Cyclo (1995)

The second part of Tran Anh Hung's Vietnam Trilogy is something akin to Wong Kar-wai meets Vittorio De Sica. This time we leave behind the fantasy land of the studio constructed Saigon of The Scent of Green Papaya to the actual streets of modern day Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to focus in on a cyclo driver who finds himself caught up in organized crime after his boss lady and her thugs beat him up and steal his cart. Meanwhile, his sister (played by Hung's *divine* wife Tran Nu Yen-Khe) becomes a sort of servicewoman to middle-aged men with various fetishes, and falls in love with the gang's poetry-spouting leader (Tony Leung). The way Hung chose to tell his story is very much reminiscent of Wong Kar-wai's delirious, fractured portraits of Hong Kong, but with a greater sense of urgency. His Vietnam is a society whose dreams have been eviscerated by predatory capitalism where everyone and everything is up for sale at discount prices, and lip service is barley paid to the Marxist values that are supposed to drive the state and society. But the film is just as personal as it is political. I felt for these characters, and connected with them; I wanted their dreams to be realized, I wanted to see them escape the cycle of violence and poverty. The scenes featuring Yen-Khe are especially evocative, in part because she is so radiantly beautiful (oh, how lucky Hung is!), but also because she acts as the moral lynchpin of the tale. Still, like with The Scent of Green Papaya, there is a certain flaw to the movie. Somehow it just never feels as genuine as it should. Can this be chalked up to Hung's having lived in France most of his life? It is a brilliant work, but still rough around the edges.