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Not without its moments but Hong Khaou's 'Monsoon' feels frustratingly underwritten and unfocused. The acting appears wooden in many scenes and, when all is said and done, the movie is largely pointless.

Several times now I have stumbled across comments ( both in reviews and in television guides ) that the lead actor is straight. It is as if this is a comfort blanket for those in the audience who a ) do not want to confront a gay actor in the film, and b ) for those liberals who think how marvellous it is to see a straight actor being ' brave ' enough to take on the role. This is a recurring issue. James Ivory's ' Maurice ' was awash with it and so was ' Call Me By Your Name '. Given the discreet homophobia of both mainstream cinema and theatre it is not surprising Gay actors will not raise their heads above the parapet. The fact of having to explain an actor is straight is a sort of deadly homophobia in itself. Now for the film that I liked a lot. The acting from all of the cast was good but above all the direction was exceptionally good. The opening shot of cars scurrying about from a great height, like some sort of insect was a scary acknowledgement of how tiny we are in the scheme of things. This I believe occurred several times during the duration of the film and for me it was a revelation. Like an anthill we struggle with our histories, both political and personal, and how that very history is trodden on by the large feet of time. That alone made the film above the ordinary. The minimalism of the film also appealed with its Antonioni obsession with the sense of place around us mere humans, and the way we alternate between silence and noise. Of course there is a story, and for those who are interested in what has happened in Vietnam important, and the dislocation of a man who returns to a country he knew only to find he is more or less a stranger in a strange land. As for the homosexuality it is there, but despite a few brief scenes discreet. It is quite simply another aspect of the history of a character immersed in living in this great anthill called human life.

This could have been a very personal topic for the filmmakers, but to the casual viewer it is quite a bore. This could have been a poignant film about self discovery in the against the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the refugee crisis in the 1980's and 1990's. However, the film focuses on Kit's sexual conquests way more than the reason he is in Vietnam. The ending is just puzzling and not very satisfying either.

Movie night with Iris.

Director Hong Khaou draws upon his own experiences with this moving tale of a British-Vietnamese man returning to Saigon for the first time in over thirty years to try to find a fitting place to scatter his parents' ashes.

This opens with a beautiful aerial shot showing a road being devoured by a swarm of scooters before a number of cars attempt to struggle their way through. As well as preparing the viewer for the constant soundtrack of Vietnamese traffic, it is an effective metaphor for the protagonist's own struggles. We are taken along on this journey of discovery for Kit as he deals with the emotional turmoil of bereavement at the same time as exploring his own cultural identity, feeling simultaneously like a tourist and someone with roots in a country foreign to him.

Monsoon is not for those with a preference for plot-driven films with mood and emotion very much driving the narrative.

Observational and lyrical, Acclaimed BAFTA-nominee director Hong Khaou follows the personal journey of Kit (the hunky Henry Golding from "Crazy Rich Asians"), a British man who returns to modern Vietnam, his childhood place, in order to find relief for his emotional crisis. Exploring his roots and cultural identity, he meets Lewis (Parker Sawyers) and they ignite a sexually-charged relationship while dealing with each other's traumas, loneliness and lust. The result is a fascinating and inclusive, sexy and nostalgic redemptive story. (Strand Releasing will release the film in November 2020.)

Kit (Henry Golding) is a Brit. He goes back to his homeland Vietnam after the death of his mother to return her ashes. He was last there at the age of 6 when he escaped with his family. He reconnects with some family and long-ago friends. The city is completely different. He has a fling with Lewis who is looking to manufacture his gay apparel line.

This is a nice little vacation in present-day Saigon where modernity has taken over. One get a sense of Kit's lost and cultural displacement. The gay romance has a couple of cute poignant moments. Other than those individual moments, the movie fails to push a dramatic story through the entire movie. There is little to no tension. This is really only a mood piece.

For those that felt this film was too slow, too unfocused, too whatever.... Too bad for you. I love small films like this, that unveil themselves by the frame, that tell a simple story about complex circumstances and lives. To me, it was beautiful, understated, mesmerizing. A glimpse of Vietnam today, the toll the war took, the transition to economic advancement, the personal suffering and lives changed, and more. I grew up as a kid with the fake Vietnam body count on the nightly news during supper. I also grew up to be gay, and to watch that aspect of this story slowly develop left me with hope. And yes I would see it again, if only to see even more nuance I might have missed. This film was almost a random choice on a Netflix night.... I'm glad I made that choice.

My only reason to watch this film is the charisma of Henry Golding. He plays a gay character, to boot! Despite little plot; this small story of a man returning to Vietnam as an adult to scatter his mother's ashes kept me interested. He travels around the country, meeting people who tell him about his homeland. His finding love with an American ex-patriot designer gave it a nice feel. Henry Golding's smile alone was worth renting the movie!

This film tries to tackle big subjects and there were interesting ideas but they all fall flat. It skims the surface and never goes anywhere. The colour palette is good at showing off Vietnam but what's the point when there is only one interesting camera shot? The feeling of being transported to another place should be rife throughout the film but when the main character always magically finds an English speaker wherever he goes that feeling is lost. The subject of meeting someone from the other side of the war is a good subject but after a couple of awkward convo's and a love scene it's over: When I was in the cinema this film got a standing ovation but all those people seemed to hail this as a ground breaking love film, I can only assume this is because the filmed failed at making any of the other subjects interesting or important. Boring, uninteresting, with mediocre acting. I would avoid.

Kit escaped Vietnam as a 6-year-old boat person, and now has returned from England to scatter his parents' ashes. He is helped by a cousin who used to be a close friend, and also hooks up with an American whose father served there in the war.

Bouncing between Saigon and Hanoi, we catch views of the prosperous new cities, and some of the lush countryside. We also see some of the new arts and old artisans. Presumably a semi-autobiographical story, it suffers from a degree of time compression, as the story should be set in 2000-2010, not a vague "today'.

Director Hong Khaou has an enveloping style when it comes to pacing the narrative of his 2020 drama, and I have to admit it was a bit offputting initially as he takes his time establishing the story of a gay Vietnamese-born man who returns to his homeland after thirty years living in England. He's back to find the appropriate place to lay his mother's ashes. As played by the half-Malaysian heartthrob, Henry Golding ("Crazy Rich Asians"), he's a sensitive soul who seems lost in what was once his native country, which Khaou captures in vibrant and thoughtful detail. Some moments struck me as superfluous, and the timeline didn't quite make sense relative to real events. Nonetheless, it was a touching film over its blessedly brief running time.

Henry Golding is a god among men. Gorgeous, talented, and he made this film what it is. That being said, I did think the film fell a little flat. I guess I expected more coming into it because it's associated with BBC Films and Henry Golding starred, but Henry, while brilliant, could only work with what he was given. I couldn't get invested in his relationship with Lewis. I felt they lacked chemistry on screen and the guy who played Lewis was just not on Henry's level acting-wise. I think they could've chosen a much better lead. Overall, still a sweet, tender film that I'd probably recommend watching.

I've lived in the Far East for nearly 20 years so always look forward to movies based in that area.

I was so disappointed with "Monsoon". The acting and camera work were pedestrian and wooden. The actors almost looked as if they were being prompted with their lines at times. No emotion anywhere.

Where was the story? A hint of gay romance, a hint of politics, a hint of self discovery. It went nowhere and said little. And what kind of ending was that?

I guess the only marks I can give it are for the memories of places visited that it brought back to me.

Quiet little thing about a man finding out that a place that he has been avoiding for a long time, his birthplace, just might be where he belongs after all, though for far different reasons than he would have imagined. At least that is my interpretation of a film that seems purposely vague. I liked it, but not as much as I had hoped. The opening credits were cool, the cinematography very good, the location interesting with Henry Golding providing an intelligent, subtle and appealing performance. The purpose of this trip to his birthplace is to scatter his mother's ashes only to realize it's not the correct place, but it is a place where he falls in love and this love interest allows viewers to see some very passionate sequences between him and an actor named Parker Sawyers who is also good. Not all of the film is a success though. I have no doubt that all involved had good intentions, but the writing is too unclear. What's lacking is any background on Golding's character to make us feel much of anything about this journey. Despite it being about loss, discovery and love, it offers little emotionally and that's a shame.

The break-neck speed of the economic success and associated development experienced by Viet Nam in recent decades is well-known, yet for many outside the country mention of it still brings to mind the horrors of the 1955-75 war. In 'Monsoon' Kit, who as a child in the late 1970s left the country as one of the boat people, returns for the first time to scatter his parents' ashes. But as he explores Sài Gòn and meets relatives last seen thirty years ago, he finds much of the modern country does not resemble the distant memories of his childhood. Relief from this confusion comes in the muscular arms of Lewis, an American entrepreneur struggling with the ghosts of his father's involvement in the war.

Kit's bewilderment at the modern face of a country long ago left behind reminded me of many British expats I have met during my travels - pining after a country that I doubt ever really existed as they remember it. Unfortunately writer/director Hong Khaou portrays this by filming many sequences of Kit staring glumly at buildings (although to be fair, sometimes he gets closer to them and we get instead a shot of Kit staring glumly at a door, which at least adds a bit of variety). Lead actor Henry Golding does not help: I like a subtle performance, but there is a difference between subtle and simply sounding uninterested in the lines you are delivering. Parker Sawyers puts a bit more oomph into his portrayal of Lewis and thus creates a more interesting character. I also found interesting the character of Linh, a young and modern local woman under pressure to join her family's tea business which she finds hopelessly out-of-date and inefficient, even if it provides a quality product. In her scenes Khaou explores, in a balanced way, the disagreements between modernity and tradition, between the young and their elders.

Unfortunately, though, there is not enough of either Linh or Lewis to rescue this film. I can say it was worth seeing once, but I will not be troubling myself to watch it again.

This meditative examination of the impact of the Vietnam war through the eyes of three sons - of a family who left (as refugees), a family who stayed and a father who invaded (US soldier) - and the scars it left on all, has a big heart. But despite its measured (and very slow) approach, it makes these three points a little too awkwardly (via blunt expositiry dialogue) for it to work as a seemless whole. But the visuals and the acting are high calibre.

Monsoon is a quiet, meditative film that explores themes of identity, grief, and cultural disconnection through the eyes of Kit, a British-Vietnamese man returning to Saigon after decades abroad. Henry Golding gives a restrained, introspective performance that fits the tone of the film-calm, observant, and emotionally layered, though often understated.

The cinematography is striking in its simplicity, using natural light and long static shots to emphasize Kit's sense of alienation and quiet search for belonging. The film doesn't rely on heavy plot or dramatic turns. Instead, it unfolds slowly, almost like a travel diary, which may feel too subtle or uneventful for some viewers.

While the emotional arc is a bit muted, Monsoon succeeds in capturing the feeling of being in-between cultures and identities. It's a film more about atmosphere and internal experience than external events. Thoughtful and well-made, though not always gripping, it's worth watching if you're in the mood for something reflective and personal.