owl and the sparrow

Despite sporting subtitles, being set in Saigon and featuring an all Vietnamese cast, Owl and the Sparrow doesn’t really fall into the typical foreign film category. And Stephane Gauger, the Vietnamese-American writer-director behind the film, would be the first to agree.

His story of a flight attendant, zoo keeper and young flower girl whose lives intermingle over the course of five days in the city is the sort of simple, universal story that even Hollywood producers have made hundreds of times. Yet it’s not what’s in Gauger’s film that makes it different, it’s what he leaves out. There are no pratfalls, no wacky neighbors, no talking animals, no comedic misunderstandings that result in groin hits, spit takes or falls down a long flight of stairs. Owl and the Sparrow dispenses with the complications and tells the tender story of a little girl who, on the run from her callous uncle, winds up penniless and hungry on the street. Through a series of coincidences, she brings together her two benefactors, both looking for love but afraid of getting hurt.

I told you, the story has been done to death, but Gauger’s honest approach (filmed handheld on the streets of Saigon) and excellent acting across the board make the situation not only believable but often heartbreaking. If you don’t think subtitles can make you cry, think again. Yet for all the inherent tragedy Owl and the Sparrow lines up, it waltzes expertly towards the sort of happy ending you might resent if it came out of Hollywood. But somehow here it feels just right. The DVD also includes a commentary, featurette, deleted scenes, stills and a trailer.