I became a fan of Thach Lam somewhere around 2014 after Ha Noi bam sau pho phuong caught my attention among the shelves because of its gorgeous cover (I know I know, but beside that I’ve always wanted to see whether the old school version of the capital and mine read the same), as was the case with the whole Nha Nam’s new edition of famous Vietnamese literary works. Thach Lam’s writing style, simple and intricate, fragile and unbreakable, hit home for a 15-year-old who couldn’t imagine her peace of mind being anywhere but Hanoi. I pick up a few pieces in Nang trong vuon, probably his most famous short story collection, every now and then and find each word on the page so real, so much that I’ve come to acceptance that many of these characters’ flaws are my flaws.
cái Châu cái Quỳnh
Hai dua tre, one of Nang trong vuon’s most well-known shorts and a familiar title to most of us who used to possess an 11th grade literature textbook, is the inspiration for this staged narrative project of mine called “cai Chau cai Quynh,” basically derived from the models’ names. The original story, set in a poor town, follows the everyday life of a pair of siblings helping their mom out with the family’s small business. Every night, the two stay up until the train to Hanoi has passed by in front of their house in brief seconds.
Because of the lack of access to actual props, which turned out to be a chance for creativity largely thanks to Kim’s advice, I made use of backdrops composed of free stock-image prints in varying sizes as to recreate the kind of setting desired. A lot of the small-sized ones of Hanoi’s scenery were beautifully taken by my very close friend Nghiem. If I were to talk about my visual inspirations here, I’d lose myself in words as there are just so many, so I’ll keep it light this time by saying Tran Anh Hung and Xu Guanyu are the main sources.
The quiet suburbs, the older sister’s reminiscence of the good old days under the city lights, and my sympathy with the hope for a better life in a better place were in mind when I first drafted the proposal. By the time we finished our in-class critique, nothing had changed.