FEATURE : PHILADELPHIA FESTIVAL OF WORLD CINEMA


Another Week in the Hot Seat

Haven't yet made it to the Fest? Fret not.
The best (or at least the rest) is still to come.

What does the second week of the 11th annual Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema hold? Plenty, if you know where to look. But even if you don't, we're sure you'll get an eyeful--whether it be the handsome tableau of Party of Five star Scott Wolf and a Philadelphia Weekly box, the Deliverance tale of a Vietnamese exchange student stranded with a redneck family in Mississippi, or the diary of Castro's jilted lover. From silly to poignant to just plain weird, here are a few of the week's most compelling choices. The Fest ends April 18, so get the hell out there already.

“MAI'S AMERICA. The American South just can't look good, can it? I hate to sound geocentric, but if you watch just two films in this festival--Daughter from Danang and Mai's America--you'll come away thinking that, all things considered, you'd rather be in Vietnam. In this film, a relatively wealthy, happy Vietnamese teenager leaves her close-knit family to stay with an American host family in Mississippi…”

“While Mai's journey starts amiably enough, and we laugh at things like a budding friendship with a transvestite, everything becomes more complex in hindsight. Mai is so likable and open-minded, it's impossible not to root for her. But while you're excited by her going to the States in the beginning, by the end you can't wait for her to get home. A- (L.S.)”