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Film & TV
Review: From Czechia, ‘Trường Hè, 2001’ Bridges Family Divides, Both Onscreen and in Real Life
Summer School, 2001, directed by Czech-Vietnamese writer and director Dužan Duong, was first released last year and has received critical acclaim within the Czech Republic and Europe. Now, the film has come to Vietnam, where it is available in Galaxy, Cinestar, and Beta theaters across Saigon, Hanoi and Đà Nẵng.
Film & TV
Review: From Czechia, ‘Trường Hè, 2001’ Bridges Family Divides, Both Onscreen and in Real Life
Summer School, 2001, directed by Czech-Vietnamese writer and director Dužan Duong, was first released last year and has received critical acclaim within the Czech Republic and Europe. Now, the film has come to Vietnam, where it is available in Galaxy, Cinestar, and Beta theaters across Saigon, Hanoi and Đà Nẵng.
Film & TV
A (Literally) Brief History of Vietnamese Representation in 'Mean Girls' (2004)
Written by Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey and premiered in 2004, Mean Girls is often heralded as a sharp, self-aware comedy that was ahead of its time, yet still holds up surprisingly well today. Alas, its depiction of Asians has aged a little more poorly, even though at the time of its release, the Asian representation was shockingly accurate for its time, despite some haphazard characterizations.
Rewind
In 'Cú Và Chim Se Sẻ,' a Director's Radical Empathy for Saigon's Less Fortunate
“They can do what they want. The city owns the zoo. They could sell all the animals here. They could turn it into a golf course. We’re just little people — you and me.”
Ẽplain
How Táo Xanh Forum Created a Safe Space for Gay Vietnamese Before Social Media
Before Vietnamese could hop on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to share our hot takes of the week, there was an era of past cybersphere when online forums were the crucial online space to connect local netizens.
Culture
Uncovering the Mystery of 'Ai Ai Ai I'm Your Butterfly' on Chinese Toy Phones
There’s a particular sequence of sounds that many, if not all, of us would remember by heart: two rings of the phone, a high-pitched female voice saying “Can I help you?”, some dog barks, and then “Ai ai ai, I’m your little butterfly.”
Culture
An Homage to the Sounds of Saigon Past That Are Going Extinct
After someone or something reaches the end of their days, which aspects of their existence in the minds of those who remain would be the first to succumb to the erosive brush of time? Is it sight, smell, touch, taste, or sound?
Film & TV
Monotonous Viet-Dubbed K-Dramas Were the Soundtrack of My Childhood
When I was growing up, my family owned a broken TV whose screen would unexpectedly go black while the audio continued to play. Turning it off and on again a couple of times would fix the problem, but it was such a hassle that sometimes we just let it be. It was stationed in our dining room, and my parents loved putting on Korean dramas when we were eating. So whenever I reminisce about my childhood, the sound of dubbed K-dramas always plays the background.
Film & TV
Before Squid Game became an international phenomenon and put K-dramas on the world map, audiences in Asian countries including Vietnam were enthralled by Boys Over Flowers , The Medical Brothers , Terms of Endearment , Dae Jang Geum — all of which are classics that we still look upon with nostalgic affection.
Culture
Once upon a time, it was really, really hard to halt the growth of pirated DVD/CD stores in Hanoi. Nowadays, if you take a peek into the window of Hàng Bài Street’s former counterfeit/bootleg DVD stores, here are a few things you will see: CD covers of Taylor Swift albums before her bleached-haired era, a copy of “Now That’s What I Call Music 54,” a Dawn of The Planet of the Apes knock-off, a recording of “Cats” (the musical album, not the film). The entire store is stuck in a not-so-distant past, without any seller or customer. In a bustling Hanoi, the once so-called “Capital of Bootlegs” now lies humbly, nestled quietly in a dormitory’s front corner.
Rewind
In 2005, I was in middle school. I had never had a cellphone nor known what the internet was — our home didn’t have ADSL until ninth grade. Life as a fledgling pupil in Saigon revolved around homework, catching the latest That’s So Raven episode on Disney Channel, and riding behind my dad’s back on our family motorbike every day to and from school. But something was about to change: 2005 was the year I went to the movies for the very first time.
Tech
A simple nhạc vàng song, when put in the right atmosphere, can evoke in us an unfathomable sense of dread.
Film & TV
Gone were the days of timing one’s bathroom dash exactly during commercial breaks and gathering around a neighbor’s old television set, the only one in the entire alley, to relish every minute of a hot soap opera.
![[Photos] 17 Photos of 2002 Saigon as Seen From Above](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/2019/Feb/25/saigon-2002/AerialSaigon2002_SGRb.jpg)
Saigon
2002 might not seem like a long time ago, but Saigon’s urbanscapes have grown so much in the last ten years that these scenes offer some surprising insights into our city 17 years in the past.
Film & TV
In the age of internet streaming services, gone are the days when our selection of entertainment was limited to what local TV stations broadcasted. These illustrations by Vietnamese artist Tu Bui will be a nostalgic trip down memory lane for many Saigoneers.
