Hien Pham

Favorite films

  • From Here to Eternity
  • Beau Travail
  • Zero Dark Thirty
  • Captain Marvel

All
  • Promising Young Woman

  • Widows

    ★★★½

  • The Host

    ★★★

  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

    ★★★★½

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Promising Young Woman

2020

Watched

It won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars, but its premise is both juvenile and problematic. The idea that a rape victim can only seek justice after death—and not even the justice they truly deserve—feels reductive and misguided.

The Host

2006

★★★ Watched

The thriller aspect is not there, the social commentary is not there, the build-up is not there. The concept is just that, and the conclusion is just that. Maybe, somehow, the execution is there to wrap it up nicely.

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Stonewall

2015

Watched

All those historical inaccuracies and the sympathetic portrayal of homophobia, just for the sake of an offensive and mocking depiction of trans people, a fabricated story about a real-life figure, and the erasure of lesbian, queer people of color, homeless queer individuals, and drag queens during the Stonewall riots.

Owl and the Sparrow

2007

★★★½ 1

Ho Chi Minh International Film Festival 2024: HCMC on Screen

I found it surprising to learn that Owl and the Sparrow was directed by an American director, especially since I also watched The Brilliant Darkness! by Aaron Toronto on the same day. The cinematography is very shaky, and visually it resembles a low-budget Vietnamese television soap opera from the 2000s.

However, the story is quite essential and unique. Nonetheless, the film suffers from serious problems with its dialogue; at times,…

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