I thought that sequence with "Creep" was probably the most memorable in the movie. The scene in the club was visually striking and I liked how the sequence ends with the lyric "I don't belong here" as Tony Leung just kind of wanders the streets aimlessly.
shareYes, this is also my favorite scene of the film. I completely agree, perfect use of Radioheads wonderful song.
http://imageartz.blogspot.com/
I think it was terrible. The double meaning of having that song playing in that particular scene was the complete opposite of subtle. It smacked of a director trying to create meaning by hammering the viewer over the head with a mallet. Also, it seemed so out of place, here we have a club in Vietnam, where people are dancing quite vigorously and they're playing radiohead?
I think it should have been way more subtle and realistic than that.
Well, the film wasn't trying to be realistic in the first place, more like a poem about realism, with constant surrealist and manierist touches. I thought the "out-of-place" song very touching. And just because people are poorer than in the West, doesn't meen they don't play bootleg copies of Western songs in the disco. "Creep" was a huge hit in 1993, but "Cyclo" was filmed in 1995. Just shows that some things travel or stick.
http://imageartz.blogspot.com/
I agree that the film is not Realism but realistic. For example the scenes with the paint are quite out there, almost like drug trip with all the strobing lights and so on. It's not Realism but it's realistic in that it's not out of place and creates a certain meaning and feel.
However, I still think the Radiohead song was out of place and was deliberately placed there for broader audience appeal. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that poorer countries can't afford music from the West. Pirated music is huge in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia etc. I'm also not saying they don't play western music in discotheques in the East. I've been to some pretty remote places and you woulnd't believe what they have playing there. But in the scene in question, it was a discotheque and they're playing Creep? Doesn't it seem out of place, whichever country it's in? If it was a bar then the music would suit the atmosphere a little more. I think it would have been much more realistic if they had some standard disco music playing which slowly faded out and then perhaps they could have faded in the radiohead song. But i think they should've gone with some authentic vietnamese music, what's wrong with that? They have a vibrant culture of their own, and in so much of the movie we hear folk vietnamese songs sung by the actors.
Well, I still can't really understand your criticism... We seem to agree in anything else but this song/moment? Maqybe it's because for me the whole sequence with the complete song is my favorite in the film.
Btw, the sound quality of the song in the movie/disco is very poor. Sounds almost like a bad mp3. The director could have put a good stereo mix of it in the film, but instead chose to put it this way. Maybe the speakers in the disco were very poor. I don't really see how one could play this song in a Vietnamese bar. This is western charts-music, and it's what you got in a lot of (eastern) countries if you wanted to dance.
http://imageartz.blogspot.com/
I guess there's no right answer, it all comes down to your personal opinion. Though I've been past a lot of clubs in Malaysia and Thailand and some dodgy islands about and I've never heard a slow song like Radiohead being played. At a bar maybe, but at clubs you either have 80s, eurotrash techno, or some sort of R&B.
i agree with your thoughts. that scene was the cheapest, most amateurish part of the whole film.
sharei disagree, i have been in south-east-asia too (thailnd) and i have found places with my style of music, whoch is also radiohead. on ko samui there was the doors pub which was actually more a open space underground disco (and not just a pub) and at the full moon party there were also 2 places where they have played brit pop and so on. though this was really a bar. anyway, radioheads creep was played in discotheques in austria too. all this experiences made in the early and midth 90s
share... and i have often made the experience that the song which was played in a disco fitted perfectly to my situation i was in. why shouldnt that happen to others too? think, thats not so extraordinary
share"I think it was terrible. The double meaning of having that song playing in that particular scene was the complete opposite of subtle. It smacked of a director trying to create meaning by hammering the viewer over the head with a mallet. Also, it seemed so out of place, here we have a club in Vietnam, where people are dancing quite vigorously and they're playing radiohead?"
... nice comment! i thought that a little too - feels kinda student film maker-ish (dare i say so)...but i can see where Tran was coming from with that. why re-invent the wheel when radiohead can do all the talking for you. i think spielberg has been accused of this his entire career regarding john williams and 'forced emotion' through the use of his music. its not quite wong kar-wai, but full marks for trying.
[deleted]