The article discusses two films, 'Việt and Nam' and 'Grand Tour', each showcasing different journeys and tonal experiences. 'Việt and Nam' follows two young gay men in Vietnam, both coal miners who find beauty and ecstasy in their rugged environment, juxtaposed with the enchanting cinematography that depicts their love as a starry escape. In contrast, 'Grand Tour' offers a lively, comedic exploration across countries. Both films debuted at the 2024 Cannes Festival and serve as invitations to audiences for immersive, blissful experiences through cinema.
Every good film is, to some degree, a transporting experience, a dissolution of boundaries between here and there, then and now. See enough of them, from all over the world, and they begin to feel like the cheapest way to travel.
'Việt and Nam,' from the Vietnamese writer and director Truong Minh Quy, ventures from north to south before setting its gaze on dangerous new horizons; while 'Grand Tour', from the Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes, is a country-hopping screwball movie.
The title characters in 'Việt and Nam' are two gay men, in their twenties, who work as coal miners in a northern Vietnamese village. They spend their days sweating in subterranean caverns, extracting coal and, when they are alone, making love with ecstatic abandon.
Truong and cinematographer Son Doan transform this rugged hideaway into a vision of bejewelled splendor. The lovers may be hundreds of feet below the earth's surface, but, surrounded by countless glinting points of light, they might as well be floating among the stars.
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