Pearls of the Far East

I had the pleasure of seeing this movie yesterday when the directors/producers and other crew had an encore screening, given the amazing success at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.

Boy, am I happy to have spent the time to do so! This movie tells seven love stories, all in different ways, with different people, and with minimal dialogue. Ultimately, these stories moved me in ways I had not imagined possible by a movie. It is not a regular romantic movie - with its intelligence and beauty, it goes far beyond that.

You are taken across Vietnam getting to know characters in ways we all know ourselves - we all seek out love and we find it in different, surprising ways.

The scenery amazed me like no other move before, given it was all natural, and the score, which was so important for a movie without many spoken words, ended up merging with the characters' movements, smiles, cries, laughs and everything in between, making it a feast for my soul.

You don't need to know the Vietnamese language to watch this movie (I don't) - you need to be human.

Spend a moment to watch it. You will cherish that moment forever. I know I will.

PS: A thank you to the cast and crew is mandatory here. You all did a phenomenal job!