As a child in Laos, Thavisouk Phrasavath witnessed the carnage wrought by U.S. bombardment during the Vietnam war; as a teenage refugee in Brooklyn, trapped in a hellish housing project with his mother and siblings, he experienced another variety of American destruction. This 2008 documentary, a 23-year collaboration between Phrasavath and the accomplished cinematographer Ellen Kuras (
Coffee and Cigarettes,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), captures the family's sense of betrayal as the promise of a good life in the United States vanishes and Thavi, the eldest son, tries to keep his brothers from getting sucked into Asian street gangs. But the title's full meaning becomes clear only in the second half, when an unexpected visitor from the past turns the family upside down. In English and subtitled Lao. 96 min.
By
J.R. Jones
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