This film (as The Scent of Green Papaya) is to me pure visual poetry. As with a poem it offers its impact slowly and through its suggestive images that come at you subtlely and with enormous grace. It's not a story of "and then and then"...it unfolds like a beautiful fan, by degrees...giving the viewer a chance to internalize each moment. And I was particularly impressed by the repetition of certain actions...the turning of two people, with a significant look; the clipping of nails...such small details reflect a sensibility that brings the seemingly unimportant moments in life, the often repeated ones into a whole new light, into consciousness and value. This, for me, is a glorious and appropriate use of film, which is, after all, a visual medium. The director, the actors, the cinematographer are to be commended on this masterpiece!
Review of The Vertical Ray of the Sun
