French, US and Vietnamese movies to be screened in Hanoi this July

A poster of Vietnamese movie "Moi Tinh Dau".

“Michael Kohlaas” will be screened on July 7 and 9 while “Les Aventures d’Adèle Blanc-Sec” will be on shown on July 9, “La Grande Illusion” on July 14 and 16, and “Belle and Sébastien” on July 16, all at L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Streeet

“Michael Kohlaas” (2013, 122′), was directed by Arnaud Des Pallière and stars Mads Mikkelsen, Mélusine Mayance, Delphine Chuillot, Sergi Lopez, and Denis Lavant.

The movie is about a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas in the 16th century in the Cévennes, who leads a happy family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, he raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.

“Les aventures d’Adèle Blanc-Sec” (2010, 107’), directed by Luc Besson and starring Louise Bourgoin, Mathieu Amalric, and Gilles Lellouche is about Adele.

Adele is writing the story of her adventurous journey through her own experience because she wants to find people who have the ability save her sister’s life after an accident. Her idea is to go to Egypt because the Egyptian medicinal practice has been developing for centuries, and then everything starts from here… mummies, dinosaurs all come back to life after a deep sleep…

“La Grande Illusion” (1937, 95’) by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay, Dita Parlo, Marcel Dalio, is an unforgettable story about the French and German soldiers during the first World War. A French classic!

During the First World War, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are sent to a seemingly impenetrable fortress which seems impossible to escape from.

The filmwas taken prisoner during the Second World War when the Nazis invaded France and Josef Goebbel’s propaganda ministry seized the original negative. That original was missing for years, but it was not destroyed. It made its way to Russia and ultimately to Toulouse, France, where it was found and restored.

“Belle and Sébastien” (2013, 104’), directed by Nicolas Vanier and starring Félix Bossuet, Tchéky Karyo, and Margaux Châtelier, is adapted from the famous French TV series “Belle et Sébastien” 1965. The film fascinates its audience with poetic shots of this wonderful friendship between a young boy and a dog.

“Belle and Sebastian” film is not the first adaptation of the story told by the creator of the television series, Cécile Aubry. Indeed, in parallel with the series, Aubry wrote a series of novels about its own universe in six volumes and a few years later, in 1981, the Japanese NHK has recovered the account in order to make an animated series 52 episodes: “Belle and Sebastian”. Set in France in 1943, the plot tells about a six-year-old boy and his dog looking to foil a Nazi effort to capture French Resistance fighters.

Language for the four movies is French with Vietnamese subtitles.

Tickets (VND40,000-VND50,000) are available at L’Espace.

“First Love” will come on July 20, at the Vietnam Feature Films Studio (VFS), 4 Thuy Khue Street.

The film “First Love,” directed by well-known artist Hai Ninh, was released in 1977. It won the Silver Lotus Award at the Fifth National Festival in 1980.

A poster of the American movie "Some Like It Hot".

“First Love” is based on short stories by writer Nguyen Huu Truong. It features many leading stars of the time including The Anh, Nhu Quynh, Tra Giang, Lan Huong, Bang Chau…

The film is set in Saigon before 1975, just before the Vietnam War ends. It was a time of confusion for young people who had many questions about what choices to make in their lives.

The film recounts the first love of a student Ba Duy (played by The Anh) with a young girl Diem Huong (portrayed by Nhu Quynh). Sadly, their relationship ended when Diem Huong was forced to marry an American counselor in order to save her father. A devastated and heartbroken Ba Duy dropped out school and turned to drugs as a way to forget his first love and his life. But hope returned when Hai Lan (played by Tra Giang), his sister and an intelligence officer working in the inner city, took him under her wing. She counselled him and helped get him back on the right track with his life.

When the liberation army was about to enter and during the final days of rioting in Saigon, Diem Huong suddenly finds out that her husband was plotting to kidnap Vietnamese children to sell to foreigners. Diem Huong was murdered by her husband in order to ensure his secret was not revealed.

This is a critically acclaimed film and is one of the favourite films from the 1970s. It leaves a strong impression and in particular the film was a breakthrough for Hai Ninh as he portrayed a story of love in a sensitive period.

Film is in black and white, 1 hour 41 minutes, English subtitles.

To get tickets, contact: filmteam.fvh@gmail.com

In addition, an old American movie - “Some Like It Hot” – will be introduced at The Centre for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents, 51 Tran Hung Dao Street (4th floor), Hanoi on July 7.

Some Like It Hot is a film set in 1929, directed and produced by Billy Wilder, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee, and Nehemiah Persoff. The plot is based on a screenplay by Billy Wilder and Michael Logan from the French film Fanfare of Love.

The film is about two musicians who dress in drag in order to escape from mafia gangsters whom they saw commit a crime inspired by the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. The film was produced in black and white, even though color films were increasing in popularity.

Some Like It Hot opened to largely positive reviews and is today considered to be one of the greatest film comedies of all time. It was voted as the top comedy film by the American Film Institute on their list on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs poll in 2000.

The film is also notable for featuring cross dressing, and for playing with the idea of homosexuality, which led to it being produced without approval from the Motion Picture Production Code. The code had been gradually weakening in its scope during the early 1950s, due to increasing social tolerance for previously taboo topics in film, but it was still officially enforced. The overwhelming success of Some Like It Hot was a final nail in the coffin for the Hays Code.

Language: English with Vietnamese subtitles.