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Rating:  - Sublime
The Scent of Green Papaya is a feast for the senses. It has an easy-going pacing that allows the watcher to fully take in all of the subtleties and richness the film has to offer. so if you are in a hurry, or can't adapt from hollywood pacing, this is not the film for you.
it has been years since my first viewing, but i remember the ending being a surprise as it leapt forward in time. even with the this leap, the film is well rounded, conveying a deep empathy and understanding for the characters.
it's as much about the magic and wonderment of childhood as it is ultimately a love story.
Rating: - beautiful movie.
The story is a simple one, without guile or subterfuge, so there is no need for deep analysis of symbols and metaphors. What makes the Scent of Green Papaya a work of art is the way that the cinematography showcases the lush and lovely sets, and most especially, the magically playful musical score, which adds an air of whimsy to otherwise mundane moments. Together, they capture the essence of everyday life in post-colonial Vietnam, yet ironically, the Scent of Green Papaya was filmed in its entirety on a sound stage in Paris.
Rating: - A veritable gem
Anh Hung Tran's "The Scent of Green Papaya" is quite simply a feast for the eyes, a series of exquisitely designed images, accompanied by evocative wisps of music and the sounds of everyday life. The gleam of freshly boiled grains of rice, the glow of embers in an open stove, the trickle of cool water over the face and shoulders of a woman bathing--these images convey the essence of the simple story. The plot, which seems almost incidental, follows the childhood and young adulthood of Mui, a country girl who comes to Saigon as servant to a merchant family. After ten years of service, following the decline of the family's fortunes, Mui becomes a maid in the house of Khuyen, a handsome, wealthy would-be composer. The luminously beautiful Tran Nu Yen-Khe plays the adult Mui with a remarkably understated delicacy. She says very little; indeed there is scarcely any real dialogue in the entire film, but words are hardly necessary to enable the viewer to appreciate the lush imagery and sensitive cinematography. Viewers enamored of action or steamy romance will be disappointed; lovers of visual beauty will be entranced.
Rating: - An Elegy to the Organic and Pastoral
Tran Anh Hung's the Scent of Green Papaya is a masterpiece for the ages. It is effectively two stories - the story of a young and then older Mui. Tran's movie, it can be argued - here as well as in "The Vertical Ray of the Sun" and less in "Cyclo" that he follows the predictable elements of the "pastoral" and deals head on with the issue of country/city tensions. Tran's country/city tension is simple but not simplistic - indeed it can be argued that it is complex. The visuals of nature and tradition occur within the city and are surrounded by urban decay.
With regards to the first section of the movie, when Mui is still a child, Tran develops her connection to nature with almost painting like images of nature as Mui fuses with the outside space of the house - when she is around the space collapses into itself both visually and through sound. I find myself nostalgic about the opening scene with Mui's first moments in her new abode. Right of the bat (no pun intended), the twittering of crickets overpowers most other auditory stimuli. There was a scene between Mui's new patron and husband playing an instrument, the twittering of crickets is heard over the music. Mui is almost always enclosed and bound by nature. When Mui is present, we see small animals and plants. Not to belabor the point, Mui's bed is underneath a window that looks out onto the garden of tropical bushes and a palm-like plant - again re-enforcing Mui's connection to nature. My sense is Tran's reference to nature is an elegy to things past - to a pre-modern Vietnam before the entry of the French and Americans. Consider this, when Mui is in the camera's sights in an enclosed space we always find plants or animals. Conversely, when Mui is not present, the scene is devoid of the same. In short, Mui's world is nature.
With regards to the second section, Múi becomes once again the elegy to pre-modernity - we see her tempted by modern culture when her former employers can no longer afford her as give her a chance at a better situation through the transfer to Khuyen's house. Of the less subtle juxtapositions is Mui vis-à-vis Khuyen's westernized fiancée. The fiancée begins to leave parts of her western "non-organic" beauty behind - her high heels and lipstick. The fiancée's beauty is artificial and problematizes the natural beauty - that defines this pastoral project. This artificial beauty exemplifies, actually counters, the artificial beauty which is Tran's "organic" project. Múi encounters these items in here heretofore organic space, she is spellbound and understandably cautious. With regards to the high heels and the lipstick - both metaphors for the unwanted unnatural - Mui wants to try on the high heels however never really completes its. With regards to the lipstick - she actually takes the plunge only later on to wipe it off. Múi fuses the two worlds when she dons the traditional Au Dai juxtaposed with the non-organic lipstick. Tran uses the lipstick to show the fusion (more like conquest) of modernity and urbanity forces onto nature and tradition. One could argue that playing on this juxtaposition is a metaphor for the different spaces one of modern Viet Nam and the other of Tran's more organic and pastoral vision of a pre-war/pre-modern Viet Nam as Múi wipes the lipstick off in shame.
I cannot overemphasize the beauty and depth of this movie. If you have not seen the movie - see it. If you have not bought the movie - buy it.
Miguel Llora
Rating:  - no title
This movie certainly beat to a different drummer, a VERY SLOW drummer. Visually striking and lushly photographed, it could be called a minimalist film. No emotion was shown except in one tantrum by the fiancee, in spite of the fact that a great deal was happening and had happened. Was meticulous in showing daily life in Saigon in 1951 and 1961. The roar of airplanes barely heard in the 50s had become thunderous and close by in '61. That was a wonderful touch, just the barest hint of impending doom for the way of life portrayed. But it moved too slow; people just do not move that slow physically. And I cannot say that I thought the acting was terrific either, since the script really didn't call for any. Its main strength lies purely in the cinematography and perhaps, in our minds, as the first feature by a Vietnamese (albeit now a Parisian) about pre-war Saigon. We are curious about a world we do not know, although the set does at times have a sound stage feel because it was filmed on one in Paris. There was much emphasis on food, eating and preparation and buying.
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