Nora Ephron's last work

My friend came back home from U.S in her vacation and gave me a book of Nora Ephron. Its name is "I Remember Nothing". The book contains some articles and reflections she has published on newspapers and magazines. I think not many people Vietnam know who are her but I'm sure you know some charming movies like When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Sleepless In Seattle (1993), You've Got Mail (1998), and Julie & Julia (2009). She wrote screenplays and directed almost them. I like them a lot and even edited a screenplay book of When Harry Met Sally... in Vietnamese. It's very funny, attractive and witty.


Nora just died few weeks ago (26 June). It's really a bad news. She's a talent in rom-com movies which conquer viewers over the world. Her movies are kind of chick-flick but still make men want to see. In fact, her male characters are not boring. Do you like Jack Nicholson, Billy Crystal, Tom Hanks, and John Travolta, A-list movie stars? All of them played in her few movies. The list has Steve Martin, Kurt Russell, Will Ferrell...

The screenplay book I edited in Vietnamese

Some scenes in When Harry Met Sally... with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan

There are few female stars played in Ephron's movies: Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Cher, Andie McDowell, and Meg Ryan, of course. We could say Meg Ryan used to be the muse of Ephron. Their big hits came when Meg play movies of Nora.

Ephron's movies seem quite soft, not serious and they contain all small things about emotional world of women, the way they seek love, discover men, etc... But they tell the stories in a charming and subtle way. Their message is a calling for love, the communication between lonely people in urban society. Ephron's movies are the treatment for curing and mending broken hearts. Of course, my expression seems quite cliché, but it's true.

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Now I should say about her last work: the book. It was published in 2010. Its content comes from articles in The Huffington Post, The New Yorker, The New York Times and Vogue. I like "Journalism: A Love Story" and "My Life as an Heiress" the most. The former tells about her time in Newsweek and The New York Post around 1962 when she started her career as a journalist. She had to move quiet slowly from position of a mail girl ("my job couldn't have been more prosaic"), then clipper ("after a few months, I was promoted to the next stage of girldom at Newsweek: I became a clipper") - "Being a clipper entailed clipping newspapers from around the country." "Being a clipper was a horrible job, and to make matters worse, I was good at it. But I learned something: I became familiar with every major newspaper in Ameria." Starting with very ordinary jobs, but Nora let the readers learn that she always was an optimist. Her memory was very humorous and lively.

"Three months later, I was promoted again, this time to the highest rung: I became a researcher." It's a kind of fast checking job if there's any mistake in content of articles before publishing. It's not morasse (pre-printing) errors but the correctness of names, places and numbers. During the time of famous 114-days newspaper strike (Dec 1962), she accidentally catch the chance to work for The New York Post as a columnist. Then she worked for it for 5 years. This job perhaps brought her good material in writing. 

All what I could say, Nora Ephron is a valued author to read and study, besides her movies. Reading them, we understand why her books are "national bestsellers" of America. They have the interesting links with the movies, social trends and even history of the country she lived in. Her books are not too complicated but easy to read, even with a foreign like me. It's evidence of power of American entertainment industry.

A Bitter Summer

Last night, I went to The Youth Theatre (Nhà hát Tuổi Trẻ) to see a play. Its name's "Mùa hạ cay đắng" (A Bitter Summer), written by Nguyễn Quang Lập, directed by Anh Tú and main role played by Kim Oanh.

This play was written over 20 years ago, maybe 1988 when the renovation has been carried out in Vietnam. It seemly became a remarkable play since there. But in the bleak condition of Hanoi stage nowadays, information about new revival of this play doesn't gain many attentions of audience. I know about it just a few hours before play when a friend of mine ask via Facebook that who want to go to see it then she give free tickets. Unfortunately, it seems nobody could go, even her. Someone comments on her status that the play is too old and kind of headache. I have never seen it, so I decided to go. When I go to take the tickets, I was so shocked when she give me 8 tickets!

The play said about one beautiful woman who ran away from an illegal affair around year of 1972 when the North Vietnam suffered the bombing attacks of U.S air force. She lived in a small village with her child (from the affair) and her adopted father. This situation was rather vague. In addition, the first scene was too long but not informative. It made audience feel bored.

But the most important thing here was the characteristic of Thùy Linh - the woman, Trần Hới - the man who was chasing her and the father. They yelled at each other about their sins, lies and betraying in the past. It's a kind of flashbacks but all of them expressed through saying. I dislike this method, it's so simple and boring, especially when the dialogue was not good. It repeated so many same ideas and sentences.


Kim Oanh as Thùy Linh and Quang Ánh as Trần Hới.

Back to the plot. In 1969, the woman felt in love with a soldier name Hoàng when his troop go by the village from the frontier back to Hanoi to repair the arms. He became the meaning of her life and she's waiting for him for years. The soldiers dropped 50 barrels of oil and ask people protect them till they come back. The villagers had to fight the bombing attacks and they lost 12 people for 3 years but no one came back to take the oil away or even communicate them.

Accidentally, Hoàng came back from the frontier. He said that the troop let him turn back to watch the oil barrels. While he and Thùy Linh were guarding the barrels together, he shot a U.S airplane down. But he didn't want to let everyone know it's his victory. When they came back home, he convinced his girlfriend to take it. Unfortunately, Trần Hới who found Thùy Linh already listen to this talk. He discover that Hoang is a deserted soldier. It explained why Hoang did not want to be responsible for the victory.


The 'hot' scene in play

When Trần Hới forced Thùy Linh and the daughter come back to live together with him whether he would tell the truth, she left. I understand the message here is nobody's perfect and full of mistakes. Thùy Linh was a kind of wild woman who used to love Trần Hới because he's "too handsome" and then loved Hoàng, but she's disappointed with her men. Every seemed cheated, maybe, but the simplicity of plot did not persuade me in that message.

However, the talents of main actress - Kim Oanh - solve this play a lot. She could express many emotions, she is also beautiful and her voice is clear. Some verses that she sang are quite charming, it helped audience feel relaxed.

I heard that this play is made just for attending the Professional Stage Festival next month to earn some gold medals, esp. Kim Oanh. Now she's a Superb Artist (a noble title by state authority) at the age of 37 or 38. With the regular in Vietnam, maybe she will become a People's Artist (higher than Superb Artist title), but when? In Vietnam, people call this kind of plays and movies as "Kịch/phim cúng cụ" (Offerings to Ancestors, it means the works made for propaganda, ceremony, memorial...) but nobody buy tickets to see them. So what could I say when I go to theater with 8 tickets for only 2 person? And a lot of empty seats there said all.