GONE, GONE, FOREVER GONE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
GONE, GONE, FOREVER GONE (GATE, GATE, PARAGATE) is Vietnam's entry for consideration as the best foreign film at the 1996 Academy Awards. The film looks at the changes in Vietnam since 1945. It is a gentle film that uses the viewpoint of a Buddhist nun to tell the story.
The film opens in Hue in 1985, but it jumps back to 1945 and then works its way forward. The emperor is to be no more so his concubines are set free. One played by Phuong Dung becomes a Buddhist nun and eventually the head nun. Her two brothers, played by Le Tuan Anh and Hoang Phuc, will lead much less peaceful lives. One will go to fight for the North and the other for the South. The nun's goal in the story is to reunite her family.
Director Ho Quang Minh (WHITE PAGE and KARMA) sets a tone so subtle and lifeless that it borders on catatonia. A few times soldiers will come through and fire a few rounds, and sometimes there are gunshots in the background; but most scenes are dark and inanimate. Typical ones have two characters in shadows talking lowly. Rarely is the script by Nguy Ngu and Ho Quang Minh involving.
The film's pace is excruciatingly slow. That this is partially intentional is hinted at by the lead. "We nuns try to spend a whole life learning what meditation is," she tells soldiers who are not having much luck trying to question her. "We cannot answer your questions quickly."
There is one beautiful sequence in the picture of a Buddhist meal. It is choreographed so that every movement is synchronized and in perfect harmony. The flaw of the scene is that the editor lets it go on way too long so that charm eventually gives way to tedium.
Perhaps the single biggest problem with the film is the actors, who do little more than read their lines. None of them show any emotion, and their characters become stick figures. There is a tinge of emotion in the end, but little in the rest of the picture.
GONE, GONE, FOREVER GONE starts with a good premise, but the director is unable to craft a compelling motion picture from it.
GONE, GONE, FOREVER GONE runs 1:30. It is in Vietnamese with English subtitles. It is not rated, but would probably be PG for the little bit of shooting. Kids would probably have to be nine or ten to be interested, but the show is acceptable for kids of any age. I found the film too boring to be able to recommend it. I give it * 1/2. If you want to see a stronger entry for this year's best foreign film, check out my review of KOLYA which won the Golden Globe.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: January 25, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews