Borgarkeri
A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
Lucia Ayala
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Celia
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Zoooma
Snooze-fest. And I was duped! I was looking for a Vietnamese film with English subtitles. Not many to be found. Came across this which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film representing Vietnam. It previously won the Camera d'Or at Canne. Well, turns out it was filmed on a sound stage in France. Seriously?!?! I wanted Hanoi, I got Paris. In any case, it's a well-filmed art-house movie, beautiful in its aesthetics (and thinking about it retrospect, a very close-up shot film to hide the fact it's all a studio set!) Unfortunately the movie suffers terribly in more ways than it's good. I'm not sure I've ever seen a slower moving film practically about nothing. An ordinary servant girl goes to live with a family at age 10. At age 20 she's working for someone else. That's about it. Antagonist? Conflict? Tension of any kind??? Not until about the last 10 minutes. Yawn. Sort of a Cinderella ending so perhaps a bit of a chick flick. Very well acted but yawn. Agonizingly slow. (Yawn!) High rating on IMDb but for my zero pirate dollars spent, it was (at the time) my 10th Worst Movie watched in 2013.3.4 / 10 stars--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener
nokturnal-rapport
If you really love films and you like art, you'll love this movie; if you don't, watch it anyway because it might change your opinion. Visually stunning. A lot of people complain about its tortoise-crawling pace but this film needs to be savored slowly. It's about a mundane life of a servant girl, nothing exciting would really ever happened to her but this allow the cinematography shines and unveils her seemingly boring life under a colorful kaleidoscope. Relax and don't anticipate or think too much, let yourself submerge in the experience entirely. This is indeed a style-over-substance film alright but if style-over-substance is a genre then this is one of its top dogs; no contest.
doanngocanh01
I am a big fan of movies with the story line SIMILAR to this one, my fave are Em be Ha Noi (The little girl of Hanoi), Doi Cat (Sandy Lives), Bao gio cho den thang muoi (When the tenth month comes)... Check them out if you really want to see a REAL Vietnamese movie. Being a 100% Vietnamese (born & raised in Vietnam), I have to say that this movie has so many li'l details that do not represent Vietnam at all. If you've ever lived in VN, you probably know what I mean. Here's the most obvious one: even if you don't speak VNese, you probably notice the sudden quiet of the main character at the beginning of the 2nd part. She was a very cute girl during the 1st part, and all in sudden, the music jumped in, and replace all her talking as if she became mute or something. I started to feel uncomfortable from that point on. Not until the scene when she learns how to read that I realized why. Simply, she can't speak VNese. You can tell that even though she tried her very very best, her accent was so obvious. She was an opposite of the 10 yo girl who fits so well into the character, even the way she walks. Should I also mention the ending is kind of a rush? The whole story moves in a snail speed and I couldn't wait until it ended so that I can go back to my reading. And then, just like that, it ended, unexpected. Although it is a happy ending, it's nothing like other REAL VNese movies which always bring some sort of happiness, warmth, sense of hope afterward.I do admit that the movie is beautifully. I actually love all the washing shot because I think it's one of the rare things in this movie that looks and feels like VN. For those who wonder why there were so much washing, well, it simply a way to say that the girl is pure. But other than that, I kept being distracted and looking at the clock half way through the movie. What should I say? I don't think I would recommend this movie or maybe you should only watch the 1st part...
reedwaller
This stunningly beautiful film has a strong Buddhist theme, so it's unsurprising that many American viewers were perplexed by it even while captivated by its beauty. It is the story of Mui, a poor servant girl ... except she is no ordinary servant girl, she is an Enlightened One. She lives totally in the here and now, and sees and appreciates everything (and so do we, thanks to the breathtaking color cinematography). She quietly goes through her ordinary life, giving every tiny moment all her attention and invisibly enriching the lives of all those around her, until near the end of the picture she is given off to a family friend whom, coincidentally, she has fancied since she was little. He is engaged to another woman, but one day he picks up a bust of Buddha, and stares at it with recognition, realizing suddenly that the face and the smile of the Buddha are something he has been seeing every day, on Mui. He sees her for what she is, and both their lives are transformed. Even more astounding than the richness and beauty of this film, is the feat of finding two wonderful actresses 10 years apart, to play the same very unusual girl, both identically beautiful and graceful and having the Buddha smile. Intoxicating and unforgettable.
