Monsoon
Hong Khaou (Director)
BBC Films: 2020
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Monsoon, the second feature film by the Cambodian-British writer and director Hong Khaou, is beautifully paced from start to finish. At the start, we hear the rain in the form of heavy traffic, roaring and honking. It’s also the sound of economic progress. Kit, the protagonist, is in a taxi in Ho Chi Minh City, checking out his new surroundings, feeling a bit lost.

In real life, Khaou and his family escaped the Khmer Rouge to Vietnam and then fled by boat, drifting for weeks, chancing for the West. Growing up in England, Khaou, like any immigrant or refugee kid, was consumed by trying to fit in, learning a new language, surviving. His parents fought to give him the best of life and a future free of war and violence. They privately remembered their ancestral country, but concealed it as much as they could from their children.

• Tags: Chath Piersath, Hong Khaou, Issue 21, Vietnam