Bi, Don’t Be Afraid (Bi, Đừng Sợ)

France, Vietnam, Germany / 2010
92 min / color video

Producer: Nguyen Hoang Diep, Claire Lajoumard
Co-producer: Tran Anh Dung, Dominic Scriven
Director & Writer: Phan Dang Di
Cinematographer: Pham Quang Minh
Sound: Franck Desmoulins, Roman Dymny
Music: Vu Nhat Tan
Editor: Julie Beziau
Main Cast: Tran Tien, Mai Chau, Nguyen Ha Phong, Nguyen Kieu Trinh, Hoa Thuy, Phan Thanh Minh

The six-year-old Bi lives with his parents, an aunt and a servant in an old part of Hanoi and likes to play in an ice-making plant nearby. Home life changes gear when Bi’s bedridden grandfather returns from overseas, just as Bi’s father starts spending more and more time out visiting a favourite ‘masseuse’, causing his wife great distress which she generally manages to hide. Meanwhile Bi’s aunt, a spinsterish teacher, develops an agonising crush on a teenage boy. Phan observes the resulting stresses and strains with a limpid eye, using strands of imagery to link disparate events without imposing any overarching narrative. Bi obviously understands little of what happens either at home or in the ice plant, but he has as much need for companionship as any of the adults; using the child as a focus allows Phan to show the grown-up sexual issues with a certain innocence. The mixture of muscular poetry and sexual candour is seriously impressive.

By Tony Rayns

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