The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)

Purely Joyful Movie!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Snooze-fest. And I was duped! I was looking for a Vietnamese film with English subtitles. Not many to be found. Came across this which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film representing Vietnam. It previously won the Camera d'Or at Canne. Well, turns out it was filmed on a sound stage in France. Seriously?!?! I wanted Hanoi, I got Paris. In any case, it's a well-filmed art-house movie, beautiful in its aesthetics (and thinking about it retrospect, a very close-up shot film to hide the fact it's all a studio set!) Unfortunately the movie suffers terribly in more ways than it's good. I'm not sure I've ever seen a slower moving film practically about nothing. An ordinary servant girl goes to live with a family at age 10. At age 20 she's working for someone else. That's about it. Antagonist? Conflict? Tension of any kind??? Not until about the last 10 minutes. Yawn. Sort of a Cinderella ending so perhaps a bit of a chick flick. Very well acted but yawn. Agonizingly slow. (Yawn!) High rating on IMDb but for my zero pirate dollars spent, it was (at the time) my 10th Worst Movie watched in 2013.3.4 / 10 stars--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

I guess when people say this is beautifully filmed they are talking about the close ups of frogs and the cooking of meals. It certainly doesn't refer to the set which seems to be composed of about 3 rooms with no outside shots at all. Also all of it is filmed too close up.I got sick of the little boy who keeps farting at Miu or pouring hot wax over ants...also do Vietnamese spend all their time sitting on their haunches? Kind of gross looking at least the way this movie depicts it--one close up of it would have been plenty not a dozen or more.Then finally comes part two... a chick flick for Vietnamese girls with the perfect handsome rich man who spends all day playing the piano (He is cultured). The pretty maid steals him like the forbidden green mango fruit. Deep.Except for a few nice close ups this film is a dud. It is sort of a soap opera with out dialog. It is cloyed. How is it beautiful?? The set looks completely fake.No don't make the mistake I did and rent it because someone recommended it. I was expecting beautiful shots of the coastal mountains of Vietnam or something when I heard it was a visual gem.I wanted to like this movie. I like foreign movies even prefer them. But this movie is dumb and dull. It will leave you irritated that something like this won a bunch of prizes.

After reading everyone's comments, the movie can be summarised as being long and lacking in action. Now, what makes the difference is the quality of the picture and colours, unforgettable. This movie is not just about Mui's work experience as a maid in a wealthy house, nor about her feelings for her new Master ten years later (a ten-year gap in the story), neither about Vietnam itself. The movie looks like it's taken slices of Mui's personal story, so that people would have a private "look" at a few events that marked her life, a form of autobiography, as the ending demonstrated, by Mui talking directly to the viewer. Does the movie need action? I think not. Does it need to demonstrate something? I don't think so. Finally, I highly recommend watching this movie, but mainly when you're in the mood for some quiet time to yourself. It's not your usual Friday night screening.

"Cyclo", the film Tran Ahn Hung made following this, his debut, is one of my all-time favorite films. This film isn't bad at all, but nowhere close to that masterpiece. No question Tran Ahn Hung is a very good filmmaker, but this wasn't quite compelling enough. Pretty to look at, but not a whole lot else. Ultimately I think the film is just slightly too subdued for it's own good, and threatens to disappear into it's own poetic reverie. Also, at times the film was distractingly stagey, not surprising considering that it was shot entirely on a set. Particularly problematic were the outdoor scenes, although there weren't very many of them.