Rico is a westerner but lives in Ho Chi Minh City, riding a bicycle taxi (xich lo). Part of his work is transporting working girl Kim around, and it is one such job that leads him to meet the 16 year old Mai-ly, a 16-year old school girl with whom he makes a form of connection.
There is a fundamental theme here which is interesting and recognizable, and it is delivered in a very glossy and well placed short film – and mostly it works, apart from one aspect which maybe would be less of an issue for others even if not for myself. The plot sees this outsider, who impressively has integrated himself into a new society, albeit at a low level. This integration has its limits though and while he has some enjoyment and appears to be the typical bearded western backpacker living in Vietnam, he clearly has feelings of disconnection and longing for genuine human interaction. This is a nice character idea and even though it is a 20 minute film, I think it is nicely played out via Campi to make it work. I am not overly sure about the plot device of a young sexual teenager being used, not it leads to the same root idea of connections so it does at least serve a purpose albeit a slightly uncomfortable one.
The aspect that I do not think worked so well was the idea that Rico would be in this situation for any other reason than his personal choice. The "former pop singer" thing that is the first line of any plot summary you see of this film, is not really a factor since it is only referred to twice; there must be something behind this story but the film is focusing on the here and now, which is a good choice in terms of the idea, but less so in terms of delivery of the character. As a result of not knowing, Rico struck me as one of these (perhaps spoilt?) white 20-somethings that one tends to see in Asia – people living the same way as local people, despite the fact that most of the local people would kill not to have to live this way. This is my personal feeling, but I always find these people a bit patronizing – that they do it as some sort of extended gap year badge of honor. So this feeling hurt the character a bit for me, and even though the development of who he is below the surface helped to make that less important, it did never go away since we are not shown any specific reason why he is here and in this situation – so it is harder to feel for his isolation/disconnection.
Still, it is very well made – not just "for a student film" but also for a short film generally. The sense of place is really well captured, and the film looks, sounds, and moves very well. The cinematography is impressive and the energy and life the locations have all help to amplify the sense of Rico not being part of any of it, even if he is in the middle of it. Worth seeing for what it does well, even if aspects of it caused some of the good idea to not totally work for me.
There is a fundamental theme here which is interesting and recognizable, and it is delivered in a very glossy and well placed short film – and mostly it works, apart from one aspect which maybe would be less of an issue for others even if not for myself. The plot sees this outsider, who impressively has integrated himself into a new society, albeit at a low level. This integration has its limits though and while he has some enjoyment and appears to be the typical bearded western backpacker living in Vietnam, he clearly has feelings of disconnection and longing for genuine human interaction. This is a nice character idea and even though it is a 20 minute film, I think it is nicely played out via Campi to make it work. I am not overly sure about the plot device of a young sexual teenager being used, not it leads to the same root idea of connections so it does at least serve a purpose albeit a slightly uncomfortable one.
The aspect that I do not think worked so well was the idea that Rico would be in this situation for any other reason than his personal choice. The "former pop singer" thing that is the first line of any plot summary you see of this film, is not really a factor since it is only referred to twice; there must be something behind this story but the film is focusing on the here and now, which is a good choice in terms of the idea, but less so in terms of delivery of the character. As a result of not knowing, Rico struck me as one of these (perhaps spoilt?) white 20-somethings that one tends to see in Asia – people living the same way as local people, despite the fact that most of the local people would kill not to have to live this way. This is my personal feeling, but I always find these people a bit patronizing – that they do it as some sort of extended gap year badge of honor. So this feeling hurt the character a bit for me, and even though the development of who he is below the surface helped to make that less important, it did never go away since we are not shown any specific reason why he is here and in this situation – so it is harder to feel for his isolation/disconnection.
Still, it is very well made – not just "for a student film" but also for a short film generally. The sense of place is really well captured, and the film looks, sounds, and moves very well. The cinematography is impressive and the energy and life the locations have all help to amplify the sense of Rico not being part of any of it, even if he is in the middle of it. Worth seeing for what it does well, even if aspects of it caused some of the good idea to not totally work for me.
