LOST IN PARADISE / HOT BOY NOI LOAN

Vietnam, 2011, 97 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Vu Gnoc Dang.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon in all the subtitles for this film) is hardly paradise. But to young men leaving home and venturing into the city for better jobs, better living and more money, it seems, initially, to be paradise. Needless to say, this film will show that it is not.

It has a seedy setting, the world of the prostitutes, male and female, who stand along the roads waiting for customers, mainly on motor bikes, to pick them up. While the prostitutes, on the whole, are portrayed sympathetically, their pimps are not. By the end of the film, a lot of the dialogue has been devoted to thinking through the effects of this kind of life (whether it be his fate as one of the main characters states or choice) and options made against it. A post-script states that the area we see in the film has been cleared and a supermarket built – though this only shifts the locales.

The other feature of the film is that the central characters are gay men, a new theme for Vietnamese films, but a theme familiar from Filipino and Singapore feature films. It is a story of love and its being exploited and corrupted. And, for the most part, it is a love story (with an emotional soundtrack and songs accompanying it), obviously making a case for men to be able to come out and be accepted and not be caught up in the prostitution business.

But, for long stretches of the film, we are treated to a different story altogether (and the two strands never meet). A mentally impaired collector of recyclables, befriends a woman on the streets and is harassed by her pimps. But, he is given a duck egg which he tends, very tenderly, until it hatches and then rears the ducklling. We spend a great deal of time with the man and his duck – a nice and compassionate story.

The film is well crafted and photographed with an emotional appeal in its comic story and in its tragic story.

1. A Vietnam story? An Asian story? A city story? Hopes, struggles, corruption? Contemporary?

2. A film of gay sensibilities, characters, coming out, family expectations, relationships, learning, corruption, prostitution, fate and choice?

3. Ho Chi Minh City, using the landmarks? Homes, shops, old markets, the recycling centre, the river, the old houseboat, the streets? The ordinary and the seedy atmosphere?

4. The musical score – romantic, the songs, the love story?

5. The credits, the young man exercising in the park, the focus on his body? The young stranger, resting on the seat? Responding to the invitation, going to the apartment, agreement at the price, paying, having a shower, being robbed? His taking the TV and thelandlady sending him off? His disillusionment?

6. The two and the robbery, sharing up the clothes and the money, Lam, his being sent to buy the sandwich, the other man taking all the money? Abandoning Lam? In view of their relationship?

7. Khoi’s story? From Na Trang, wanting to have a new life, the truth about his sexual orientation and his family, finding work, as a labourer, sleeping in the streets, his fall and his injury?

8. Lam's story? Coming to the city, being taken up by his friend, the customer and the threesome, his turning to prostitution, on the street, his friend on the street and their talk, the customers on their bikes? The friend and his being bashed? Lam helping him? The old lover and his pursuit, the phone calls, the temptation? His seeing Khoi in the street, returning the money and the clothes, wanting to help? The empathy between the two after initial suspicion? Khoi moving in? The relationship? Khoi and his testing Lam about his jobs, to give up the prostitution, to work with him in the bookshop? Lam unable to? The lover coming back, Lam stabbing his foot? Khoi and his work, his desperation about Lam and his job, deciding to go on the street himself, going with the man on the bike, then coming home, trying to teach Lam a lesson about feelings? Khoi deciding to leave? Lam wanting to get more money, setting up the robberies, eventually his being bashed? Lying bare on the ground?

9. The film’s discussions about prostitution, personal lives, compartmentalising lives? The emphasis on choice and not being passive to fate?

10. The story of the girl on the street, her pimps, their riding by, their demands?

11. Cuoi, elderly, fat, his sitting with the girl, his mental impairment, the of the pimps? His collecting stuff and taking it to the recycling centre? The duck egg, his happiness in getting it, tending the egg, it hatching, caring for the duck, his joy? The lady at the recycling centre sharing his joy, giving advice about the duck? The girl and her advice about how to feed it? The duck joining the other ducks on the river? His grief? Buying another duck – and then deciding to return it? The original duck coming back, his joy? The girl, coming to the boat, the pimps and their attack, her violence against them, the deaths, bashing Cuoi, her putting the corpses in the river, her confessing? And the story of Cuoi going to visit her in jail?

12. The two strands of the story – and their not meeting?

13. Khoi, going home, studying for his exams? The possibility of a different life – after being lost in the alleged Paradise?