So my family returned to the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival yesterday to see Vu Thu Ha’s world premiere of “Kieu” starring Kathy Uyen Nguyen and Cristopher Dinh. It’s an independent, artsy adaptation of Vietnam’s famous epic nineteenth-century poem The Tale of Kieu, placing Kieu as an oriental masseuse repaying her parents’ debt in modern-day San Francisco. The movie overall was pretty interesting. It’s an art movie, so if slow scenes, poetic voice-overs and repeating flashbacks that at first don’t make sense to you are things you usually don’t like in films, then “Kieu” is not the movie for you. However, while I think that some of the conversations don’t always seem very natural to me, I think that the movie shines on two points: cinematography and music.
As for cinematography, the film doesn’t stand out for any stunning, panoramic and moving shots (for that kinda cinematography, look at Minh Nguyen-Vo’s jaw-dropping Buffalo Boy), but rather for its numerous extreme close-up shots by cinematographer Carla Roley and director Vu Thu Ha. Even the movie’s very first shot shows Kieu’s face as an extreme close-up from a rather unusual angle, focusing our eyes on Kieu’s left face. Throughout the movie, we have this close “macro-vision” on things like a single match burning up incense, Kieu placing layers of salad into the pot or watering the plants and many other close-up shots. I happen to love those close-up shots, and after the Q&A with the cast and crew I got to chat with Carla a bit, who told me that while these close-ups reflects her style and sensibility, she has worked closely with the director on the visual approaches that ultimately end up on the screen). I also really liked the way things on the screen go in and out of focus, not so because the camera lenses readjust their focal point, but more so simply by the way the characters walk closer or further away from the camera. This combined with the music often gives the movie dreamlike sequences.
As for the music, well, I think it’s the music used in the trailer that gave this movie this intriguing feel to it, prompting me to pre-purchase tickets to this sold-out show weeks in advance. As I was driving home from work the other day, I happened to listen into a NPR-interview with Kieu’s numerous writers promoting the movie, and they played the Kieu soundtrack again there. I generally don’t like classical music as much as film music (yes, there’s a huge difference), but Kieu’s original soundtrack composed and performed by Q String Quartet is classical in nature but gives the movie the intriguing and dream-like undertone similar to the same effect we see so well perfected with Wong Kar Wai’s “In the mood for Love”.
While Kieu might not blow your socks off, it’s definitely a movie worth watching. Cristopher Dinh plays the role of the shy, introverted Vietnamese male counterpart to Kathy Nguyen so well, that I was very surprised to see the actor being so young and “Vietnamese Americanized” in real life in contrast. Director Vu Thu Ha explains that her work for the movie really has just began with the world premiere, as she is now starting an outreach program to show the movie to the many women in the massage parlor business (who the crew have interviewed and consulted in preparation for the movie).