“Memoryland” tackles the issues of modernity approaching and swallowing up traditions, customs and culture of Vietnam. In this nostalgic film, the characters have to deal with issues of grief and saying their last goodbyes to the close ones whose souls, somehow, do not want to leave this realm. Divided into three pieces (“Send Off”, “Nether World” and “This World”), “Memoryland” uses a layered storytelling structure to illustrate the paradoxes and tensions between technology and tradition. The former offers easy solutions and comfort, the latter can bring two people, who lived detached and isolated lives, together again.
Memoryland is screening at Five Flavours
An old painter learns of his wife's death, a construction worker widows a young woman, a mother asks her son to be burned after her death: although the storylines are at times a bit too confusing (they all, ultimately, tell similar tales), the strength of “Memoryland” lies in the harmony between them. The themes of escaping grief, taking responsibility and dealing with trauma clash with pragmatism and financial realities of contemporary Vietnam.
The visual storytelling is the film's forte. With desaturated, wide-angle shots, static frames and large depth of field, cinematographer Xuan Truong Dang creates a contemplative sense of distance between the protagonists and the viewer. The desolate surroundings, empty villages, run-down buildings, as well as precarious construction sites, all contribute to the creation of a particular moodscape. The locations feel like liminal sites, a limbo inhabited by the characters trying to move on with their lives and making final amends to the most important relationships they formed. However, it is also a limbo for Vietnam in general, with the country currently undergoing a rapid transformation into a more urbanized state. Xuan Truong Dang is shooting the protagonists by often placing them in strange parts of frames which add to the surreal feel of the film. The end product is all the more commendable given the director's comments, that the crew had only a camera and a basic lighting equipment at their disposal during the shoot.
If the cinematography plays the central role in the film, the editing often works against this effect. Very often it feels like “Memoryland's” scenes are composed of one cut too much, and when the director decides to get closer to characters by cutting to middle shots or close-ups, the result is quite jarring and distracting. As a result, “Memoryland” seems to be composed of two films that even feel like they were directed by two people: one is contemplative, subtle and relies on wider shots creating negative space (an apt metaphor for the characters' frame of mind), the other is too direct and lacking in nuance, with some of the symbolism feeling very heavy-handed. The two aesthetics are constantly battling each other in Bui Kim-Quy's film which, unfortunately, is very distracting.
The film's subtlety comes from the sequences in which the director decides to be oblique with the metaphors, like the one where the widow, Moc Mien (Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang) keeps requesting radio songs and dedicating it to various people. There is also a certain playfulness with which Bui Kim-Quy cuts between various realms and for example jumps between an elevated burial ceremony to quickly move to a more down-to-earth cremation site. The sacred in “Memoryland” clashes not exactly with the profane, but rather, with what's pragmatic and more feasible economically. This is often reminded to the viewer with various scenes going into great detail breaking down the costs of funerals, ceremonies and services tied to this business.
Bui Kim-Quy's film is a highly personal exploration of the universal themes of death and grief. Triggered by her own fathers' passing, “Memoryland” is at its strongest when it lets its imagery speak for itself. Visual metaphors and the somber tone of the film are matched with frugal performances from the cast. This is one not to be missed at Five Flavours Film Festival!
