Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- tense
- melancholic
- politically charged
- serious film night
- hong kong cinema retrospective
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Woo Viet leaves Vietnam, travels through Thailand and Hong Kong, and seeks eventual resettlement in the United States.
Woo Viet and Lee Lap Quan investigate the mysterious vanishing of refugees in a Thai camp.
The story follows Vietnamese refugees moving through Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Philippines amid unresolved political danger.
Ann Hui uses a refugee crisis and institutional violence as the foundation for a serious crime drama.
Films like The Story of Woo Viet, and why
Boat People
shared refugee displacement, political danger, and morally serious drama
A Better Tomorrow
shared hong kong new wave sensibility, social realism, and political repression
The Killing Fields
shared migrant protagonists, border crossing, and tense humanitarian drama
Movie Details
- Director
- Ann Hui
- Release Date
- 1981-04-23
- Runtime
- 92 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (14)
Cast
- Chow Yun-Fat
- Cora Miao
- Cherie Chung Cho-Hung
- Lo Lieh
- Gam Biu
- Homer Cheung
- Tong Kam-Tong
- Lam Ying-Fat
- Chan To-Kit
- Chung Cheun-Ying
Common questions
- What is The Story of Woo Viet about?
- A Vietnamese refugee’s route toward freedom becomes a perilous investigation into disappearances inside a Thai refugee camp.
- What is The Story of Woo Viet like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Story of Woo Viet as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Story of Woo Viet violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Story of Woo Viet as moderate.
- Which films are like The Story of Woo Viet?
- Films with a similar feel include Boat People, A Better Tomorrow, and The Killing Fields.
- How long is The Story of Woo Viet?
- The Story of Woo Viet runs 92 minutes.
