Monsoon: Honest thoughts from the Vietnamese diaspora
Mai-Anh Peterson gives her thoughts on Hong Khaou’s recent film, set in present day Vietnam, alongside members of the Vietnamese diaspora, Huong, Mai and Martha.
Writer/Director Hong Khaou. Credit: Pecadillo Pictures
What did you think of the film? Specifically the casting, storyline and placement?
Mai-Anh: There was definitely a lot of nostalgia for me. The cinematography was beautiful, with plenty of moments that I loved, and I think that there actually weren’t enough shots or scenes of present day Vietnam, which would’ve situated it properly. Seeing Vietnam on screen in a film that’s not about travel or war is fairly uncommon, and I could’ve done with more. However, despite these nostalgic moments, the storyline just couldn’t hold together. I appreciate that the lack of discourse was a reflection on the process of grieving and repressed emotion (as we also saw with the character of Lewis) but the storyline needed more to carry it along. Not all films have to be action-packed to work, but this just wasn’t one of those. What worked pretty well for me was the queer storyline. I liked the way that the two bedroom scenes with Kit and Lewis were done; it spoke to their changing relationship and emotional intimacy.
Huong: I was so disappointed by this film. I think Kit, with the backstory he’s been given - left at age 6, brought up by both Vietnamese parents in the UK - would understand Vietnamese even if not speaking it. The Linh character also only has one line in Vietnamese in the lotus tea scene, and her tone is all over the place - it takes you out from believing that she is a Hanoian born and bred. Monsoon takes a non-white story, strips it of its original nuance, and prioritises the white gaze over any authenticity, so that this story is no longer convincing to the community the character Kit is supposed to be derived from — and what needs to happen if we genuinely want to raise the profiles of all of Britain’s East and South East Asians is to stop treating our communities as one single monolith without our individual histories and stories to tell. In casting Henry Golding, the script is written so that the British Vietnamese perspective is essentially erased, and that is a huge shame and loss of opportunity to shed light on a story that has never been told before in mainstream cinema.
“I do sympathize with Henry Golding, because he will rarely, if ever, be cast in a role that reflects his own background as an Iban man, so I do understand that you audition and take what you can get depending where you are in your career. However, if you’re going to take a role outside of your own community, you have to delve into the nuances.”
You are a guest in someone else’s house and you have to do your research to at least do it justice the best you can. And I didn’t think Henry Golding did that.
I liked some of the themes the movie was trying to address — especially in the character of Linh who represents “new Vietnam” — kind of urban and cool. I mean, Vietnam has such a young population and as a country, most of its citizens won’t remember the American war at all. I thought [the queer] parts of the film worked well - it was good to see a gay man completely at ease with his sexuality, and it stayed away from the ‘coming out’ trope. It’s interesting because it’s a grey area in Vietnam - not technically illegal - so the scene where [Kit and Lewis] have a public kiss in the bar was affirmative.
Mai: I am conflicted. It's so clear that many of the big decisions made while producing this movie were not made by anyone who is Vietnamese. When the credits roll in it takes a while to see a Vietnamese name on there. On the other hand, I don't want stories like these to only be told when our people have to rally to make it happen and/or spearhead it all ourselves. So I am glad it's out there. I appreciate the story being told but it's no excuse not to try even harder to involve those to whom this story belongs in order to make it as authentic as possible. I do feel that Golding’s casting fuels Western beauty standards among so many other things.
“I don't want to have only Vietnamese people play Vietnamese roles, and I get that he needs to be attractive, but mixed race people have been glorified in South East Asia for so long that I couldn't ignore it; you see [colourism] everywhere when you go back.”
Mai-Anh: Golding’s casting feels off. I have no issue with his casting as a mixed race Malaysian/white British actor - firstly, because I don’t want to live in a world where people are only allowed to play characters with whom they share an ethnicity, and secondly, because I believe that we need to say it loud and clear that mixed race people belong in ESEA spaces, and I believe we can do this in a way that acknowledges colourism and privilege among different ESEA cultures. Nor did the character’s lack of language or cultural familiarity strike me as inauthentic, since linguistic anxiety, lack of exposure and family trauma often result in loss of language, even with two native speaking parents. The historical timeline wasn’t an issue for me either (boat refugees surged in Hong Kong in the late 1980s when my mum was working there as a translator, so this part to me is pretty plausible). But Golding’s acting style simply didn’t quite work for me, maybe because the part itself seemed...underdeveloped.
Martha: I think that, while it was a very cinematic movie, showcasing beautiful landscapes and environments, it just didn’t feel very authentic. The storyline made little sense and things got really slow and boring after a while.
Molly Harris and Henry Golding in Monsoon. Credit: Pecadillo Pictures
Were there specific parts of the film that you could (or could not) relate to?
Mai-Anh: I definitely related to those moments where you could tell he was really uncomfortable and felt like a total tourist in what was meant to be his own country. And the discomfort about having lost his ability to speak Vietnamese. I would love to see more stories about Vietnamese people with disconnect, shame or imposter syndrome... but perhaps not played by Henry Golding.
“I think a lot of people will criticise Hong Khaou for not sticking to that old piece of advice, ‘write what you know’. Does this mean we should not be allowed to write about experiences other than our own? In a word, no. But we should exercise caution.”
We can work together with consultants and writers who do have those experiences. And how do we classify which experiences are ‘our own’? Can I criticise Hong Khaou for his experiences fleeing Vietnam at 8 years old and growing up with Cambodian parents in the UK being different to those of other overseas Vietnamese, given that he is Cambodian-born but grew up in Vietnam? No. And I won’t, because I don’t want to risk invalidating his experience; it’s his film, after all. I’m just looking for something that does more.
Mai: I think someone's reaction to the movie as a Vietnamese will also depend greatly on how well they know Vietnam too, because as someone who lived there for a few years, I wish it went deeper than it did.
Huong: I always love seeing Vietnam on screen and as I said, totally relate to Kit not being back because for various reasons, I haven’t been back since 1995. But there were too many elements that don’t knit together for me to make the story real and it means I can’t suspend my disbelief, which is what we all want when we watch films. For me it’s not so much a casting decision so much as a poorly written script. If you’re going to cast someone not from that culture, then they have to do the research or alternatively write in lines that make the story convincing. And of course the Vietnamese diaspora is wide and varied — not all diaspora are Kinh, after all, and I myself am Viet Hoa. You have northern/southern, Buddhist/Catholic, pro-communist — so many things there — we’re not a monolith and we’re not all going to agree.
David Tran and Henry Golding in Monsoon. Credit: Pecadillo Pictures
Are there any missed opportunities that you would have liked to see from the film?
Mai-Anh: I understood that the point of the whole film was that we are just getting Kit’s experience/perspective - as evidenced, for example, by the fact that when he’s FaceTiming with his brother and nephews, we only hear his side of the conversation - but I think that was an oversight on the film’s part. They could have used it to show a range of different experiences of overseas Vietnamese, and the film probably would’ve resonated a lot more with the diaspora had it done so.
Mai: The film alludes to a lot but never really goes deep enough into the stories or how he sees the country now aside from it being 'different'. Perhaps I was expecting too much and I think for many children of refugees they may still be at a similar stage in their journey as Kit, but to me a film like this should really be pushing harder to help people with similar experiences dig deeper and ask some tougher questions maybe. One step in the right direction but also shows me how much work is still needed to truly represent our stories.
Martha: I felt like the film really tried to tackle big subjects, but failed miserably from the start as things felt superficial and unauthentic. It doesn’t help having characters who don’t seem to know anything about the culture and history of Vietnam.
Huong: I think the film is dull, rather than evocative, and it’s revealing why it didn’t get into the big festivals like Sundance, Venice, Cannes and so on, considering it’s the first of its kind to represent the British Vienamese diaspora. Even if Kit’s westernisation was shown subtly through his being uncomfortable around eating some, I don’t know, mam tom — that would have been authentic and relatable. The line about boil-in-the-bag rice was unforgivable! I do think it’s one of those films that you have to watch to be informed — and it further reveals where the gaping holes are in the industry and how far we have yet to go.
Have you seen the film? Tweet us with your thoughts! Monsoon is available to rent online via the BFI.
