In a nutshell: Greta Scacchi uses the heart-wrenching plight of the Vietnamese boat people to get a fabulous tan.
OK, that's an exaggeration, but the film suffers from a lack of heft. Its intentions are good, and its heart is in the right place, but....
Very much in the same manner as a porn film, which would only muster the most minimal plotline to move the film from sex scene to sex scene, this is almost a documentary with the minimal plot necessary to justify making a movie about the subject. The performers are lightweights, as well, many of them (notably Joan Chen) just barely able to deliver a line with credible inflections. The acting is so stilted and superficial, watching this movie is like listening to a Van Damme impersonating contest on Saturday Night Live.
Sadly, it's not bright enough to be an art film, and not slick enough to be a popular entertainment. I don't know who they thought their audience might be.
Despite possessing such rich emotional material, the filmmakers failed to strike the powerful chord which should have been inherent in the situation.
OK, that's an exaggeration, but the film suffers from a lack of heft. Its intentions are good, and its heart is in the right place, but....
Very much in the same manner as a porn film, which would only muster the most minimal plotline to move the film from sex scene to sex scene, this is almost a documentary with the minimal plot necessary to justify making a movie about the subject. The performers are lightweights, as well, many of them (notably Joan Chen) just barely able to deliver a line with credible inflections. The acting is so stilted and superficial, watching this movie is like listening to a Van Damme impersonating contest on Saturday Night Live.
Sadly, it's not bright enough to be an art film, and not slick enough to be a popular entertainment. I don't know who they thought their audience might be.
Despite possessing such rich emotional material, the filmmakers failed to strike the powerful chord which should have been inherent in the situation.