Adrift – Choi Voi (2009)

Directed by: Bui Thac Chuyen | 105 minutes | drama | Actors: Duy Khoa Nguyen, Johnny Nguyen, Linh Dan Pham, Do Thi Hai Yen

If you don’t have the money for a distant destination, you can always go to the cinema or video store. In the Vietnamese arthouse drama ‘Adrift’ we end up in the Hanoi of 2009, a busy city with many mopeds, atmospheric interiors and lonely city dwellers. And sometimes a lot of rain. In this dynamic city we meet Hai and Duyen, a young couple who innocently and cheerfully embark on the marriage path. But how long can you stay innocent in a city like Hanoi?

The result is a film that can be enjoyed over the entire length, thanks to the sultry atmosphere and the beautiful pictures. ‘Adrift’ is good in its colours, atmospheric compositions and visual surprises, and the main characters also look good. Even more pleasant is the sexually charged atmosphere, without us seeing much nakedness and certainly no sex at all. It is the eroticism of subtle touches, drops on bare skin, unspoken desire. A modest kind of eroticism that you can leave to Asians.

The conventional story is less successful. In ‘Adrift’ we see how two naive youngsters lose their innocence, partly because of curiosity, partly because of loneliness, partly because of the spontaneous awakening of hidden urges; an awakening that seems inevitable in a metropolis like Hanoi. Unfortunately, our main characters are not of the most interesting kind. Hai leads the sleepy life of a neutered male, Duyen hardly has a personality of his own. Most interesting is the young girl next door that Hai takes care of, a girl who combines innocence with life wisdom, and thus hides her savings from her father in a gigantic teddy bear. But Duyen’s yearning girlfriend Cam and her morally rotten friend Tho are also more interesting than the main characters.

Fortunately, in ‘Adrift’ nothing is explained, so that the viewer can find out for themselves what is going on. He also gets plenty of time for that, because the pace is low and there are not really many actions. ‘Adrift’ is therefore not everyone’s friend, but mainly intended for lovers of atmospheric Asian arthouse. And for those who were always curious about Hanoi but couldn’t afford a plane ticket.