A light, bright romantic comedy... from Vietnam? Well, actually, from a filmmaker born in Los Angeles to Vietnamese emigres. But Passport to Love was filmed largely on location in Saigon -- which, it should be noted, no character in the film ever refers to as Ho Chi Minh City -- and Orange County, California. After attracting audiences and winning awards in Vietnam, this polished Viet-U.S. co-production is slowly finding a following Stateside. I saw it a few nights ago at a Houston area megaplex, where it's been running for nearly three weeks, and noted that even a midweek screening could draw a respectable number of young Asian couples. My Variety review can be found here.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Review: Passport to Love
A light, bright romantic comedy... from Vietnam? Well, actually, from a filmmaker born in Los Angeles to Vietnamese emigres. But Passport to Love was filmed largely on location in Saigon -- which, it should be noted, no character in the film ever refers to as Ho Chi Minh City -- and Orange County, California. After attracting audiences and winning awards in Vietnam, this polished Viet-U.S. co-production is slowly finding a following Stateside. I saw it a few nights ago at a Houston area megaplex, where it's been running for nearly three weeks, and noted that even a midweek screening could draw a respectable number of young Asian couples. My Variety review can be found here.
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Joe, thanks for keeping an eye out for these under-the-radar films. I don't believe the Chron ever listed Passport to Love or Janky Promoters in its listing of "All Movies Now Showing"; perhaps they don't have the budget to access movie listings on the Internet. I probably won't check out either of these two, but I figured if you can bother with Janky, I can take the time to rent a couple of other obscurities. Maldeamores was Puerto Rico's entry for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar a year or two ago. (It didn't make the final list of nominees.) And someone liked Casi Divas enough to commission Hans Zimmer to write the music. Both had brief runs in Pasadena, unnoticed by the Chronicle, before coming out on DVD. And I found both to be light, entertaining comedies - not without faults, but good enough to recommend.
By the way, have you seen or heard about Noble Things, which opened in Beaumont this weekend? It's not listed at mrqe.com.
I actually saw Noble Things at the Nashville Film Festival last spring. Internet Movie Data Base indicates that it’s opening in only two cities – Mesa, AZ and Beaumont – this weekend. Presumably, these are the “select theaters” referenced on the movie’s website. To be brutally honest, I’m a little surprised it’s getting even this much theatrical exposure before DVD. Actually, I wouldn’t have known about it opening in theaters at all had I not been e-mailed a press release for…. the soundtrack CD. No kidding.
Yikes! Thanks for the feedback.
I really want to know how is the ending. who did hieu choose?
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