Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass

I Saw the Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass (Vietnamese: Tôi thấy hoa vàng trên cỏ xanh) is a 2015 Vietnamese film. It was adapted from same novel by Nguyễn Nhật Ánh. It was directed by Victor Vũ, produced by Galaxy Media & Entertainment Saigon Concert, Phương Nam Film, PS Việt Nam and K+ Television channel.^[3] It was premiere in Cannes Film Festival 2015^[4] and released in theaters on 2 October 2015.^[2] It was selected as the Vietnamese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.^[5][6]

Plot

This is a movie portraying love and affection about a hometown, a family and teenage hood of each. Tuong is an innocent and lovely boy while his brother Thieu is cruelly selfish and stubborn. Aside brotherhood filled with love, hate, envy, regret and atonement,...this is also about friendship, childhood memory of children living in poverty in Middle Region of Vietnam during 80s. There are fights; interesting kids' games; dreams filled with the images of prince and princess, and their first crush...

The story is demonstrated from a diary of Thieu evolving his daily life and thoughts. Thieu is a 7th grader who lives in a poor countryside with his younger brother named Tuong. Tuong is a lovely, generous and nice boy who loves his brother alot, he especially loves playing with animals including bugs even. He is an introvert and loves reading many books and folk tales, especially the story of Coc Tia (Purple Toad), therefore he pets a toad under his bed and names it "Cu Cau". On the other hand, Thieu is a mischievous, extrovert boy who has been unintentionally letting Thieu get all the blame for his tricks. Although being selfish on the outside, deep down Thieu still loves his brother. Two brothers often hang around playing many traditional games for kids and make many memories out of it. The story also broadens the relationship between two brothers and people in their village, including their classmates and families. Their father is described as a gentle man who is appreciated by many, yet he has a short temper and often beat two brothers for some reasons, while their mother is a nice women but she still scolds them for their mistakes regardless.

Uncle Dan is the younger brother of Thieu's father who is handicapped yet still positive and often spare his time to tell some spooky stories for two brothers. His only sorrow must be his ill fated love caused by losing an arm from his side. Uncle Dan loves Vinh, a girl who is the daughter of Thieu's scary teacher also lives in the same village. One of Thieu's classmates is Son who is 3 years older but still in the same class with Thieu due to his bad grades. Son is a muscular boy who is extremely naughty with many misbehavior. Later, Thieu comes to realize his crush for his classmate Man. Man is cute and innocent but she doesn't study well enough due to take care of her sick father who is locked inside a shack by his mother. Only Thieu and Tuong know this secret as both have to fight against Son to protect Man from evil plans.

The shack where Man's father is locked inside catches fire, her mother is arrested for capturing her husband who is assumed to be die during the fire as bones have been discovered in the ash. Man is shocked and completely devastated, Thieu's family decide to help her by telling her that she could live with them. Man is aware of the fact that her father is still alive and her mother will be released soon. However, the friendship between Man and Tuong makes Thieu jealous gradually. He doesn't care about the death of Tuong's toad, which forever haunts Thieu to see Tuong's mourning over the toad without knowing that his brother was also a part of that incident. The flood arrives and the village is drowned, once it withdraws, the village is left with poverty and lack of crop. Thieu, Tuong and Man discover that Uncle Dan and Vinh have already planned for an escape from their family. At the same time, Thieu's selfishness is getting bigger which makes him hit Tuong with a big stick of wood, causing Tuong unable to move or sit. Moreover, Thieu feels more regretful as Tuong tells him that he is the one whom Man would like to hang out with.

Cast

• Thịnh Vinh as Thiều
• Trọng Khang as Tường
• Thanh Mỹ as Mận
• Mai Thế Hiệp as Mr. Nhãn
• Trương Tú Liên as Thiều's mother
• Lê Vinh as Thiều's father
• Anh Tú as Đàn
• Khánh Hiền as Vinh
• Mai Trần as Tám Tàng
• Mỹ Anh as Nhi

Production and Release

Director Viet Linh was ordered by Phuong Nam Films to write the script of the movie which was finished in 2013. The script was demonstrated from the same name novel of writer Nguyen Nhat Anh by Viet Linh, Victor Vu and Doan Nhat Nam altogether. The movie was mostly filmed at Phu Yen, some at Van Ninh Commune, Khanh Hoa Province and Ho Chi Minh City. The original title was "Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh" (Yellow Flowers on Green Grass), this is the first movie which was not written by Victor Vu himself. The budget of the movie was nearly 20 billion Vietnamdong. This is the first movie which is produced as a cooperation between national and private company.

See also

• List of submissions to the 89th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Vietnamese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

External links

• I see Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass on IMDb
• Tôi thấy hoa vàng trên cỏ xanh on Facebook
• YELLOW FLOWERS ON THE GREEN GRASS trên Fortissimo Films