Floating Lives (Cánh Đồng Bất Tận)

April 1, 2011 by quyen

Vietnam / 2010
105 min / 35mm color
Vietnamese with English subtitles

Producers: Ngo Thi Bich Hanh & Jonathan Foo
Director: Nguyen Phan Quang Binh
Production Manager: Nguyen Chi Dung
Director of Photography: Nguyen Tranh
First Ad: Ly Thai Dzung
Writer: Nguy Ngu
Editor: Folmer Wiesinger
Music: Nguyen Quoc Trung
Production Designer: Ma Phi Hai
Main Cast: Dustin Nguyen, Do Thi Hai Yen, Vo Thanh Hoa, Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc, Tang Thanh Ha

Based on the acclaimed short story “The Immense Field” by Nguyen Ngoc Tu, Floating Lives is an intense contemporary drama directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh. The film takes place during the peak of the avian flu outbreak in Southeast Asia, where a poor family of duck herders evades government officials and dangerous gangs scattered throughout the Mekong Delta. The family travels exclusively by a worn-down rickety house boat, serving as both their mode of transportation as well as their perpetual home. The source material won the Best Short Story prize from the Vietnam Writer’s Association in 2007 and, more recently, the ASEAN Litearture Award.

The film stars Dustin Nguyen (The Rebel, The Legend is Alive, Fool For Love), in his most serious role yet, as Vo, the abusive head of a broken household who uses his endless hatred to exact revenge on any woman that crosses his path. Do Thi Hai Yen (The Quiet American, Adrift) stars as Suong, a prostitute from Saigon who gradually becomes a surrogate maternal figure to Vo’s children. Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc shines as Vo’s daughter Nuong, exuding innocence and virtue despite being the constant target of abuse for Vo. Collectively, the cast of “Floating Lives” never ceases to put forth their best efforts.

Completely severed from the advancements of the Vietnamese economic miracle, the struggles of this family remind audiences that many people living on the periphery are often left behind, even sacrificed in the name of progress. Beautifully shot by Nguyen Tranh and brilliantly scored by Nguyen Quoc Trung, “Floating Lives” is a brutal yet well-crafted examination into the experiences of people from an often neglected and under-explored region of Vietnam.

By Lee Ngo