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Re: CYCLO

Hello Apelo,

I must admit I am a bit surprised by your film review about "cyclo".


I saw it a few months ago when it was released in France. And it has been a
great success.

I also saw "l'odeur de la papaye verte" and enjoyed because it was a
descritpion of a past VietNam inthe colonial times with adifferent pace of
life, and different concerns. But the human nature is still there ...

My feeling is that Tran Anh Hung is more depicting the human nature than
just an action with a time and alocation. The first film took palce in
colonial times, "cyclo" takes place in now a days Saigon, but the
background is the same. The speed of the film, the hectic moves of the
camera, the sometimes surprising editing is reflecting a feeling you can
have now in Saigon. Everything  and every one is moving fast and in all
directions... Being a foreigner an dnot (yet) speaking vietnamese in
cannever understand the reasons fr all the fast movements of the people.
However, you feel like a turmoil when being in there and you feel the same
when seeing the Tran movie. The only thing I felt as being far away from my
feelings / experiences were all the mafia scenes...

To my feeling "Cyclo"is really one of best film on current nowadays Vietnam.


Just go on with the topic .....

Thierry, in Marseille, France.





>Vietnamese film by Tran titled Cyclo. I had seen his previous one
>"Scent of Green Papaya" which i enjoyed. It was calm, slow, and allowed
>us to indentify the characters, their situation,  location (there was
>only one) and excellent photography.
>Now I'm neither a Siskel nor a Ebert nor even a Vinh, but I can give
>you my personal impressions of Cyclo. Perhaps an equally fitting title
>would have been Psycho.  This was not at all like the first one.  It
>was fast, frantic, confusing and troubling. At times I think the camera
>man must have had attacks of Parkinson's. The camera was jumping,
>swirlilng, flashing, fast zooming, so that you became dizzy and
>eventually left with a splitting headache.  The editing was such that
>it was difficult to follow the locations,  identify the characters,
>unterstand their relationship. After a while you  just gave up and
>simply watched the action as it flashed on the sreen. There were some
>home scenes,  gang "mafia type" scenes, brothel scenes (talk about
>bizarre fetishes), mob secenes, a lot of violence, gushing gore galore
>and baths of blue paint.
>The film did win the "Golen Lion" award at the Venice Film Festival and
>got a multi column favorable review in the  Los Angeles Times. It just
>goes to show that I'm not a connoisseur of esoteric art.  I always
>marvel while strolling thur a museum of "modern art" when I encounter
>somone gazing in rapture contemplating a canvas simply painted black
>with a tiny white dot in some corner.  I'm definetly missing something.
>Just one more example of my pedestrian level.  Some time ago my friend
>Ron invited me to a concert of "contemporary music", conducted by Essa
>Pekka Salonen no less.  We had good third row center seats. AS we
>waitead for the start, suddenly a large blond, disheveled woman
>sawntered onto the stage from the wings looking lost and bewildered. I
>was waiting for the men in white jackets to come out and grab her.  She
>had obviously escaped from the loony bin.   She grabbed the mic and
>bellowed a loud primal scream followed by gurgles, giggles and more
>eviscerating noises. Actually that was the opening number.  I burst out
>into laughter only to have two prim and proper ladies turn to me with
>stern disapproving glares.  Obviously they were"gnostics".  I'm sure
>they would love that black canvas with the white dot.  The concert goes
>on.  At some point the members of the orchestra drift in and take their
>seats along witht the conductor.  The "music" starts.  It sounded as if
>each person was playing from totally different scores in different
>keys.  The conductor wildly chopping the air with his baton while the
>noise mounted into a cacophonous crescendo abruptly stopping into a
>deafening silence, except for an unusual sound made by a man on a ten
>foot step ladder urinating on a tambourine below.  (his aim was worthy
>of a circus act)  At the end was  thunderous applause.   Between my
>fits of laughter and yawning and the disapproving looks of the
>"gnostics" i realized that i was hoplessly lacking something essential
>to appreciate such elevated art form.  (maybe it's genetic). Ron had
>brought two friends visiting from Japan.  They politely gave their
>impression of the concert as "interesting and unusual">
>Coming back to Cyclo. Usually I would tell my friends "miss it if you
>can", but this time I would suggest you go see it and perhaps you can
>enlighten us with your deep perception and understanding.  After the
>film we all waited in the lobby for Minh, who stayed to read the last
>credit.  We thouoght he would explain it all to us.  He was as baffled
>as the rest of us.
>Talking about surrealism, we are now in the midst of the Republican
>Convention here in San Diego and Ross Perot in Long Beach.  My brother
>tells me there will be a special on Bob Dole on PBS titled "Dead Man
>Walking".  Thanks, I'll go back to see Cyclo.
>
>Apelo
>
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