Director: Timothy Linh Bui
Release date: 2023
Contains spoilers
Release date: 2023
Contains spoilers
It great to see a piece of vampire cinema coming out of Vietnam, especially when it looks as good as Nguoi Mat Troi (which apparently translates to People of the Sun). There were aspects of this that felt like underlying social commentary around class and status, which I missed the nuance of due to not being aware of societal cultures in Vietnam, but they were a minor thing within a vampire movie that owed its tropes to Western cinema.
That importing of the tropes is tackled in an animated opening that suggested a history were European vampires were being wiped out and so they fled to Indochina, where they cut a bloody swathe through the country, murdering, feeding and turning. Eventually the people fought back, driving the vampires to near extinction. The commentary on colonisation here is obvious.
The vampires decided they had to blend in to survive and there is a general rule of no killing (though also a rule of leaving no witnesses, which does involve killing). We meet a schoolgirl, who is helping her dad. She is apparently top of her class and doing really well. Her dad transports stock from his store as she closes up for him. He is worried for her, but she reminds him it is a five minute walk home. As she leaves we see she is observed and a hooded figure, later revealed as Marco (Thuan Nguyen), floats down behind her. She does get home and is sat at a dresser, not noticing the reflected shutters opening – vampires in this cast no reflection. He feeds from her and then takes her to the river and dumps the body, wrapped in chains to weight it down. The police are called to the bodiless bloody scene in her bedroom.
We meet a group of vampires, the so-called Daydreamers. They have a legend of a turned monk who sealed himself into a cave for 100 years, subsisting on rat blood and avoiding humans, until he eventually became human again. These vampires believe that through abstinence they can tame their inner demon and turn back to human. The sect is led by Vy (Thiên Tư), with her her human son Loc (Thach Kim Long), who is a police detective, acting as a daylight protector. They do a test of some of the vampires (chaining them up and putting blood before them) following the murder (Loc recognising the signs of a vampire attack at the crime scene). Among those tested is Nhat (Trang Ngoc Vang), the main protagonist of the film – one of the vampires fails the test and is killed by silver bullet.
Nhat’s job is to pick up animal blood (currently fish blood) and distribute it to fellow daydreamers. As he drives through the city he passes Ha (Trinh Thao), being bullied by other schoolgirls. She jumps onto his trailer but he stops (she drops her purse that he subsequently accidentally rides off with), forcing her off the vehicle, but does intervene in the beating Ha is getting. Elsewhere Marco is with Trieu (Chi Pu) at an opulent restaurant celebrating their 1-year anniversary. She offers venison blood to drip in their champagne – he fantasises about the two of them slaughtering the staff and customers. We later discover she is the vampire queen of the city.
Marco is Nhat’s brother. He escaped from the daydreamers when he failed the blood test but their mother took the silver bullet fired at him. He returns to Nhat and tempts him to go out with his new friends – which involves going to one of Trieu’s clubs (it seems she runs clubs, gambling dens etc). Coincidentally, also at the club is Ha, dragged there by her friend Mai (Ngân Hoà). There is an attraction between her and Nhat and he does become drunk. Trying to help him in the restroom she sees he has no reflection and runs. Trieu’s rule is there are no witnesses, so Ha should die – Nhat wants to save her by getting her out of Ho Chi Minh and Loc sees them together and fears the worst. Marco wants his brother with him but, of course, he has embraced his vampirism more fully than any other vampire we meet, with a credo that goes against both Trieu's rules and the ethos of the daydreamers.
So, the lore is pretty standard – sunlight burns, silver can kill and burns otherwise, no reflection and the vampires are fast and strong (though Marco seems exceptionally strong comparatively and this, presumably, is down to his human diet – there is a quite a collection of weighted down bodies in the river). When they die they crumble and dust and the effect is neatly done. They refer to humans as pets. It appears that a bite turns – so I guess that fully draining kills and part draining turns (the film doesn't distinguish). The film looks great and clearly had budget. Trang Ngoc Vang really does well, creating a sympathetic protagonist, but Thuan Nguyen needs mentioning as he really makes Marco a character you root for, despite being the one vampire with absolutely no moral compass. The film’s English title is odd as the daydreamers play a relatively minor role in the story. 7.5 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On DVD @ Amazon US
 |
| opening animation |
That importing of the tropes is tackled in an animated opening that suggested a history were European vampires were being wiped out and so they fled to Indochina, where they cut a bloody swathe through the country, murdering, feeding and turning. Eventually the people fought back, driving the vampires to near extinction. The commentary on colonisation here is obvious.
 |
| Marco hunting |
The vampires decided they had to blend in to survive and there is a general rule of no killing (though also a rule of leaving no witnesses, which does involve killing). We meet a schoolgirl, who is helping her dad. She is apparently top of her class and doing really well. Her dad transports stock from his store as she closes up for him. He is worried for her, but she reminds him it is a five minute walk home. As she leaves we see she is observed and a hooded figure, later revealed as Marco (Thuan Nguyen), floats down behind her. She does get home and is sat at a dresser, not noticing the reflected shutters opening – vampires in this cast no reflection. He feeds from her and then takes her to the river and dumps the body, wrapped in chains to weight it down. The police are called to the bodiless bloody scene in her bedroom.
 |
| testing Nhat |
We meet a group of vampires, the so-called Daydreamers. They have a legend of a turned monk who sealed himself into a cave for 100 years, subsisting on rat blood and avoiding humans, until he eventually became human again. These vampires believe that through abstinence they can tame their inner demon and turn back to human. The sect is led by Vy (Thiên Tư), with her her human son Loc (Thach Kim Long), who is a police detective, acting as a daylight protector. They do a test of some of the vampires (chaining them up and putting blood before them) following the murder (Loc recognising the signs of a vampire attack at the crime scene). Among those tested is Nhat (Trang Ngoc Vang), the main protagonist of the film – one of the vampires fails the test and is killed by silver bullet.
 |
| slaughter fantasy |
Nhat’s job is to pick up animal blood (currently fish blood) and distribute it to fellow daydreamers. As he drives through the city he passes Ha (Trinh Thao), being bullied by other schoolgirls. She jumps onto his trailer but he stops (she drops her purse that he subsequently accidentally rides off with), forcing her off the vehicle, but does intervene in the beating Ha is getting. Elsewhere Marco is with Trieu (Chi Pu) at an opulent restaurant celebrating their 1-year anniversary. She offers venison blood to drip in their champagne – he fantasises about the two of them slaughtering the staff and customers. We later discover she is the vampire queen of the city.
 |
| Nhat and Ha |
Marco is Nhat’s brother. He escaped from the daydreamers when he failed the blood test but their mother took the silver bullet fired at him. He returns to Nhat and tempts him to go out with his new friends – which involves going to one of Trieu’s clubs (it seems she runs clubs, gambling dens etc). Coincidentally, also at the club is Ha, dragged there by her friend Mai (Ngân Hoà). There is an attraction between her and Nhat and he does become drunk. Trying to help him in the restroom she sees he has no reflection and runs. Trieu’s rule is there are no witnesses, so Ha should die – Nhat wants to save her by getting her out of Ho Chi Minh and Loc sees them together and fears the worst. Marco wants his brother with him but, of course, he has embraced his vampirism more fully than any other vampire we meet, with a credo that goes against both Trieu's rules and the ethos of the daydreamers.
 |
| dying vampire |
So, the lore is pretty standard – sunlight burns, silver can kill and burns otherwise, no reflection and the vampires are fast and strong (though Marco seems exceptionally strong comparatively and this, presumably, is down to his human diet – there is a quite a collection of weighted down bodies in the river). When they die they crumble and dust and the effect is neatly done. They refer to humans as pets. It appears that a bite turns – so I guess that fully draining kills and part draining turns (the film doesn't distinguish). The film looks great and clearly had budget. Trang Ngoc Vang really does well, creating a sympathetic protagonist, but Thuan Nguyen needs mentioning as he really makes Marco a character you root for, despite being the one vampire with absolutely no moral compass. The film’s English title is odd as the daydreamers play a relatively minor role in the story. 7.5 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On DVD @ Amazon US
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