Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 18
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 457
A girl who refuses to surrender her optimism despite difficult circumstances brings two unlikely strangers together in this comedy drama from Vietnam. Thuy (Pham Thi Han) is an orphan who, after the death of her parents, has been sent to live with her uncle Tran Le Minh (Nguyen Hau). Tran runs a company that processes bamboo, and he puts Thuy to work in his factory, where's she puts in long hours and is treated poorly by her uncle and his associates. Convinced life has better things to offer,
May 29, 2009 Limited
May 25, 2010
Wave Releasing
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (4) | DVD (1)
By taking a fairly unromantic approach to the standard strangers-meet-in-a-cold-world premise, writer-director Stephane Gauger crafts a lovely, lovelorn fable.
Owl and the Sparrow is a beautifully com posed romance from Vietnam.
Stephane Gauger's debut feature, Owl and the Sparrow, is a charming little movie, nothing more.
Owl and the Sparrow is yet one more film that preaches the importance of opening your heart and reaching out to those around you, but that treacly sentiment is nicely undercut by the unvarnished naturalness of the actors.
A strangely overdone finalé, complete with surging musical crescendos and tears, rings false, given the earnest and unsentimental qualities exhibited elsewhere in Gauger's script and direction.
The principal actors all do a nice job, but a special commendation goes to young Han, a Saigon resident with some experience onstage.
Director Gauger sees to it with a light, wistful touch plus a maximum of Vietnamese local color.
A simple and well-acted tale told with a lyrical, unfussy directness, which is sometimes really refreshing.
A captivating and engrossing drama brimming with genuine warmth and tenderness as well as a charismatic, radiant and heartfelt performance by newcomer Pham Thi Han.
A pleasant change of pace to see a film set in Saigon which isn't a high body-count splatter flick about the ravages of the war in Indochina. Worthwhile if only for the reminder that the Vietnamese are people, too!
An enchanting story of a homeless girl on the streets of Saigon who has a big heart and a yearning to be accepted for who she is.
Sentimental without being cloying, the film is a charmer, just like the gravely wide-eyed Pham.
For better and (largely) for worse, Stephane Gauger's Ho Chi Minh City-set Vietnamese-language debut Owl and the Sparrow is defined by its Amerindie aesthetic.
A simple Vietnamese story well told, one that evokes images of Truffaut and Panahi.
The movie doesn't play as saccharine as it sounds, but gentle sentimentality runs this show nonetheless.
... a slice of relatively uneventful life in Vietnam. ... I never cared about any of the characters or about the predictable story.
Hypnotic, heartfelt character study at its gentlest and most charming. I was so enrapt in this tale of a little girl and the new family she finds that my natural cynicism didn't stand a chance.
Smartly balancing earnest sentiment with an unvarnished look at contemporary Vietnamese life, [Director Stephane] Gauger deftly bridges cultural, emotional and artistic barriers while remaining true to a uniquely Asian aesthetic.
A really good, sweet, honest and touching movie. The cast is excellent, the story is well-crafted, and it shows quite well despite an obviously tiny budget. I enjoyed getting a glimpse of a very different culture, and people, who are able to find happiness in friendship despite the difficult circumstances they live in.
May 23, 2011Super Reviewer
Owl and Sparrow; this Vietnamese film about a run away girl who meets a flight attendant in Siagon is a very beautiful story that you will enjoy.
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