Ten years after the war, Saigon is still in the midst of reconstruction. Widowed Ky Nam runs a small restaurant in a communal housing complex, where residents share a central courtyard and know every detail of each other’s lives. She has adopted and is raising Su, a French–Vietnamese mixed-race child. One day, Khang, a young man translating Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince into Vietnamese, moves into the unit upstairs. With his privileged background and natural charm, it is only natural that he draws the attention of those around him. Yet from the very first day, Khang finds himself gradually drawn to Ky Nam, who once saved him from a crisis. The highlight of this film, which evokes the tenderness of a romantic watercolor painting, is the late sequence in which the two walk through the streets of Saigon all night, enacting a dreamlike farewell ritual. Carried along by the young man’s narration, the scene leaves their shared story suspended in an eternal present.
Programme note by KIM Chae-hee
Stills5
Screenings4
Fri, 09/19
20:0022:20
LOTTE CINEMA Centum City 7
144KE, Korean subtitles + English subtitles or English dialogue
Sat, 09/20
20:0022:20
LOTTE CINEMA Centum City 7
222KE, Korean subtitles + English subtitles or English dialogue
Tue, 09/23
19:3022:15
CGV Centum City 6
440Guest Q&AKE, Korean subtitles + English subtitles or English dialogue
Wed, 09/24
11:0013:45
CGV Centum City 4
507Guest Q&AKE, Korean subtitles + English subtitles or English dialogue
