Indie film distributor Strand Releasing has a great track record for finding provocative LGBTQ+ stories from all over the world, and their latest, the sensual gay romantic drama Viet And Nam, certainly fits the bill.
From Vietnamese writer-director Truong Minh Quy, the 2001-set film centers on Viet (Dao Duy Bao Dinh) and Nam (Pham Thanh Hai), two young, rural coal miners who fall in love in spite of the dangerous conditions of their job—and the fact others would surely disapprove of their relationship..
Still, they grab whatever fleeting moments they can with one another in the darkness of the mines, some 1,000 feet below the surface (quite the metaphor for closeted queer relationships, eh?), especially because they know their romance has an expiration date….
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That’s because Nam has arranged plans to soon have himself smuggled out of the country, against Viet’s better judgment. But he has some unfinished business to attend to first—solving the mystery of his father’s death, a former North Vietnamese soldier.
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Minh Quy’s film divides itself into to halves: The first is largely concerned with the clandestine affair between the two young men, while the second finds them traveling to near the Cambodian border, in search of Nam’s father’s remains, joined by his mother Hoa (Nguyen Thi Nga) and army veteran Ba (Le Viet Tung).
So, yes, Viet And Nam certainly has plenty on its mind—from environmental issues to the harsh realities of immigration to the lasting impacts of war—but also reportedly features very “frank” depictions of gay sex. As Variety critic Jessica Kiang writes, “seldom have the body-contouring properties of coal dust on sweat-slicked skin been more sensuously explored.”
Interestingly, the film has already been banned in its native Vietnam—though that’s apparently unrelated to its gay themes and subject matter. As ScreenDaily reports, the local government is unhappy with its “gloomy, deadlocked, and negative view” of the country and its people.
In response to the ban, director Truong Minh Quy said he hopes that someday people “can see that the film is a tender and emotional expression of what is happening in the country from a Vietnamese filmmaker.”
And the ban certainly didn’t stop Viet And Nam from making its splashy world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard program, where it received warm acclaim from critics, including RogerEbert.com‘s Robert Daniels, who hailed it as “absolutely hypnotic” with romantic elements that are “sticky, sensual, and intoxicating.”
It was one of many films in contention for the festival’s top LGBTQ+ prize, the Queer Palm—alongside buzzy hits like the Barry Keoghan-starring Bird and the Selena Gomez musical Emilia Perez—though it ultimately lost to Romanian drama Three Kilometres To The End Of The World.
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And clearly big things are ahead for Viet And Nam now that its been picked up for U.S. distribution by Strand Releasing, which plans to tour the feature around more festivals this fall before a theatrical release in early 2025.
“Viet And Nam was one of the most mesmerizing films I’ve seen in awhile,” says Strand spokesperson Marcus Hu. “[It’s] romantic, tragic and tender directed with a unique style that embodies the auteurs we cultivate.”
In others words, this is definitely a title we’re going to be keeping an eye on this fall festival season and beyond. There’s no official trailer for the film quite yet, but there are a handful of clips—like the achingly romantic one below—to give you a taste of what’s to come.
