Below the Lion Rock: The Boy from Vietnam

1978 0h 49m CN

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Following Ah Man’s arrival in Hong Kong as a stowaway, the Vietnamese teenager seeks out his cousin for help to earn a living. Thereafter he becomes an apprentice with a compatriot Vietnamese painter. One day, Ah Man accidentally discovers his cousin’s disgraceful secret, while the painter faces deportation for his own illegal residency status. The Boy from Vietnam marked the debut of Ann Hui’s Vietnam Trilogy.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ann Hui
Writers: Shu Kei, Wong Chi
Languages: Cantonese, Vietnamese
Countries: Hong Kong

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Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 49-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

ERA

Did you know

48 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Cantonese, Vietnamese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Part of the "Vietnam Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WORLD

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt14225948 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ann Hui directs. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Hong Kong. Dialogue in Cantonese, Vietnamese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 49-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
248 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Cantonese, Vietnamese.
4Part of the "Vietnam Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
6IMDB entry: tt14225948 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Runtime: 49 min · 0h 49m
Status: Released
Original language: CN
IMDB: Below the Lion Rock: The Boy from Vietnam (1978)

Part of

Vietnam Trilogy

Long before Hong Kong declared itself the ‘first port of asylum’ for Vietnamese refugees in 1979, tens of thousands of Vietnamese had already been flocking to the city by cargo ships in the four years prior. Ann Hui made her first creative endeavour to chronicle this chapter of Hong Kong’s history with acute insights in the TV drama Below the Lion Rock: The Boy from Vietnam. Subsequently, as Vietnamese migrants became an increasingly contentious issue in Hong Kong, Hui directed two more films on the same topic, The Story of Woo Viet and Boat People. Collectively, these three works became known as the Vietnam Trilogy, marking the stellar rise of Hui’s filming career.