Page 8
Focus
May 26,1999
Tk re e
s
^.Inrthuth ©bseruer
e û s o ia s
The film, THREE
SEASONS is
playing at the
Movie House.
Unidentified
Vietnamese
actors and "Kien
An"(NGUTEN
NGOC HIEP)
(center) in a
scene from the
film.
A Film by Tony Bui
»
i n the early hours of the New
I Vietnam, four strangers in
C
Saigon find themselves sud­
denly expatriates in their own coun­
try, passed over by the “improve­
ments” of Western progress. As the
h auntingly b ea u tifu l old city of
Saigon fades into the shadows of neon
lights, Coca Cola signs, plastic lotus
flowers and oth er symbols of the
Western invasion, these character’s
paths begin to cross.
The young Kien An (Ngoc Hiep)
is hired to pick white lotuses for a re­
clusive master. Teacher Dao (Manh
Cuong). While picking her flowers, her
singing attracts not only the jealous
disapproval of the older women work­
ers, but the heart of the master him­
self. A formerly handsome poet who
has lost his face and fingers to leprosy,
Dao has hidden in shame for years in
his dark temple. None of the women
who pick the lotuses have ever seen
him. When Dao hears Kien An sing­
ing a song from his youth, he finds the
inspiration to write again. He seeks out
Kien An for more songs, and as she is
in love with his words, she offers her
fingers in place of his own.
In th e cen ter of the city, H ai
(Don Duong), a cyclo driver falls for
a proud young prostitute, Lan (Zoe
Bui), with lofty am bitions who fre­
quents the new m arble hotels. Af­
ter he saves her from the wrath of
two angry clients, she grudgingly
lets him ch a u ffe u r her a ro u n d ,
though it's clear she doesn’t con­
sider him to be in her league, kn o w ­
ing what Lan values, he enters a
cyclo race with the hope of winning
the fifty dollars that would afford
him th e o p p o rtu n ity to spend a
night with her.
Meanwhile, a young boy. Woody
(N guyen H uu D uoc), w alks the
rainy streets, sneaking into hotels
lobbies and dive bars determ ined to
sell some of the watches, gum, light­
ers and other trinkets he carries in
a suitcase around his neck. At the
Apocalypse Now Bar, Woody meets
G.I. Jam es Hager (Harvey Keitel)
THEATER
M ovies
N ig h tly
who is searching for the daughter
he left behind in the war. Lulled to
sleep by H ager’s story as well as a
few sips of his first beer, Woody
wakes to find his suitcase gone and
m ust survive on the streets, know­
ing he can’t return home until he
gets it back. He tries to track Hager,
convinced he’s stolen the case, but
Hager has moved on, consumed by
his own mission of making peace
with the past.
These stories merge to paint a
portrait of a country in tran­
sition, the last moments of a
culture which, through a sec­
ond invasion by its former en­
emy, will never be the same
again: Kien An is a living
memory of the old ways, liv­
in g a life seem in g ly u n ­
changed by the passage of
time; Lan has reinvented her­
self as someone who can sur­
vive in the cold-hearted capi­
talist world; Hai bridges the
two w orlds on his cyclo;
Jam es Hager is a reminder of
the country’s ravaged past;
and young Woody is a sym­
bol of its future.
STAR WARS' MOVIE FALLS
SHORT OF WGQCGND RECORD
W IT H
W EEKEND MATINEES
An
unidentified
Vietnamese
actress (left)
and James
Hager
(HARVEY
KEITEL)
(right). The
G.I. returns
to Vietnam in
search of his
daughter.
G us
6 i i tSi'J
2 8 8 -2 1 8 0
A t- -A4
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(505) 249-5985
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Sunday, May 30“ - 9 :3 0 pm
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Produced in Associetion w ith M onique Presents
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CD Release Party
T he new “Star Wars” movie pulled in millions of fans to
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weekend record set by “T he Lost World: Jurassic Park” two
years ago, according to studio estim ates issued Sunday. “Star
Wars: Episode 1 — T he Phantom Menace", one of the most
widely anticipated movies in history, grossed about $61.8
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c1:.
For schedule fv in fo rm atio n call:
David Garza
pm
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