad while also touching on homosexuality, a subject still largely taboo in Vietnam.
Di has tackled controversial subjects before.
His short film "Khi toi 20" ("When I am 20") was shown in Venice last year but the Vietnamese censor judged it too "crude" and prevented him from attending.
It told the story of a young prostitute who uses her earnings to support her grandmother.
"Choi Voi" was not censored -- even though it contains themes which could aggravate the authorities -- but four years were needed to convince them to partially finance the production, Di said.
He and the director of "Choi Voi", Bui Thac Chuyen, are among the very few members of Vietnam's film industry to receive international recognition.
In 2006 Chuyen presented a feature film, "Living in Fear", at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
But Vietnamese cinema is still most widely known through its overseas-based directors including Tran Anh Hung, who lives in France. He won the Golden Camera at Cannes in 1993 for "The Scent of Green Papaya," and then received a Golden Lion at Venice two years later with "Cyclo".
The country's cinema was for a long time at the nearly exclusive service of the regime's propagandists and films were made, Chuyen said, "without regard for the interests of audiences".
Things began to change several years ago with the arrival of private-sector funding.
Vietnamese audiences, especially in the big cities, have started to return and cinema has begun to be profitable, Chuyen said.
The industry remains in need of financing but Chuyen said he does not lose hope of seeing his country's cinema follow the model of South Korea, whose films are recognised around the world.
"Twenty years ago South Korean cinema resembled Vietnam's today," Chuyen said.
At the 66th Venice festival, which opened Wednesday, "Choi Voi" will be screened in a category featuring new trends in world cinema.
The film's first festival screening is scheduled for Sunday but Chuyen said later commercial release at home will be a challenge because of the tastes of Vietnamese audiences.
Chuyen and Di both recognise that although audiences are back, they do not necessarily want to watch a film like "Choi Voi".
"People prefer American and South Korean films or commercial films" in general, Di said.
Undeterred, he carries on.
Like last year, Di will not be able to attend the Venice screening. But this time it is because he is preparing to make a new film.
AFP
"Choi Voi" ("Adrift") sketches a modern Vietnam where ancestral Confucian values, centred around the family, are increasingly replaced by individualism.
The film shows people caught up in complex games of seduction and knocks down traditional moral markers of the society. Scriptwriter Phan Dang Di says it blurs the boundaries between good and bad while also touching on homosexuality, a subject still largely taboo in Vietnam.
Di has tackled controversial subjects before.
His short film "Khi toi 20" ("When I am 20") was shown in Venice last year but the Vietnamese censor judged it too "crude" and prevented him from attending.
It told the story of a young prostitute who uses her earnings to support her grandmother.
"Choi Voi" was not censored -- even though it contains themes which could aggravate the authorities -- but four years were needed to convince them to partially finance the production, Di said.
He and the director of "Choi Voi", Bui Thac Chuyen, are among the very few members of Vietnam's film industry to receive international recognition.
In 2006 Chuyen presented a feature film, "Living in Fear", at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
But Vietnamese cinema is still most widely known through its overseas-based directors including Tran Anh Hung, who lives in France. He won the Golden Camera at Cannes in 1993 for "The Scent of Green Papaya," and then received a Golden Lion at Venice two years later with "Cyclo".
The country's cinema was for a long time at the nearly exclusive service of the regime's propagandists and films were made, Chuyen said, "without regard for the interests of audiences".
Things began to change several years ago with the arrival of private-sector funding.
Vietnamese audiences, especially in the big cities, have started to return and cinema has begun to be profitable, Chuyen said.
The industry remains in need of financing but Chuyen said he does not lose hope of seeing his country's cinema follow the model of South Korea, whose films are recognised around the world.
"Twenty years ago South Korean cinema resembled Vietnam's today," Chuyen said.
At the 66th Venice festival, which opened Wednesday, "Choi Voi" will be screened in a category featuring new trends in world cinema.
The film's first festival screening is scheduled for Sunday but Chuyen said later commercial release at home will be a challenge because of the tastes of Vietnamese audiences.
Chuyen and Di both recognise that although audiences are back, they do not necessarily want to watch a film like "Choi Voi".
"People prefer American and South Korean films or commercial films" in general, Di said.
Undeterred, he carries on.
Like last year, Di will not be able to attend the Venice screening. But this time it is because he is preparing to make a new film.
AFP
stop looking down on overseas viets. if they don't like something, maybe it's simply because they don't like it. 9 nguo`i 10 y', old concept.
