Masculinity is transforming as gendered norms and roles evolve. Sometimes, when considering a pressing sociopolitical issue, men are deemed “the problem” – ending a conversation without further contextualization, nuance, or a suggested remedy. This set – which involves male protagonists and subjects (We Were the Scenery’s co-subjects are a husband and wife) – depicts men pushed to the margins of society for reasons beyond their control. How do their notions of masculinity inform their responses to a situation and how is masculinity – especially in a Vietnamese diasporic context – evolving?

Vietnamese men find themselves adrift, far from home, in Visa, Land of Opportunity, and From a Distance. In Visa, A Vietnamese student is desperate to extend his stay in America and resorts to desperate measures. The desperation is quieter, less urgent in Land of Opportunity and From a Distance (their subjects contending with alienation in Hong Kong and Germany, respectively) – but it remains just as potent as in the set opener. The Journal and We Were the Scenery examine Vietnam War-related trauma that manifests differently within an American veteran and a Vietnamese refugee couple. With the former film reopening unseen wounds, the latter recalls the couple’s experiences reenacting violent scenes for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) – a film unconcerned about Vietnamese suffering. The animated Xanh concludes this set, as a daughter asks her father why he refused to challenge a racist remark hurled towards him.

Like its fellow VFF short film sets, this set does not pretend to offer clear answers to its central question, but exists to further a necessary conversation.

By Eric Nong