the rocket (bang fai)

this film screened at siff this year (seattle international film festival.)  and it's the first time i've seen a Lao language film at siff, so it was pretty exciting.  here is the preview - (it only showed twice - and friday's showing was sold out.)

the only confusing thing about the movie is that the characters are clearly not Lao, (from their dress, and a cultural tradition regarding twins that sits prominently in the film as a plot line, the family appears to be akha.) however, each of these characters spoke Lao, although we can guess that in their traditional settings, they would not.  i guess that the idea of a "Lao" movie, that ends up not being Lao - even though the language spoken is Lao - made me a little sad.  i mean, if you are gonna make a Lao movie, just make a Lao movie - and if you're gonna make an akha movie, just make it... however, this is an Australian production, and the twin plot is central to the story, so thanks to them for making the movie.

and in the end, this is a small point. overall the film was fun, poignant, and also beautiful to look at (despite some stock footage of a bat cave that looked like it was filmed with an iphone camera.  they should have used the galaxy siii.)

grade: b+