Giao Thoi
What the heck is Giao Thoi? Thankfully, the term is explained by Mrs. Lan (Minh Duc) at the end of the film. It literally means everyone gets to shine once in his/her life. Throughout Giao Thoi, you will see the rise and fall of many individuals whether they are rich, poor, powerful or weak. One minute you could have everything; however, the next minute, you could walk away with bare hands. And yes, women can ruin your life.
Giao Thoi is a Vietnamese romantic drama TV series directed by Phan Hoang and he had done a fantastic job of putting women on the frontline. The smart and sexy women in the film put men in critical conditions. Kieu Linh (Truong Ngoc Anh) changes men like changes clothes and they still fall head over heels for her. She feels no remorse for her action and willing to move on like nothing happen. Kieu Hanh (Hien Mai) uses men to gain social power. Along with a college degree, she uses her look to get higher ranking even sleeping with old men. She is the greediest and the most dangerous of the three sisters. Kieu Lan (My Uyen) is the youngest and the sweetest. Opposite from her sisters, Kieu Lan is not greedy and she believes in true love. Ironically, the mother, Mrs. Lan, also overpowered her husband. She has all the control and the old man (Manh Dung) is powerless in the house of four women.
Giao Thoi was filmed in 1999 and they had covered almost every social issue that goes on in Vietnam including: Sex cafe (Cafe om), sex restaurant (bia om), poverty, use power to except illegal cash, AIDS, Taiwanese marriages, and much more. The best part of the film is when Kieu Lan slaps the Taiwanese bastard in the face and said, “dirty dollars.” I wish Vietnamese women did that in real life instead of the other way around. The best line is when Kieu Linh commented on artists, “Every artist thinks he has a mansion up in the sky.” The film also touches on commercial art vs. real art. It is interesting to see how commercial work could ruin an artist’s stage of mind and creativities.
Giao Thoi is well directed, well written, and the entire cast had done a wonderful job of holding up the series. Everyone is equally good in his/her role. Furthermore, Nguyen Anh 9 and Nguyen Quang had done an outstanding job on the musical score. It enhances the film nicely. Although Giao Thoi is 40 hours long, the good stories will keep you engage till the end. It is highly recommended for the Vietnamese movie lovers like myself.