Following Ah Man’s arrival in Hong Kong as a stowaway, the Vietnamese teenager seeks out his cousin for help to earn a living. Thereafter he becomes an apprentice with a compatriot Vietnamese painter. One day, Ah Man accidentally discovers his cousin’s disgraceful secret, while the painter faces deportation for his own illegal residency status.

The Boy from Vietnam was one of the three episodes Ann Hui made for the TV series Below the Lion Rock produced by Radio Television Hong Kong, before her transition to work in the film industry. It also marked the debut of her Vietnam Trilogy. Beneath the narrative’s calm surface lies deep empathy and a shared sense of tenacity amid sufferings in life. The flashbacks of Ah Man’s memories of home during wartime also add a humanist dimension to the realist drama.

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Ann Hui (b. 1947, Liaoning) started her film career as a key figure of the Hong Kong New Wave. Her experiences span across genres and her work has constantly committed to realism. Her debut film The Secret (1971) takes inspiration from a real-life murder case, while the award-winning Boat People (1982) depicts the reality of Vietnamese refugees. Her work often features autobiographical elements. In Song of the Exile (1990) and As Time Goes By (1997), she reflects on her memories and ponders the arduous search for one’s roots as a speck in the sea of history. She has also shown a deep interest in the stories of the common people in Hong Kong, such as in The Way We Are (2008). Her latest work is a documentary on Hong Kong poets, Elegies (2023).