(Saigon Stories [de] )
Vietnam / USA 1999
d: Tony Bui
StudioCanal Vidéo (Region 2 fr)
sc: Timothy Linh Bui, Tony Bui
c: Lisa Rinzler (Color)
e: Keith Reamer
pd: Wing Lee
m: Richard Horowitz; Vy Nhat Tao (songs)
p: Jason Kivot, Joana Vicente, Tony Bui, Harvey Keitel (Giai Phong Film Studio / October Films / Open City Films)
w: Ngoc Hiep Nguyen, Ngoc Minh, Phat Trieu Hoang, Diem Kieu, Hanh Kieu, Don Duong, Huu Duoc Nguyen, Hong Son Le, Ba Quang Nguyen, Huu Su Tran, Duc Hung Luong, Harvey Keitel, Diep Bui, Hoang Trieu, Tran Long
pr: 23 Jän 1999
aw: Berlin International Film Festival 1999 Nominated Golden Berlin Bear • Independent Spirit Awards 2000 Independent Spirit Award Best Cinematography • Portland International Film Festival 1999 Audience Award Best First Film • Satellite Awards 2000 Golden Satellite Award Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language • Sundance Film Festival 1999 Audience Award Dramatic; Cinematography Award Dramatic; Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
rt: 104:20 (+4%PAL= 113) min
dvd-rl: 11 Mai 2001
ar: 1.85:1 (16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen)
sd: Vietnamese Dolby Digital 4.0 Surround • French Dolby Digital 4.0 Surround
st: French
supp: • Theatrical Trailer (1:57 min)
• Filmographies
Written and directed by a 26-year-old Vietnamese American, helped into production by Harvey Keitel (who gives a startlingly lazy performance as a returning GI) and shot on location in Saigon, this love letter to 'the new Vietnam' plays like a sanitised rehash of Tran Anh Hung's Cyclo for the simple-minded. It has three interwoven storylines, each of them a paragon of subtlety and taste: a lotus-picker bonds with a leper recluse because she warbles songs from his childhood, a cyclo driver falls for a hard-hearted hooker because he senses her inner innocence...you get the idea. The Sundance Festival audience, of course, loved it.
— TR, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
That Bui's formalist approach to visuals and poetic handling of mood aren't the norm for ambitious young American filmmakers makes it that much more unfortunate that his would-be lyrical storytelling largely falls flat. The chasm between Bui's classical aspirations and his ham-strung story-telling is exacerbated by the film's leisurely -- or some might say soporific -- pacing. For all the potentially heart-tugging moments Bui sets up, it's fairly easy to remain emotionally removed, though cinematographer Lisa Rinzler deserves accolades for her striking work in the lotus picking scenes. After all the various stories have been neatly and picturesquely resolved, you have to wonder whether there was any real purpose driving all those pretty pictures. Sill, Bui's sensitivity and attentiveness mark him as a director to watch.
— Sandra Contreras, TV MovieGuide
