"Cyclo" is directed by Tran Anh Hung, a genius filmmaker from Vietnam who previously made "The Scent of Green Papaya". Like "Papaya", "Cyclo" immerses the viewer in everyday life in Vietnam. Both films are vivid and true to life, and completely unlike anything most of us have ever seen or experienced.
Unlike "Papaya", which dealt with the upper middle class before the war, "Cyclo" is contemporary, and it takes us straight to the gutter. If you think we have it rough here in North America, you need to see this! The main character, a downtrodden Vietnamese bike taxi driver, conveys levels of toil and vulnerability that we can scarcely imagine. He's just one of many in Asia for whom working in a Nike shoe factory would be a vast improvement.
The driver is violently robbed of his taxi, and is forced to compensate his employer for the loss by becoming a foot soldier, doing the dirtiest and most dangerous of tasks in her criminal ventures. He is occasionally exhilarated by the new lifestyle, but he's not cut out to be a street thug, and eventually the stress drives him to the point of nervous breakdown. The film visits a number of other characters along the way, and is ultimately a brilliant window into a place you really don't want to be in person.
Tran Anh Hung's films are so effective, I don't care how bleak and grim the subject matter is. It's a really incredible experience to be a fly on the wall in another part of the world for two hours, and his films do that for you more so than anything else I've ever seen. Even if you're not anxious to be transported to the Vietnamese underworld, you should really see this movie.
Also noteworthy is the soundtrack. Unlike Hollywood incidental music, which is typically bland and infuriatingly blatant, Anh Hung's movies feature scores that are more 20th century classical in feel: complex, atonal, spooky, moody and ambiguous.
Refreshing? Let me tell you the many ways...