I've only seen about 2 dozen Vietnamese movies at this point, but this continues my sentiment that the best Vietnamese movies are the ones that are rural and focus on story-telling. Buffalo Boy, The Story of Pao, and the works of Tran Anh Hung are all examples of beautiful cinematography and good plots with interesting characters. The web of love stories that takes place in this film against the backdrop of the beautiful mountains is exactly the kind of combination of escape and realism that I enjoy in movies.
I can tune out in the background and enjoy the thatched roof of the school, the beautiful clothing of the tribal people or I can focus on the relationships between the characters. I am still trying to learn more about Vietnamese cinema, but I wish there were more flicks like this and that they would stop trying to make some of the "high production" looking flicks like Hai Phuong or Bitcoin Heist that ultimately just look like cheap imitations of Hollywood movies.
I had a lot of empathy for the characters and, despite having a very different life, really got a chance to get to know many of them... from the geologist to Mi... from the teacher's pet type boy to some of the rowdier students. It was a very intimate picture of a time and place I will never be able to experience in person.
