Underplayed Gems

Tum Teav (2003)

Tum Teav poster
Country
Cambodia
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.

More films like this

How it feels

A young couple named Tum and Teav fall deeply in love but face obstacles from family and society. Their story ends in tragedy, illustrating a Cambodian proverb about mothers' influence over daughters' marriages.

tragicromanticemotionalslow-pacedfolkloricpoignantheart-wrenchingmelancholic

What happens

Tum Teav (Khmer: ទុំទាវ) is a 2003 Romance-tragedy Cambodian film portraying the tragedy of the star-crossed lovers Tum and Teav. The film was inspired by a love story - Tum Teav - which has been told throughout Cambodia since the 19th century, and revived an old Cambodian proverb that says "The cake is never bigger than the basket" (នំមិនធំជាងនាឡិ), meaning that the daughters (cake) were thought that they would not find a good husband without the help of their mothers (basket). The 2003's film of this traditional story became very popular that year in Phnom Penh, selling full box-office in all the capitals' theaters for a full season, getting good reviews to the point of being called the "fuel revival" of the long defunct Cambodian Cinema industry. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.