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| Dustin Nguyen’s character, Vo, (L) in a rare moment of intimacy with the rescued prostitute, Suong, played by Do Thi Hai Yen, who also starred in the Quiet American - Photo: Courtesy of BHD |
Canh dong bat tan (Floating lives) is a Vietnamese movie for the emotions and the senses. The film-makers beautifully capture the textures and sounds of the Mekong Delta in this aptly named tale about wanderers and how they cope with events in their lives.
The slow moving story takes place on a small wooden diesel motor boat, typical of boats in the waterways in Dong Thap province where the filming was done.
The boat carries the four main characters, who have almost no connection with anyone or anything beyond the boat’s gunwales, except for a flock of ducks.
The sounds of ducks and the beautiful cooing sounds of the teenage son named Dien (played by Vo Thanh Hoa), who tends them, are woven throughout the soundtrack. The ducks embody the uneducated teen’s defiant and sometimes reckless loyalty that he simply lives without question or fear.
The story starts out when Dien saves a beautiful young woman from an all woman village lynching squad, who are screeching for her blood because she prostituted herself to one of their husbands.
The horribly beaten woman named Suong (played by Do Thi Hai Yen) escapes by staggering through a maze of riverside wooden gangways, and by chance collapses on the bow of Dien’s family’s boat. Dien vouches for her to his brooding father, Vo, (played by Dustin Nguyen) and the boat slowly motors her away from danger.
Dien’s sister Nuong (played by Lan Ngoc) nurses her below deck, through three days of semi-consciousness. When she has enough strength, the frank-speaking Suong quickly builds relationships with the brother and sister, but it’s impossible for her to reach the father whose dark energy pervades the boat as it chugs through the canals. To Dien and Nuong, she plays the part of the mother they lost a decade ago and helps to heal some of their long-felt hurt. To the cruel father, who is too obsessed and angered by the way he lost his wife to give his children love, Suong is a worthless prostitute that is nothing but a burden to him. As the duped husband, Dustin Nguyen plays the victim role well and it is shocking when he tries to dump his children also.
The young director, Nguyen Phan Quang Binh delves adroitly into the emotions contained in Nguyen Ngoc Tu’s short story, “Boundless Rice Field”. The audience cries and giggles as they recognize characters from their own lives on the screen. The acting is good without being brilliant and the translation for the subtitles is done with sensitivity. The grainy quality of the film suits the subject matter and goes wonderfully with the sound making it a must to see at the cinema.
One of the amazing things about the life of these wanderers is how vast and impersonal the Mekong Delta is. It is vital for the children to stay with the boat. If they get separated from it, it would disappear forever. The insecurity is almost tangible.
In one scene, Dien climbs a tower in the paddy fields to try and spot Suong; he vainly scans the endless fields and canals and is left in emotional desolation. Lifelines like mobile phones or emails are worthless to this broken family, who live an almost cashless life except for the sale of a few ducks or eggs. It’s a lyrical depiction of the isolating powerlessness of poverty and the sense of smallness in a vast uncaring wilderness. Love is the only security they have.
VND3.3 billion in takings
Canh Dong Bat Tan, which was produced by BHD Co. Ltd. and Vietnam Studio, had VND3.3 billion in takings after three-day showing in the country’s cinemas.
On the first day, the film burned up the box office worldwide. In HCMC, Cinebox Hoa Binh sold 2,000 tickets and Thang Long Cinema 900, eight times more than the Korean movie Hearty Paws and American flick, The Other Guys. It also blitzed Vietnamese production, Inferno, which only sold 670 tickets in its first three-days. Megastar Cineplex Hung Vuong had to get an extra copy so it could have Floating Lives screening in three cinemas with shows starting every half an hour. On three days of last weekend, over 11,000 movie-goers rushed to HCMC-based cinemas Galaxy Nguyen Du and Galaxy Nguyen Trai. A representative of BHD said there are 23 copies of the film currently screening nationwide, 17 of them in HCMC. By Tuong Vi
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