The Return

Using the idiom of melodrama but not the clichés, Dang explores the regrets and contradictions provoked by the new materialism which has swept Vietnam with the government's economic reforms. As a schoolteacher, Loan lost the man she loved; already married, he left on an illegal boat to seek his fortune overseas. Three years later she's unhappily married to a go-getting nouveau riche businessman when her first love comes back. Vastly more accomplished than most Vietnamese films, this is original and sincerely felt. And its ending is a real surprise.