CU LI NEVER CRIES

A woman tries to cling onto dimming links to her past after inheriting a pygmy slow loris from her long-estranged husband. Meanwhile, her niece prepares for marriage, as the young couple ponders their uncertain future together. The present and the complex echoes of Vietnamese history intertwine with a contemplative and poetic perspective.

Phạm Ngọc Lân’s first feature-length film was inspired by the multiple Vietnamese meanings for cu li — an unskilled laborer, a primate, a golden chicken fern plant — that evoked different allusions to his homeland. It also tells the story of Lân’s aunt, who was part of the groups of Vietnamese laborers, students and specialists that were sent to East Germany under socialist cooperation agreements prior to 1990.