Buffalo Boy (2003)
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100% of critics liked it
(5 reviews) -
46% of users liked it
(361 ratings)
A teenager coming of age in Vietnam in the '40s is faced with new challenges and troubling news as he asserts his independence in this drama. Kim (Le The Lu) is a 15-year-old living in a rural area where a six-month rainy season causes frequent flooding, threatening the lives of the water… More A teenager coming of age in Vietnam in the '40s is faced with new challenges and troubling news as he asserts his independence in this drama. Kim (Le The Lu) is a 15-year-old living in a rural area where a six-month rainy season causes frequent flooding, threatening the lives of the water buffalo which are crucial to the livelihood of the farmers. Eager to prove himself, Kim is given the important task of leading two buffalo to higher ground by his father Dinh (Nguyen Huu Thanh), but the flooding proves to be more than Kim counted on, and he returns with the news that one of the animals died during the journey. After an angry confrontation with Dinh, Kim strikes out on his own and goes to work for a farmer named Det (Kra Zan Sram), while striking up a friendship with Ban (Nguyen Thi Kieu Trihn), a woman who works with Det. Kim and Dinh resolve their differences shortly before Dinh's passing, but now Kim must deal with the responsibilities of burying his father and the startling revelation that his mother is not who he believed she was.~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Directed By
- Minh Nguyen-Vo
- Written By
- Minh Nguyen-Vo, Nam Son
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 2003 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News
If you have ever wondered what the life of a Vietnamese peasant was like in the 1940s, it seems unlikely there will be a lovelier evocation of it than Buffalo Boy.
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Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Ostensibly a coming-of-age story, this languorous, beautifully shot feature debut from Vietnam tells a deceptively simple tale in a deceptively simple fashion.
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Doug Cummings, Filmjourney
In a lesser film, the copious floods would signal pat themes of life and renewal, but Nguyen-Vo emphasizes the water's destructive power as well.
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Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Austere but beautiful film about the desperately poor in Vietnam during the 1940s.
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Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
This beautiful film offers a rare, poetic glimpse of life in rural Vietnam during the French occupation.
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