Underplayed Gems

When the Tenth Month Comes (1984)

When the Tenth Month Comes poster
Original title
Bao giờ cho đến tháng Mười
Directed by
Đặng Nhật Minh
Genre
psychosocial
Country
Vietnam
Runtime
1h 35m
Rated
PG
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 21 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young woman in rural Vietnam struggles with grief after her husband dies in the Cambodian-Vietnamese War. The story follows her daily hardships as she tries to keep up appearances while living with loss and hardship. The film shows the quiet tragedy of ordinary people caught in the shadow of war.

slow-burnmelancholicbleakoppressivesadcontemplativewar-tornintimate

What happens

When the Tenth Month Comes (Vietnamese: Bao giờ cho đến tháng Mười) is a Vietnamese war film. The first Vietnamese film to be shown in the West after the Vietnam war, The film primarily centers around the misery of a young woman whose husband has died in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. Despite the peaceful rural setting, the film is shot in black and white illustrating the oppressive and suffocating atmosphere of war. The theme of sadness and the inevitability of death dominates the film, uncovering a painful daily reality - a living imprint of Vietnam's history on the common people. Since the actress Lê Vân played the title role of this film, her name has been closely linked to the character Duyên, the wife of the sacrificed fighter, a symbol of the fate of thousands, even millions of Vietnamese women in the face of war. Minh wanted to represent and embody this figure of the soldier's companion but also show the difficulties experienced by peasants in their daily life during the war. The film was important in establishing the career of director Dang Nhat Minh internationally and it was also subject to multiple governmental reviews. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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