| |
|
|
|
Buffalo Boy
|
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $22.49
Your Save: $ 2.46 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: FIRST RUN FEATURES
Starring: The Lu Le, Thi Kieu Trinh Nguyen, Huu Thanh Nguyen, Zan Sram Kra, Van Be Truong
Directed By: Minh Nguyen-Vo
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0720229912051
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: FIRST RUN FEATURES
Manufacturer: FIRST RUN FEATURES
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: FIRST RUN FEATURES
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-03-21
Running Time: 98
Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
A beautifully shot feature from director Nguyen-Vo Nghiem-Minh, BUFFALO BOY is a powerful and nuanced coming-of-age story about 15 year old Kim (Le The Lu), the son of a poor family struggling in 1940's Vietnam. Set in CÃ -Mau, the last frontier at the southern tip of Vietnam where the low land meets the sea, the people survive by following the cycles of the flooding and dry seasons. Every rainy season, lasting about six months, water covers the entire land and the farmers must take the buffalo on a long journey to the mountains in search of food. When Kim is sent by his ailing father to find grass for their two starving buffalo, he takes up with a rough and dangerous band of buffalo herders. On the journey, he discovers an adult world of brawls, alcohol, and pillaging-- one that, over time, gives way to friendship, love and the joy of freedom.
Inspired by the classic short story collection, 'Scent of the CÃ -Mau Forest' by Son Nam, one of the Vietnam's most distinguished writers and a native of CÃ -Mau, BUFFALO BOY is a journey of self-discovery that also gives witness to the exhausting cycles of life under colonialism's poverty.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: In the Mekong
Comment: "Buffalo Boy"
In the Mekong
Amos Lassen
"Buffalo Boy" takes place in the 1940's along the southern coast of Vietnam during the French occupation. Water is everywhere both bringing life and decay. Kim, a 15 year old boy, lives with his mother and father and two buffalo. They are rice farmers but it is the rainy season and there is no grass to feed the animals. Kim volunteers to take the buffalo inland to find something for them to eat. This is his coming-of-age journey. He sees a lot--the mistreatment of women by men, men fighting with each other and taxation by the French that is hurting the poor. But Kim matures on this trip especially when he goes to work for Lap whose own past is intertwined with the past of Kim's parents. He is lucky enough to make friends with those who will guide him to his place in the worldly scheme of things.
One would think that watching the lives of the poor would be depressing and it is but there is a lyrical beauty here. There are also important themes in this film. There is the mixture of Buddhism and Christianity and the rule of the French in a country which in no way resembles its own land. There us the theme of life and death and how we flow those who came before us.
We are given insight into the culture of a people we do not know much about. We see the value of the buffalo which is a necessity for the tilling of rice. We also learn about the disposal of bodies when the ground is flooded. Here is a film about a life we will not know and how a teenage boy becomes a man. The performances are powerful and chief among them is the water which is responsible for life and for death.
Here is a culture far removed from our own; a culture of savagery. We see lapses in moral character but above all else we see dedication to the animals and to the humans who encourage Kim on his journey. Here is an honest portrayal of moral conflict and honor. The images will linger with you long after the lights come up.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very interesting, but not for everyone.
Comment: You will find this appealing if you are trying to understand rural Vietnam.It really floods like it does in this movie and their buffalo (real buffalo, not bison like here in US) are very efficient "tractors" in the rice fields. No pretty girls in ao dais. This story transpires while VN is a French colony.
Customer Rating:
Summary: errr..i'll give a bad review
Comment: The movie takes place in Ca Mau, but I don't think it was actually filmed there. I have a lot issues with the mechanics in the plot, like when the kid has to bury his father... he just lets the old man to go off by himself to do it. This might seem like something arbitrary, but from a Vietnamese cultural perspective, the burial of your father pretty darn important. The main character should have at least followed or helped, instead of sitting around the house doing nothing. The fact that he entrusted a complete stranger to bury his father is absurd to me. Also, there's no way the old man could have pushed the corpse overboard along with all the weights, without tipping over the canoe.
The film is more concerned about throwing out rhetoric and ideals of aesthetics than telling a coherent story. I find this to be true with other Vietnamese American films like 3 Seasons (Ba Mua) and First Morning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: You Wouldn't Want To Live This Kind Of Life!
Comment: Frankly, I am surprised I hung with this movie because it's pretty slow. It's not a real "entertainer," except for two things: 1 - the camera-work is nice at times; 2 - the story is quite different from anything we are accustomed to in the West. But after two-thirds of this story had elapsed, it was tough going the rest of the way. It's not an uplifting story, either. It left me feeling depressed. Yet, it IS a memorable film and I'm glad I watched it. Does that make sense?
Floods, family, friends, enemies, thieves, sex, loyalty, poverty and abandonment and generally what life is like for those people in this story. With all the water around them, they couldn't bury their loved ones until the dry season came. They wrapped them up and put them on poles, and hoped the crows didn't peck away at the bodies. There are enough bizarre (for us) scenes like this, plus the fine cinematography, to make this a film with a few scenes you won't forget.
You wouldn't want to live here, at the southern tip of Vietnam with these rainy, long flood seasons. Lugging a couple of Water Buffaloes through waist-deep muddy water for miles can't be a great existence, either. This is a tough story of people surviving under tough circumstances.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautiful scenery with its remarkable sounds.
Comment: If you are interested in watching scenes of rural Vietnam, this may serve to become one of your collection. The sounds of rivers and water buffaloes which are blended with the rural landscape appear to be in harmony which sometimes make the viewer feel that he is in there. Although the cinematography is well worth it,the plot is rather weak and some of the scenes appear dragging which reminds me of some articles in National Geographic Magazines. However, the actors and actresses I think did their part well. We would welcome more movies about Vietnam.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
