I can’t agree with the premise laid out in the 1001 text that Anh-Hung Tran’s Cyclo (1995) derives greatness from the fact that it showcases the modern Hanoi to a Western society that hadn’t seen the city since Ho Chi Minh renamed it for himself. That explanation is too simplistic, and is ultimately derived from a Eurocentric perspective that the film was made for audiences outside of Vietnam. And while I’m sure that Tran enjoys the international appreciation of his film, I would assume that he made it as much (if not more) for his domestic audience than he did in the hopes of winning the Golden Lion at Venice, which he did. Yes, Cyclo is an exploration of the city’s seedy underworld, and yes it is deeply concerned with the rhythms of the streets, but to assume that these images and rhythms would be less poignant had they been available in the interim between U.S. troop withdrawals and 1995 is ridiculous. They stand on their own merit.
The plot of the film is both simple
and complex. It asks us to follow the
lives of many individuals, but emphasizes two young men who essentially inhabit
two different Hanois. The first is
Cyclo, the generic name given to pedicab drivers, who lives a meager existence
currying passengers across town to provide for his sisters and grandfather. The second young man is Poet (Tony Leung Chiu
Wai), a stoic henchman for the loan shark who lent out the money for Cyclo’s
cab. The two men are brought together
after a rival criminal faction steals the cab as retaliation for a fare taken
to their own protected neighborhood. The
persistent turf war covers everything from cab fares, to prostitution, to
drugs, and Cyclo is drawn in full force.
To pay back the money he still owes
on the cab to the loan shark she forces him into Poet’s gang of thugs. At first he’s expected to commit petty crimes
and disruptions in the rival’s neighborhood, but increasingly he’s called on to
smuggle drugs and even perform a hit. He
becomes more and more wrapped up in the lifestyle, taking drugs and partying,
but less connected to the family he once supported. He’s so aloof in fact, that he doesn’t recognize
that Poet has also tapped his sister to work for him as a prostitute. When the pressures of gang life and struggles
to maintain his family finally boil over, Cyclo finds that he has little left
in life that he can rely on.
Cyclo
is a striking film, using a unique color pallet and varying film speeds to
create its artistic visuals. Though its
plot is loosely related to De Sica’s Bicycle
Thieves (1948), there is enough of a departure in its scope and number of
characters that it feels original. Whereas
De Sica’s film focused on the father and son at its center, Tran’s picture
feels like a completed picture of a subset of the city’s population. Though this occasionally makes for a
confusing narrative, it is ultimately a rewarding one.
Is
it notable that this film emerged from Vietnam after years of relative
cinematic silence from that nation? Yes. Is that what makes it an effective picture? No. Its
story would be moving, and its visuals and sense of place would be powerful in
any context. As a story of lost innocence
and seemingly immanent corruption, it is universal. Consider the scene in which Poet pimps out a young girl in a club to a high roller with U.S. cash. Radiohead's "Creep" plays over the club's sound system, and I get the sense that Poet knows its about him even if he can't understand the words. In any language he knows that he's sold his soul for something worth much less.
Language:
Vietnamese
Runtime:
123 Minutes
Grade:
3 Hats Off
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