Metrograph

“Hanoi journalist Vũ travels to the border town of Lạng Sơn to report on the aftermath of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese conflict. It is his ex-girlfriend’s hometown, and returning there forces him to confront memories of abandoning her to maintain his reputation and advance his career. This hallucinatory, psychological work entwining personal and political betrayal and grief was director Đặng Nhật Minh’s breakout film. Heartbroken by his own visit to the devastated town, Đặng wrote this story before being encouraged to adapt it for the screen. Shooting amid the actual ruins—which he described as looking ‘like a giant film studio that you didn't have to stage’—the director deepens this private reckoning by appearing on-screen himself.” —Minh Nguyen