In the first of Ann Hui's screen stories of boat people, The Boy From Vietnam chronicles a teenager's illegal entry to Hong Kong and adjustment to life in the city. As the boy locates his brother, who is already in Hong Kong, moves from a safe house and takes up work, Hui and writers Shu Kei and Wong Chi carefully shed light on the hardships immigrants face in Hong Kong. The new home, it turns out, is no promised land for refugees but more a transit point on a journey elsewhere, and a place where injustice and prejudice are common.
Tim Youngs