It
turns out the media has lied to us. They have portrayed Vietnam as an island of
tranquility, but it turns out the streets of Hanoi are worse than back-alley
Manila, without the free speech and press freedoms Filipinos enjoy (still). If
you doubt it, brace yourself for the carnal, charnel spectacle of Lê Binh Giang’s
Kfc (trailer here), which screens
during this year’s New York Asian Film Festival.
Supposedly,
all the film’s cast of characters regularly pass through a fateful KFC in
downtown Hanoi. Frankly, Lê is not excessively fastidious when it comes to
establishing those connections, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. One
thing is clear. Hanoi is a predatory city, teeming with violence. Justice is
dubious, but when payback comes, it is swift and harsh. Take for instance the
first five minutes of the film.
Eventually,
Lê sets into a pattern of heinous act begetting a violent act of vengeance-taking,
which in turn begets more retribution. The various players include a
cannibalistic doctor who mows down his victims in an ambulance, his chubby kid
who has a taste for both fried chicken and human flesh, the two pickpocket
street urchins he befriends, two sadistic rival street gangs, and assorted
thieves and prostitutes.
It
should be conceded many of Lê’s sequences are undeniably powerful and veritably
reek with sinister atmosphere. However, the effect dissipates when it is
repeated over and over. Eventually, the Kfc
viewing experience becomes akin to watching somebody you don’t know play
the most brutal Grand Theft Auto game
ever. However, you can’t fault the large ensemble, given the way they all so
fully commit to this shocking world.
