The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
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quieter movies
pather panchali (1955), bengali
valerie and her week of wonders (1960), czech
where is the friend's house (1987), persian
the scent of green papaya (1993), vietnamese
in the mood for love (2000), cantonese
uncle boonmee who can recall his past lives (2010), thai
ida (2013), polish
paterson (2016), english
roma (2018), spanish
portrait of a lady on fire (2019), french
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Mùi đu đủ xanh (The Scent of Green Papaya | Tran Anh Hung | 1993)
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I liked the part with the cicadas.
A slow stroll through beautiful visuals, calm atmosphere, and the gentle sound of a đàn nguyệt.
Extremely light on plot and structure, but consistently enjoyable. The last act did fall apart a little when it became a sort of rushed, melodramatic montage, almost devoid of dialogue. I much prefered Man San Lu's great, natural performance as Mùi, to Tran Nu Yên-Khê's vaguely unsettling expressions and demure posturing.
Lots of satisfyingly presented cooking and mundane chores, bringing to mind a Ghibli movie. I particularly enjoyed the way ambient sounds like cicadas and rainfall were mixed, sometimes verging on overpowering the dialogue but in a way that felt intentional.
The use of a sound stage was obvious, but the sets looked fairly good and some of the camera movements allowed by missing rear walls worked quite well. I also liked the use of windows and doorways in framing shots, which complemented the semi-open feeling of traditional Vietnamese architecture.
For some reason the synopsis on SBS On Demand said this was about a girl who gets married and learns to play the piano, but only half of that is even implied to have happened, off-screen, in the final two minutes of the movie.
The Scent of Green Papaya is more accurately about the life of a girl in 50's and 60's Saigon and not a lot else. That it even takes place against the backdrop of the First Indochina War is only hinted at by the occasional sound of passing aircraft or curfew sirens.
A pleasant, serene movie. Very good.
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The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
directed by Tran Anh Hung
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