The weirdest film to appear this spring came out of Vietnam. The story of Bassley, a Nigerian footballer, begins in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City. A bizarre set of events, however, takes him away from his depressing surroundings and he is now given the chance to experience a primal coexistence within an unlikely community. Self-taught director Lê Bảo combined the raw and the aestheticised in a decidedly offbeat manner, prompting the British daily The Guardian to salute Taste as “best arthouse UFO” at the Berlin IFF.
The weirdest film to appear this spring came out of Vietnam. Self-taught director Lê Bảo combined the raw and the aestheticised in a decidedly offbeat manner, prompting the British daily The Guardian to salute Taste as “best arthouse UFO” at the Berlin IFF. The story of Bassley, a Nigerian footballer whose career in a foreign country is hampered by a broken leg, begins in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City. The dismal surroundings overwhelm the senses: the bare walls, murky interiors and penetrating damp only serve to illustrate the dejection he feels, brought on by this hostile metropolis. He is therefore grateful for the opportunity to live in a primal community with four women, where existence contracts to the smallest dimensions imaginable, until only the truly essential human requirements are laid bare.
Martin Horyna
95 min / Color, DCP
Director Lê Bảo
/ Screenplay Lê Bảo
/ Dir. of Photography Nguyễn Vinh Phúc
/ Editor Lee Chatametikool
/ Art Director Le Van Thanh
/ Producer Weijie Lai
/ Production E&W Films
/ Coproduction Deuxième Ligne Films, Petit Film, Senator Film Produktion GmbH
/ Cast Olegunleko Ezekiel Gbenga, Thi Minh Nga Khuong, Thi Dung Le, Thi Cam Xuan Nguyen, Thi Tham Thin Vu
/ Sales GoodFellas
Lê Bảo (1990, Vietnam). Selected filmography: Scent (Mùi, 2014, short), Unconsoled (2019, short), Taste (Vị, 2021).
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