Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass () is a 2015 Vietnamese film. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Nguyá» n NháºÂt ÃÂnh. It was directed by Victor Và © and produced by Galaxy Media & Entertainment Saigon Concert, Phðáng Nam Film, PS Viá»Ât Nam and K+ Television channel. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2015 and was released in theaters on 2 October 2015. It was selected as the Vietnamese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. On December 5 during the 19th Vietnam Film Festival, the movie was awarded the golden lotus (the most-honored award given to a Vietnamese movie).
This is a movie portraying love and affection for a hometown, a family and teenage hood of each. Tðá»Âng is an innocent and lovely boy while his brother Thiá»Âu is selfish and stubborn. Aside from brotherhood filled with love, hate, envy, regret and atonement,...this is also about friendship, childhood memories of children living in poverty in Middle Region of Vietnam during 80s. There are fights; interesting kids' games; dreams filled with the images of prince and princess, and their first crush...
The story is demonstrated through a diary of Thiá»Âu evolving his daily life and thoughts. Thiá»Âu is a seventh grader who lives in a poor countryside with his younger brother named Tðá»Âng. Tðá»Âng is a lovely, generous and nice boy who loves his brother a lot; he especially loves playing with animals including bugs. He is an introvert and loves reading many books and folk tales, especially the story of Cóc TÃÂa (Purple Toad), therefore he pets a toad under his bed and names it "Cu CáºÂu". On the other hand, Thiá»Âu is a mischievous, extroverted boy who has been unintentionally letting Tðá»Âng take all the blame for his tricks. Although being selfish on the outside, deep down Thiá»Âu still loves his brother. The brothers often hang around playing many traditional games for kids and make many memories out of it. The story also broadens the relationship between the brothers and people in their village, including their classmates and families. Their father is described as a gentleman who is appreciated by many, yet he has a short temper and often beat the two brothers for some reasons, while their mother is a nice woman, but she scolds them for their mistakes regardless.
Uncle ÃÂàn is the younger brother of Thiá»Âu's father who is handicapped yet still positive and often spares his time to tell some spooky stories for two brothers. His only sorrow must be his ill-fated love caused by losing one of his arms. Uncle ÃÂàn loves Vinh, a girl who is the daughter of Thiá»Âu's scary teacher and also lives in the same village. One of Thiá»Âu's classmates is Sán, who is 3 years older but still in the same class with Thiá»Âu due to his bad grades. Sán is a muscular boy who is extremely naughty with much misbehavior. Later, Thiá»Âu comes to realize his crush for his classmate MáºÂn. MáºÂn is cute and innocent, but she doesn't study well enough because she has to take care of her sick father, who is locked inside a shack by her mother. Only Thiá»Âu and Tðá»Âng know this secret as both have to fight against Sán to protect MáºÂn from evil plans.
The shack MáºÂn's father is locked inside catches fire; her mother is arrested for capturing her husband who is assumed to have died during the fire as bones are discovered in the ash. MáºÂn is shocked and completely devastated; Thiá»Âu's family decide to help her by telling her that she can live with them. MáºÂn is aware of the fact that her father is still alive and her mother will be released soon. However, the friendship between MáºÂn and Tðá»Âng gradually makes Thiá»Âu jealous. He doesn't care enough to stop his brother's toad from being taken and killed for its meat. The incident haunts Thiá»Âu as he watches Tðá»Âng mourn over the toad not knowing his big brother is partially responsible. The flood arrives and the village is drowned, once it withdraws, the village is left with poverty and a lack of crop. Thiá»Âu, Tðá»Âng and MáºÂn discover that Uncle ÃÂàn and Vinh have already planned for an escape from their family. At the same time, Thiá»Âu's selfishness is getting bigger, which makes him hit Tðá»Âng with a big stick of wood, leaving Tðá»Âng paralyzed. Thiá»Âu feels even more regretful as Tðá»Âng tells him that he is the one whom MáºÂn would like to hang out with.
Director Viet Linh was ordered by Phuong Nam Films to write the script of the movie which was finished in 2013. The script was demonstrated from the same name novel of writer Nguyen Nhat Anh by Viet Linh, Victor Vu and Doan Nhat Nam altogether. The movie was mostly filmed at Phu Yen, some at Van Ninh Commune, Khanh Hoa Province and Ho Chi Minh City. The original title was "Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh" (Yellow Flowers on Green Grass), this is the first movie which was not written by Victor Vu himself. The budget of the movie was nearly 20 billion VND. This is the first movie which is produced as a cooperation between national and private companies.