Travelling Circus
(Ganh Xiec Rong)

A small travelling circus crosses the countryside, offering shows to the villagers here and there. Times are hard for the farmers and they show little interest in the entertainers’ acts. But when a pretty magician shows that she can make rice appear, they become enthused. The troupe has nothing for it but to keep this prodigy up and take advantage of the peasants’ gullibility. An emblematic film of the greater liberties that could be taken with the subjects of Vietnamese cinema after Dôi Moi began, the film still had to wait two years for the censorship to authorise it, at the price of a changed title and a forbidden commercial release. JB