Customer Reviews

Cyclo [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Tran Anh Hung's follow up work to Scent of Green Papaya really excited me long before it's release. It was shot in contemporary Saigon and reflected the street life of a country which opens up it's doors to the rest of the world slowly and suspecting. Film is beatifully shot and well acted, especially camera work with all the colours that makes this film so real and in a way, looks breathing as a live thing. Story is told in a very emotional as well as stone cold real way thus melting both notions with touches of humanity, regret,innocence and lots of serious violence which for my point of view , gets as real as camera can be. Like in the most of the Asian cultural scene past and present , sadness and misery plays a great deal of importance in the lives of people circled with hopelessness and very limited choices. Film's success comes from it's poetic images which actually floats in the scene as we actually witness their actions and surroundings as real. This is a movie which actually touches peoples hearts and souls without pretending to do so. This film is a true classic of the new Asian cinema which will undeniably be the succesor of the slow dying and ever pretending euro cinema and a definite wach for all the true movie lovers.

This movie should come with a warning cause it's simply dynamite! However, it's not for beginners. If you want to see some romanticized view of exotic beauty in foreign lands, grab some wine and your honey, and see Tran Ahn Hung's other movies, like "The Scent of Green Papaya". That movie, although dealing with serious issues, is like 'Reality Lite'. You can ignore aspects of the human experience that plague the mind of your inner insomniac. But "Cyclo" is no joke! This here is some powerful stuff. Not for beginners, this! And, what could be better than Cyclo on DVD?! I can see my favorite parts anytime and instantly transport myself to my own private VietNam. Cool.

If you are familiar with popular cinema from Asia, you know the system's are not like American movies. Often certain popular actors are routinely coupled. I find this habit refreshing, especially here. In some ways, the more films you see the more shades there are to an actors ability in the big picture. On a small scale, the film makers bank on the public seeing more films since certain famous pairings generate the feeling that the actors are like your old friends. If you don't feel manipulated by this tactic, it can be the cinematic equivalent of a fun time at an amusement park, when you're with your way-out-of-town friends, always taking different rides.

Furthermore, as far as East Asian Cinema goes, in my experience, as with all world cinema, you don't know what's it's all about until it's over. This film, like much of world cinema, is not trying to spoonfeed you. This movie gets 'heavy'. But if you stay with it, the whole of the film and the story within are very gratifying.

As far as my criteria for a good flick goes, this one meets my standard for world cinema, and far surpasses American commercial films. The editing is seemless. The actors are fluid and charismatic as always (Remember, old friends are we). The cinematography is stunning. The script has a definite feeling of realism. These characters say what they really would say (and maintain appropriate silences too), not that I know what a struggling Vietnamese escort or cabbie would say. But, dig this, a good story like this feels real, draws you in, shows you things you never saw woven into a story that holds you 'til the credits, and stays with you after, spinning in your mind in true 'twist-a plot' fashion, ya? If you let yourself into the world of these characters, alternate possibilities will come to mind when it's through.

Aside: Those of you who love Hong Kong film will enjoy seeing Tony Leung here - very believable and adorable! Secondly, and most important, DON'T EAT PORK BEFORE YOU SEE THIS MOVIE!!!! Nuff said.

I won't ruin the story by divulging any specific special parts or attributes of the film. My (somewhat pompous) point is, I saw the movie... The movie was good.

A young man has already lived a long life as he has lost his parents and must work as a bicycle taxi driver in Ho-Chi-Min-City where he lives with his sister and grandfather. He struggles as his bicycle is stolen by the company from which he is renting it, and now he must turn to crime in order to pay for it. The world of crime is inviting as it offers fast money, but it is a ruthless world. As he is away from home his sister turns to prostitution in order to advance in society and she is managed by the same character who is controlling his life in the criminal world. Cyclo is visually powerful with a deep socioeconomic and cinematic complexity as it depicts the tragedy of wanting.

Around five years ago or so a friend and I were channel surfing until we came across a film in which several pigs were tied up by their hind legs and soon had their throats slit. Wondering what we had come across we checked the local listings and soon learned that the film was a Vietnamese film and that it was titled Cyclo. Not wanting to ruin the film by starting to watch it at the midpoint, we decided that we would later rent it. Well, we never did, so the name Cyclo and the scene in which the pigs have their throats slit remained deeply seeded in my brain. I've finally watched the film and I must say that it was a truly visceral experience.

The film opens with the grandfather of three telling of the hardships of his family especially that of his grandson. In order to makes ends meet the grandson, only known as "the cyclo" peddles people around on his bicycle/taxi. To aid their brother, the elder sister delivers water and the younger polishes shoes. The grandfather also pitches in by repairing tires. If this poverty-level existence was not bad enough, the grandson also owes 200, 000 dongs to a mafia Madame.

Things go from bad to worse when the cyclo is stolen and the grandson is imprisoned in a nearby apartment by the Madame's man, played by Tony Leung, who is simply known as the Poet. A quiet man who is prone to nosebleeds, the Poet orders the grandson to carry out the Madame's orders, including lobbing Molotov cocktails and smuggling drugs in pork carcasses.

Unbeknownst to the grandson, the poet has connections with the young man's older sister. Although a virgin, the beautiful girl, played by the enchanting Tran Nu Yên-Khê, becomes a prostitute. However, she does not become an average prostitute. Instead of becoming a common prostitute, she instead fills the fantasies of fetishists, including those who enjoy watching women urinate. The Poet guards the Sister making sure she remains a virgin and affection grows between the couple. Therefore on one end the Poet is making the grandson murder while on the other he makes the sister embody the fantasies of perverts.

Cyclo has to be one of the most violent films that I have ever seen. While there are not many scenes of violence, scenes such as the torture scene with the terrifying Mr. Lullaby are truly horrific. The grandson's self-destructiveness is also quite difficult to watch. Also the depictions of poverty are also quite eye opening and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is quite immense. However, these scenes are also quite beautiful. One can literally feel the humidity of Vietnam, smell the rotting starfruit, and experience the frustration and hopelessness of the grandson when his cyclo is stolen.

While I cannot recommend this film to everyone, I do recommend it to those who are interested in Asian film and especially those who have yet to watch films outside of East Asia.

In the tradition of foreign films, this movie reveals a world that is either misunderstood or ignored: the ordinary life of a young man trying to survive in a place that is unforgiving and unyielding. Our tragic hero is none other than an ordinary average guy forced to fend for himself amoung the company of thieves, prostitutes, and other ordinary average people like himself all trying to eek out a living in a city that puts new york to sleep. He is introduced into the world of cyclo drivers (dominated by s. viet vets) and later graduates into the a world of crime and finally returns to resume as an average cyclo driver.

The film portrays how brutal life really is in modern day saigon for some of her inhabitants. Utilizing the most realistic urban scenery, the director shows how only the strongest survive and the weakest are ignored in urban sprawls. Saigon and its faceless inhabitants are never the same to someone who sees this movie for the first time. The movie gives its viewers a glimpse into a world that no one outside, or inside in some instances, of saigon will ever see: true life in the eyes of a nobody in a modern city.

Note: Vietnamese with English subtitles.

Far from the lush tropical family gardens present in 'The Scent of Green Papaya' and the majestic landscapes seen in 'The Vertical Ray of the Sun' Anh Hung Tran's second installment in this trilogy of films explores the seamy underbelly of urban Vietnam. Street gangs, prostitution and the endless pursuit of trying to survive for one more day is definitely a departure from his other two films.

Young eighteen year old Cyclo works day and night as a bicycle taxi driver. When his cycle is stolen by a local street gang he is unable to earn a living and is eventually forced against his will to become a criminal. Meanwhile his sister is also lead astray by the quietly charming 'Poet' who leads her into the world of prostitution. The families hopelessness and desperation grows as the story unfolds and one is left to wonder if those caught in such unfortunate circumstances have any hope at all of ever escaping a world of such immense corruption and greed.

Anh Hung Tran's answer to this question is apparently found symbolically in the imagery of food, particularily fruit. In all three of Tran's films there is a scene of a mellon of some kind being meticulously cut open to reveal the moist, dormant seedlings slumbering within. I can only guess that such scenes are meant as a metaphor of new life and renewed hope always waiting to spring forth into the light of day and replace that which is forever passing away. While this may serve as an intriguing symbol to some, it hardly instills within the viewer much hope for the characters on the screen.

The incredibly beautiful Tran Nu Yen-Khe once again plays one of the principal characters (Cyclo's sister), along with the talented and immensely popular Asian superstar Tony Leung (Poet) and Le Van Loc in the starring role as Cyclo. As always, Anh Hung Tran's visual artisty is second to none and Tran Nu Yen-Khe is an absolute delight to watch.

Cyclo is not an usual movie : it's a movie about Viet Nam, Vietnamese people, about suffering, wondering, being lost and being saved, about desperation and hope, about love and frustration .. but all is perfectly mastered and controlled by Tran Anh Hung.

The film is about the ordinary life in Viet Nam, about hard times, struggle, the temptation of money and corruption ... violence and tenderness.

It is probably as of today the most accomplishd vision of modern Viet Nam, the most "insight journey" into the soul of Vietnamese, and as such, it's not an easy movie : for each scene, you need to wonder "what is the message", "what doe sthat mean" : behind the story, there are messages and analysis about the human being and their path.

Cyclo shall be a delightful movie for those who love Viet Nam and who want to feel and to understand its destiny, at a time where it stand at a crossroad.

On top of that, the movie keeps beautiful scene ful of peotry and beauty.

In Vietnam, a cyclo is both the driver of a bicycle taxi and a name given to the taxi itself. In Tran Anh Hung's 1995 film Cyclo, the cyclo driver is a naïve 18-year old (Le Van Loc) whose innocence is corrupted by the choices he is compelled to make to escape the circle of grinding poverty. Cyclo is far removed from the director's introspective and contemplative dramas (Scent of Green Papaya, Vertical Ray of the Sun) that preceded and followed it. In Cyclo, Tran assaults our senses with the churning swirl of colors and sounds of Ho Chi Minh City, capturing the vibrations of the city with its street markets, pavement cafes, sidewalk vendors, and choking traffic. He also shows the underbelly of the city: its violence, flesh for hire, and atmosphere of poverty, dirt, and decay. While the violence is graphic and unsettling, it is not exploitative and without the glamour associated with gangster films. Cyclo has little dialogue, mostly gestures and silences, and cinematographer Benoit Delhomme's focus on the underlying beauty of the city gives the film a lyricism that renders the violence ambiguous.

Cyclo has lost both parents and lives in near poverty with his grandfather (Le Kinh Huy), who continues to work fixing bicycle tires despite his failing health. His younger sister (Phan Ngoc Lieu) earns a living by shining shoes outside of restaurants and the older sister (Tran Nu Yen-Khe) works as a cook and delivery person. Cyclo's father was also a pedicab driver but was killed when he was hit by a truck. Cyclo's boss (Nguyen Nhu) is known only as the Boss Lady (none of the characters in the film are named) who leads a criminal operation while taking care of her retarded son (Bjuhoang Huy). When Cyclo's bicycle is stolen by a rival gang, the young man is recruited by the Boss lady and her associate, The Poet (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), a small-time hoodlum and pimp, to work off his debt.

The Poet is involved with robberies, sabotage, drug trafficking, and prostitution and is no stranger to homicide. He is strangely sympathetic to Cyclo, however, and seems to share with him the common longing for an absent father as revealed in the poetry he reads to him. Cyclo asks to join his gang but, in response, is forced to witness a mobster singing lullabies while he knifes a victim who is bound and gagged. Unknown to Cyclo, the Poet recruits his older sister into prostitution, making her available to men interested in various fetishes while preserving her virginity, presumably out of his own love for her. When her virginity is finally violated, The Poet tracks down and brutally murders the offending patron. Cyclo is forced to stay in an apartment away from his family and told to perform errands for the gang such as smuggling dope hidden in slaughtered cattle and throwing a gasoline firebomb into the building of the rival gang that stole his pedicab.

Tran's vision is hallucinatory and unnerving and I often found myself unable to distinguish between what is real and what is a dream. The story is told from Cyclo's perspective and we enter his mind to witness his steady descent into confusion and fear, culminating in a memorable sequence where he combines pills and liquor and drenches himself in blue paint. Cyclo is disturbing and raw but it is an original work of art, both a brutal and often bizarre look at Saigon's mean streets, and a searing love poem to the city and a young man who finally steps outside the vicious circle to discover himself beyond the chaos.

Cyclo is a masterpiece. Tran Anh Hung's neo-realist style is the result of his French film education. But only he could make a film like this. Set and shot in Ho Chi Minh City, Cyclo is an unforgettable film. Visually, it is a rich film, and contains just as much beauty as violence. This is a film full of "plastic" colors and textures, and also flesh and earth tones. It is one of the most beautifully shot films I have ever seen. Although it tries to be apolitical, Cyclo still makes most viewers think about what Vietnam is like, and what it means to them. In short, this film succeeds where "Kids," did not. It is a film about desperate lives in a poor, hot city. However, it does not preach a specific message to its audience. Cyclo really is a rich film about people drawn into dangerous situations they cannot control, and somehow survive. It remains one of the best films I've seen this decade.

Oh my, this was an unbelievable movie. I was flipping through the channels when IFC started this movie. At first I thought it was a documentary of the horrificaly poor life of Vietnamese society. Little by little this mesmerizing story came to life. I was horrified, appalled, yet completely taken aback by this tale.

This movie was so well acted that I really thought it was reality. Tony Leung is an awesome actor (also a hottie) who is sad and unhappy with his miserable existance of himself and those around him. Each character takes their own dark path in order to survive the harsh life they exist in.

If you want a movie that is heartwrenching and will make you think alot about society and how lucky and unlucky circumstances of birth can be, then this movie is for you. It is not an easy movie to mentally digest, but it is superb.