Cyclo

Filmed entirely on location in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh city, director Tran Anh Hung (whose first film, L'Odeur de la Papaya Verte, won several prizes) has created the tale of an 18 year-old-man who survives in an overcrowded and chaotic city as a bicycle-taxi driver. With both parents dead, he does his best to improve circumstances for himself , his 2 sisters, and his grandfather, but once the rented rickshaw is stolen his troubles loom even larger. In order to pay for the bike, he becomes involved with the criminal underworld.

The path becomes harder and more destructive, but all is not yet lost. The nearer the film draws to its close, the more it resembles a surrealistic nightmare, where the line between reality and dream become indecipherable. Beautifully and startlingly poetic photography by Benoit Dehomme. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.