New Queer Cinema comes to Vietnam. Or nearly does in this debut feature from gifted writer/director Leon Le, whose tone (very Kar-Wai Wong*) indicates somewhat more than the bromantic melodrama shown on screen. And note that the original Vietnamese title, ‘song lang,’ refers not to 'two men,' but to a small, pedal-played percussion instrument used in SouthEast Asian classical music, here in ‘Cai Luong,’ a fading operatic form that combines traditional theatrical styles with a more modern sound. It’s where violent debt collector Lien Binh Phat is struck to the quick on seeing Isaac*, the elaborately made-up leading man of the company. Their meeting enough to stop Phat from burning costumes & scenery for unpaid loans. When the young men next meet, it’s a proper meet-cute, a fight at a restaurant that ends with them back at Phat’s place for a long night of instant bonding over conflicting values, 1980s computer games, and their model-worthy looks, with director Le really turning up bromantic temperature. And he pulls it off up to this point with perfectly caught atmosphere and yin & yang lifestyles (the artist and the thug) thrumming with sexy undercurrents. But the film can’t maintain its balance as our handsome gangster grows too sensitive, too soft-hearted, too pensive. Unwillingly revealing unexpected musical talent on a Vietnamese classical lute-like instrument, too, a gift from his father who had once been a ‘Cai Luong’ company man and passed it down to his gifted son. Coincidence & fatalism laid on too thick.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Match with Kar-Wai Wong’s directing debut. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/as-tears-go-by-1988.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Isaac is a ‘V-Pop’ singer so I’m assuming he’s doing his own ‘Cai Luong’ vocals. Very impressive.
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