Wednesday Night Southeast Asia Movie: Vi谩禄鈥 Nam

April 22, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Mānoa Campus, Center for Korean Studies


脙聬谩禄茠 Mai T脙颅nh
(AKA Fool for Love)


Vi谩禄鈥 Nam/USA (2010, 95 min)
Vietnamese w/English subtitles

Director: Charlie Nguyen
Screenplay: Dustin Nguyen
Cast: Dustin Nguyen (as Dung), Kathy Uyen (as Mai), Thai Hoa (as Hoi), Charlie Nguyen (as Antoine) Van Hai Bui (as Minh), Leon Le (as Son), Johnny Nguyen (as Johnny)

Directed by Charlie Nguyen (THE REBEL), this rom-com, 脙聬谩禄茠 Mai T脙颅nh, follows Dung, played by Dustin Tr脙颅 Nguyen (known best for his role as H.T. Loki on 21 Jumpstreet, which made girls like me swoon in the late 芒鈧80s) in his pursuit of Mai (Kathy Uy脙陋n), an aspiring singer-songwriter. In line with the traditional storyline of a boy in love with a girl out of his league, Dung芒鈧劉s romantic persistence compels him to follow Mai from S脙聽i G脙虏n to Nha Trang. There, under the employ of the flamboyant cosmetics entrepreneur Hoi (played with unceasing comedic energy by Th脙隆i H脙虏a), Dung attempts to woo Mai against the backdrop of Nha Trang, one of Vi谩禄鈥 Nam芒鈧劉s most beautiful coastal cities.

Aside from keeping the audience laughing consistently throughout (yet also, at the appropriate moments, silently holding their collective breath in the anticipation of romantic embrace), 脙聬谩禄茠 Mai T脙颅nh depicts Vietnamese men, both heterosexual and homosexual, and women as layered characters rather than the stereotypes Asians are often reduced to in mainstream film; while there is certainly a suitor you root for, there are no one-dimensional martial artists or harmlessly docile, impotent 芒鈧搈odel minorities芒鈧 here. (The film芒鈧劉s treatment of gender is noteworthy. While Hoi芒鈧劉s character no doubt falls back upon stereotypical conventions of the homosexual and cross-dresser as comic relief for the bulk of the movie, he does reveal more complex character traits as the story progresses, and the film芒鈧劉s other gay male characters range from flirtatious to brooding. One couple announces plans for a Parisian nuptial, and it is the comfort with which homosexuality is treated in these details of the story that is important not only for films in the Vietnamese community, but cinema in general.)

This mixed Vietnamese/Vi谩禄鈥 Ki谩禄聛u production blew the socks off Vietnamese box office sales in 2010 as the highest grossing film of the year and one of the most popular Vietnamese romantic comedies of all time! Directed by Charlie Nguyen (THE REBEL).

-Jade Hidle, diaCRITICS


Ticket Information
Free and open to the public

Event Sponsor
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Mānoa Campus

More Information
956-2688, cseas@hawaii.edu,

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