The New York Times by Beatrice Loayza
The filmmaker Ha Le Diem shot Children of the Mist over the course of three years, integrating herself into Di’s life in a way that complicates the documentary’s otherwise unobtrusive, observational approach.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Vietnam · 2022
1h 32m
Director Diem Ha Le
Starring
Genre Documentary
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A riveting and poignant portrait of the tradition of child bride kidnapping in a Hmong community in northern Vietnam. This documentary follows 12-year-old Di, whose generation is the first with access to formal education, as she grapples with this patriarchal tradition.
The New York Times by Beatrice Loayza
The filmmaker Ha Le Diem shot Children of the Mist over the course of three years, integrating herself into Di’s life in a way that complicates the documentary’s otherwise unobtrusive, observational approach.
The filmmaker educates and entertains with a profoundly human story about the life of a young woman. Viewers will become invested in what happens to Di and learn about the Hmong tradition along the way.
It’s an auspicious arrival for first-time feature director Diem, who handles delicate subject matter (not to mention vulnerable human subjects) with a frankness that stops short of button-pushing. That tact is crucial in a film operating as both close-quarters character study and wider ethnographic portrait, offering a rare, dedicated view of Vietnam’s little-represented Hmong population.
RogerEbert.com by Marya E. Gates
Although this is all presented by Diễm with no judgment, it’s hard to watch such young girls be so blithe about a tradition that robs them of their autonomy.
Diem’s intimate access and sensitive approach, together with editor Swann Dubus’ keen eye for texture and detail, make for a compelling and eye-opening drama.
From behind the camera, Ha Le Diem attempts to protect Di by reasoning with kidnappers, but is pushed away; she admits to the young girl later that she did not anticipate the tradition could be so brutal. The decision to leave in such details is particularly thought-provoking, fracturing the supposed neutrality of documentary film-makers.
When a cat wakes up in a flooded world, he has to work with other animals to survive.
At a mountain resort in Bavaria, nothing is what it seems.
After a mutation that slowly transforms humans into animals begins to spread, François searches for a way to save his wife.
When Syrian refugees move to a small mining town in Northeast England, tensions between them and the locals rise.
A biopic about the life and talent of the artist Amy Winehouse.
A family of Sasquatches works to survive in a world that has become increasingly unkind to their way of life.
A hyperdevout nun in an Italian convent becomes pregnant in a seemingly immaculate conception.
When she loses $10,000 to a phone scam, 93-year-old Thelma Post sets out across Los Angeles to get it back.
Takumi and his village are slowly convinced to allow a company to develop a glamping site, unaware of the consequences that will follow.