Vietnam director Tran finds heart in Hanoi
NEW YORK - Hanoi is where the heart is for acclaimed
French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung.
For Tran, Hanoi is a village grown large that has kept a sentimental and sensual intimacy which he has
tried to capture in his new movie ``The Vertical Ray of the Sun.''
``The city of Hanoi possesses a sweetness, slowness and sensuality that is particular to itself,'' Tran
said in an interview on Monday. ``People in Hanoi, for me, have a much stronger physical and sexual
presence than in other places.''
``The Vertical Ray of the Sun,'' which will be released in New York and Los Angeles on July 6 and
then followed by a national run, is a delicate tale centered on three sisters and their families and loves.
The pace is slow, the colors are rich and the emotional tensions swirl furiously in the movie from the
director who won the best first feature award at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1993 for
``The Scent of Green Papaya'' and later won the best film award at the Venice International Film
Festival in 1995 for his second feature ``Cyclo''.
``The Vertical Ray of the Sun'' stars Tran's wife Tran Nu Yen Khe and was shot in present-day Hanoi.
The story hinges on infidelity, passion and staying true to family.
``This is a film that is fraught with problems,'' Tran said.
``There are problems of couples' infidelity and desire. And at the same time I wanted the public to
appreciate this kind of culture where there is a kind of harmony that floats through the whole thing,'' he
added.
Vietnamese film
Tran said that after the chaos of making ``Cyclo'' in Saigon, he came up with the idea of making a film
in the calm of Hanoi and he felt he owed that city a film.
Tran helped put Vietnamese cinema on the world map but he feels a victim of success. He quickly
dismisses any claims that he is the flag holder for Vietnamese film.
``It bothers me a lot to be labeled as the main representative of Vietnamese cinema. It is not possible
for me to play that role because people will then have the idea that I will show all of Vietnam, and of
course, that is not possible,'' Tran said.
``If people want to know about Vietnam, they should go read a book,'' he added.
But Tran changed perceptions about Vietnam with his movie ''Scent of Green Papaya,'' that was
fraught with sensuality and not stuffed with the horrors of the typical movie about the country focused
on the Vietnam War.
Tran was born in Vietnam in 1962 and emigrated to France when he was 12. He later studied
cinematography there.
He is a native French speaker who feels deep ties to the culture of France, but even deeper ones to his
native Vietnam.
``I feel like I belonged in Vietnam, It is something that is deeply anchored in myself,'' Tran said.
Tran said that he strives to create a mood in his movies and is glad when his film's titles do not make
sense to the audience. For him, the title is a way to describe the essence of the film and not to shine
light on the plot.
A project Tran is eyeing is adapting the book ``Night Dogs'' by Kent Anderson. The book is about a
policeman who served as a soldier in Vietnam and is walking a beat in a downtrodden section of
Portland just after the war.
Tran would like to shoot the movie in the United States, but he knows that many directors have seen
their movie dreams shattered by the reality of Hollywood's production machinery.
``Obviously the Vietnam War is something that is important to me because you could say that the 20th
century for Vietnam has been the century of war,'' he said.
Tran said that he usually takes a roundabout way to get to where he wants to go, and at some point he
would like to return to Vietnam to shoot a movie about the war.
``I do owe Vietnam a film on the war.''
By Jon Herskovitz - Reuters - June 13, 2001.
|