mentioned Vietnam, he thought of Duras’ lover, Saigon, Hanoi, humid and hot weather, and rickshaws all over the streets.
When it comes to Vietnamese movies, what comes to mind is "The Taste of Green Papaya", "Tricycleman", "The Taste of Summer" , and the following movie- "Three Seasons of Love" . The film
was released in 1998 and co-produced by the United States and Vietnam. It was also the first American film that was filmed in Vietnam and used all Vietnamese dialogue after the Vietnam War. The director
is a Vietnamese-American Pei Dongni , and the screenwriters are Pei Dongni and Pei Lin .
The southern part of Vietnam has a double-season feature, namely the rainy season and the dry season . Coupled with the season of Pei Tony's vision for the motherland-, the season of hope, , he filmed his debut "Three Seasons of Love" .
Of course, some people say that the three seasons refer to the rainy season, dry season, and cool season . Here we use the first term. In the film
, director Pei Dongni portrays three groups of completely different characters in the Vietnamese society, experiencing different but inter-related stories, and focuses on the theme that the six characters want to embody-traditional culture. Inheritance, the living conditions of the people at the bottom, and the problems left over from history are all manifested implicitly or explicitly through three stories in the film.
Story background is in Vietnam at the end of the 20th century. After being washed by war, it gained national independence. After 10 years of reform and opening up, it finally stepped onto the right track and became one of the most dynamic and potential regions in Asia. The first story of
:
The original tall and handsome poet Teacher Du lost his fingers and face because of a severe leprosy at the age of 23. Since then, he has enclosed himself in the temple in the middle of the lotus pond, and no one is seen again.
Decades later, a young lotus-picking girl xin sang the song that her mother taught herself in a green and lotus leaf and a pure white lotus:
"Who knows how many stems the rice field has? How many Gulf Streams? How many clouds are there? Who can sweep the leaves of the forest? Who can tell the wind to stop blowing the trees? How many mulberry leaves do the silkworms eat to create antique clothes? How much rain does it take in the sky? Can we prevent the ocean from flooding with tears? How many years will the moon be old before it can pass through in the middle of the night to stop nearby? Whoever can steal my heart, I will sing for him, and may he go straight up."
The lotus leaves, the sound of the water shaking, the women in the water village, the wind blowing the lotus...In addition to the quiet and simple singing that is almost heavenly, all this seems to be the picture in Zhou Bangyan’s poem: Xiaoxue Qingzhou , Dream back to Furongpu.
is also like: picking lotus in autumn in Nantang, lotus is over the head. The song
also passed into the ears of Teacher Du, who had lived in the deep house for a long time. This is a ballad he heard when he was a child.
Some people say that the Vietnamese love four things very deeply: Vietnamese robe, fish sauce, boiled water spinach , and the remaining one is song .
It is precisely because of this song that the two became a year-end friendship, and Xin became the eyes and hands of Teacher Du-to help him see all the beauty in the world, and to help him record those beautiful verses. As
died, Teacher Du's only wish was to listen to that song again.
So, the clear singing once again rippled between the dark temple and the lotus pond.
The second story:
sea is a poor tricycle driver.
He is quiet and always takes out a shabby old book and lie in the car to read when other people are chatting.
He is kind, so he stopped to take him when he met the little boy being chased.
suddenly one day, he saw lotus in the crowd.
, who had always been calm, suddenly panicked. He drove her through the streets and alleys of Ho Chi Minh City, and carefully lowered her body when getting in and out of the car.
Even when Lian arrived at the destination, he still waited outside for a long time, just to take her home again.
But Lian is not an ordinary woman, she is a prostitute-the oldest profession in the world. Every time
takes her back to the sea, either on the way to the hotel or on the way out of the hotel.
Lotus is beautiful, always wearing heavy makeup, and dressed fashionable, like a girl in a big city.
She is also open and honest, and she will say to the sea:
"...have you been to those hotels? The hotel is a completely different world, the people inside are not like us, the outlook on life is different, and the conversation is different. The rising sun is for them. Dongsheng, not for us, we live in their shadows...those who enter and exit through the glass front door, see how many people are like you? One day I will stay in that world and be one of them..."
Even though Hai knew everything, he still sent her into the hotel every day, waiting at the door for her to leave the hotel at night.
Lian never spends the night in a hotel, she doesn't want to do that. But she also didn't want to be like her mother, suffering for a lifetime, and finally exhausted her waist.
Lian’s money for one night is 50 dollars, which is money that the sea can only earn by pulling a tricycle for countless times. But in one game, Hai won 200 dollars.
Then he bought lotus overnight.
On that night, he booked the most comfortable room with air-conditioning and a soft big bed. He also bought a white dress for Lian to put on. The request was to remove makeup.
After Lian put on that dress, he sat on the chair and watched Lian fall asleep quietly.
She said that she wanted to sleep in a soft bed, and then turned on the air conditioner all night, and he helped her realize her wish.
She had heatstroke, so he helped her scrape.
She said that she missed the bright red flowers in her childhood, so he proposed to him in a sea of red phoenix flowers.
At the end of the film, the coachman Hai covered Lian's eyes with a red cloth and drove him to a road where red phoenix flowers were flying.
When the lotus took off the red cloth, got out of the car and stood in the middle of the road, blending with the sky full of red flowers, as if returning to the pure school days.
Hai said to her wearing a white dress: "You can live upright." Then
handed her the book.
and the fiery red phoenix flowers are still falling down, blocking the sun in the sky, and splitting the light into bunches.
At this time, their faces showed long-lost smiles.
Yes, Lian did not eventually become the wife of a wealthy businessman, but married to the caring sea. The story of
is very similar to the ancient Chinese novel "The Oil Seller Monopolizes the Oiran" , in which simple and poor men marry beautiful prostitutes.
Consumerism is ultimately unmatched by the ancient qualities.
The third story:
American veteran James once again set foot on the land of Vietnam.
is not for killing this time, but for finding the daughter who was born with a Vietnamese woman.
By mistake, he encountered an orphan Woody who was selling goods with wooden boxes in the bar.
Woody lost the cargo box he relied on here, so he had to wander the streets constantly looking for James and hisbox.
was another chance encounter. Just as James was drunk and dying in the fun, he saw his daughter, who was laughing in the arms of a wretched man.
At this moment, James was in tears.
Finally, the two wandering people have found their beloved things.
James found his daughter, and Woody found his wooden box. The three stories
are not unrelated, the characters are actually crisscrossed.
Xin once presented two white lotus flowers from the sea, and James also bought a bunch of flowers here for his daughter.
This film does not control the characters or story of the whole film, but there is one thing that runs through all the time-the white lotus.
This is the national flower of Vietnam. The three stories are connected with the year-long friendship, the love of poverty and the alienated affection contained in the three stories. It is also a symbol of the traditional spirit and character of the Vietnamese, a symbol of love and hope, and where all the good lies. The director
gave the white lotus the most beautiful picture without hesitation. In the pond of
, the scenes of smelling the fragrance of flowers that appear again and again, the sight, smell and touch of the audience are also mobilized again and again.
This is a scented movie.
"Girls and poets, prostitutes and coachmen, American soldiers and orphans, three abandoned emotional relationships, a new generation who does not want to forget the past." -this is the introduction word of "Three Seasons of Love".
"New Generation" refers to Vietnam, which is waiting to be flourished.
Pei Tony is a new force in Vietnamese film. He is as famous as the Chen hero who immigrated to France. At the same time, he began to remember and tell about Vietnam.
Although they are not able to become representatives of Vietnamese movies in the true sense, their diversified identities also allow them to better examine the past and present of Vietnam.
Whether in "The Taste of Green Papaya" or in "Three Seasons of Love", we can see the contrast of two powers: traditional and modern, Vietnam and the West.
Although the Western powers represented by the United States have penetrated into every corner of Vietnam from economic, ideological and cultural aspects, the Vietnamese people still use poetry, floral fragrances, and green plants to complete the pursuit of love and the washing of feelings, making us in the heat In addition to the turbulent reality, I saw a quiet, distant and poetic Vietnam. Although
is suffering, it gives people hope.
The lotus-picking girl Xin inherited the poet's posthumous manuscript; Hai and Lian got married; American soldiers found his Vietnamese daughter; orphan Woody hugged his little suitcase-no matter how high the magnificent hotels were built , How well the plastic lotus sells, Vietnam is always Vietnam.
that is full of fragrance, that is fluttering with ballads, that is Vietnam in a white dress standing under the flaming phoenix flowers.
A freshman Vietnam.
(Movie Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Department: Maomao)
