Zoo story

Child actor Pham Thi Han shines in
The Owl and the Sparrow

FLOWER POWER: Han

by MATTHEW HAYS

Child actors so often veer into the nauseating territory of schmaltz or bad performances, such that when a real talent does come along, it makes it seem that much more of a feat. Such is the case with Pham Thi Han, a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl who steals so much of The Owl and the Sparrow, there’s scant film left for the rest of the talented cast.

Han plays an orphan who is trapped in a dreadful job at her uncle’s bamboo factory on the outskirts of Saigon. She manages an escape, only to arrive in Saigon and learn though a fellow street urchin how to survive: by selling single flowers. Han manages to make things work—sort of—but it’s the friendships she forges with a lonely zookeeper and a flight attendant that form the crux of the plot.

In her own bid to create a protective family, Han sees in the zookeeper and flight attendant a perfect match, and goes about pushing the two together into an unlikely but somehow inevitable bond. Yes, it sounds rather onerous in simple description, but first-time writer-director Stephane Gauger manages to avoid the treacherous pratfalls that this could so easily have fallen into.

Stylistically, everything about The Owl and the Sparrow feels entirely real, recalling the neo-realism of post-war Italy. But unlike those films, this one doesn’t seem to address any burning social issues. The wee Han is in poverty, sure, but this is a quasi-fantasy film dressed down with naturalistic camerawork and performances. It actually makes for a good bit of stylistic tension, one of the film’s overriding attributes.

There are many nice moments here, though if anything The Owl and the Sparrow goes on for a bit too long—Gauger didn’t seem entirely sure of how to bring closure to the action, though that’s a minor complaint. A film with performances this strong and a style that manages to avoid the maudlin is something to be celebrated. And given the current state of world affairs, let’s not knock a happy ending—filmmakers have been known to commit far, far worse crimes.

THE OWL AND THE SPARROW OPENS
THIS FRIDAY, SEPT. 11