Three Seasons

Released 1999
Stars Don Duong, Ngoc Hiep Nguyen, Manh Cuong Tran, Harvey Keitel, Zoe Bui, Huu Duoc Nguyen
Directed by Tony Bui

Three Seasons is the first American-funded production to lens in Vietnam after the war. As such, it was subject to careful scrutiny by the Vietnamese government. Visually, it's a lyrical and rich motion picture, with images that linger in the mind's eye: a glorious portrait of a majestic old house on the shore of a lotus pond, a lane flanked by red-flowered trees whose petals flutter groundward, and shots of a central square in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), where tradition wars with modernization. That, in fact, is one of the central themes expressed throughout Three Seasons - how the Vietnam of today is still defined by the constant battle between the past and the present, and how the American influence has never been completely eradicated.

The narrative is comprised of four different stories. One tells of the relationship between a young girl who harvests lotus flowers, and her employer. He's a poet who has lost the ability to write due to the progressive degeneration of his body caused by leprosy. In the city, a cyclo driver has become infatuated with a prostitute. From the moment he first helps her out of a tight spot, he is smitten with her, but she regards his attentions as annoyances. Elsewhere in the city, an American GI, James Hager (Harvey Keitel), has returned to Vietnam after a 30 year absence to find the daughter he fathered during the war. Finally, there's the boy Woody, a street peddler who makes his living selling cheap watches, flashlights, chewing gum, and cigarettes to passersby in the street.

One criticism that will undoubtedly be leveled against Three Seasons is that its vision of Vietnam is too sunny (not literally - it's almost always raining). Indeed, with the exception of a few rare moments, we fail to glimpse anything dark or depressing. Prostitution and street solicitation are sanitized so they appear almost appealing. The country itself looks like the ideal place for a vacation. Vietnam is presented favorably in Three Seasons, and the cynic in me has little difficulty understanding why the government would approve Bui's request to film on location. You can't buy this kind of positive publicity. Nevertheless, it is unfair to charge the movie with being a slice of pro-Vietnamese propaganda, because it's much more than that. It's an accomplished and effective piece of film making that works on many levels.

Summary by James Berardinelli