At the Height of Summer

Tran Anh Hung’s third film takes place in Hanoi. It is the story of three sisters, one brother and two husbands – one of them a photographer, the other a writer. Lien, the youngest girl, works at her sister Suong’s café and shares an apartment with her brother Hai. On the anniversary of their mother’s death they all meet for dinner, as per the Vietnamese custom. The atmosphere is nice, open and harmonious but as the film unfolds we gradually come to understand that all of them have their secrets. At the Height of Summer is a beautiful, sensual and quiet film that will bathe you in colour and delicate moods. At the same, it is an extraordinarily sensitive character drama with both humour and dark undercurrents. jl

"Filmed in a Hanoi that looks more like an Asian love hotel than a city, it's a lush, sensuous work" - Roger Ebert