The Unseen River (2020) by Pham Ngoc Lan

By: Phung Thi Phuong Anh, Vietnam

A young man travels across a river with his girlfriend to find a cure for his insomnia. They enter a Buddhist temple to ask for advice from a monk, who says: “Looking deep in sleep is like diving in the river. The river forgives the sinner like the sleep forgives its owner.” Those lines remain in the couple’s mind as they have not yet recognized the lesson of finding peace. Young and curious, the couple can hardly dream of their future together, both holding pessimism. They tremble to dream and achieve their dreams as the ground of reality shakes.

"The worst nightmare of an inability to sleep is the inability to dream.”

The film also explores the nostalgic tale of former lovers, now elderly, near a hydroelectric plant. The scars imprinted on the man’s back represent the memory sculpted in their minds. While the young couple fears their unknown future, the elderly couple recollects and regrets their past relationship. The hydroelectric plant shows the cruelty of man in interrupting the natural course of the environment and how they halt the gentle peace of the river.

The Unseen River was commissioned for the Luang Prabang Film Festival’s MEKONG 2030 project, where the directors respond to the future of the Mekong Delta in 2030. The movie sets the scene in two parallel timelines, tied to the flow of the river. Here, nature upholds the present and keeps the peace of human relationships. Nature offers forgiveness to any sinner who causes it suffering and heals the painful, uncertain thoughts running wildly in every human’s mind.

Note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the film was released in 2007. The correct release year is 2020. We regret the error and apologise for any confusion caused.

The Unseen River (2020), directed by Pham Ngoc Lan.