I swapped into this one at the last minute, not really knowing much about it but feeling that spending 70 minutes in Vietnam might be a nice way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

It is by the Nicolas Graux and Minh Quy Truong who also made Viet and Nam (2024), which I missed in a previous year and have been meaning to see for a while. This one I think has a similar slow and observational style but at a very reasonable 70 minutes, is an easy way to dip my toe in the water of slow Vietnamese cinema.

Shot on 16mm Bolex cameras, it has the feeling of an anthropological film, fragmented observational footage of an elderly woman, travelling from her rural home to Saigon to help a granddaughter who has just had a baby. This means bringing with her the wisdom of the country passed down through generations of women. Medicinal leaves soaked in hot water to dispel dark blood, leaves steamed and mashed with babies urine to heal sprains, fruits to repel leeches.

We hear stories from her childhood, how she was born, her parents and grandparents and great grandparents who lived in caves. We also see a boy, a great grandson, travel with her back to her home.

Overlaid with the visual story is the recitation of words in her dialect, translated into Vietnamese and English via subtitles. She is reciting them as if teaching them to her grandson, and eventually correcting his pronunciation with wry laughter.

The words are elemental, and the vision often matches what we’re hearing. Water, rain, mountains, fire, darkness, thunder and lightning. We see the countryside in flood, and everywhere is lush green.

It is gently soporific and the woman’s voice feels like a lullaby.