I've lived in the Far East for nearly 20 years so always look forward to movies based in that area.

I was so disappointed with "Monsoon". The acting and camera work were pedestrian and wooden. The actors almost looked as if they were being prompted with their lines at times. No emotion anywhere.

Where was the story? A hint of gay romance, a hint of politics, a hint of self discovery. It went nowhere and said little. And what kind of ending was that?

I guess the only marks I can give it are for the memories of places visited that it brought back to me.

Monsoon

Oh dear, a missed opportunity to say something or indeed anything!

The cinematography was ravishing but Vietnam itself was an ugly concrete mess, and any sophistication in Saigon was a pale copy of any New York bar.

The movie appeared to be about dislocation and regret having fled his "homeland" and childhood memories as a six year old boy with his family during the war. Why he had any regret remained entirely unclear.

The whole purpose of the visit by him and brother was the laying to rest of the ashes of his mother and father, but yet again it was never explained why this was necessary or even desirable as it was never inferred this was a dying wish by either parent.

We then had, perhaps springing from loneliness, a series of internet app liaisons, injected apparently as some form of titillation, this was a jaded cliche.

Every theme lay superficially on the surface and was never satisfactorily explored and then the movie fizzled out and ended.

Henry Golding is a fine actor but no thespian could raise this dead dog from the grave of oblivion.

The break-neck speed of the economic success and associated development experienced by Viet Nam in recent decades is well-known, yet for many outside the country mention of it still brings to mind the horrors of the 1955-75 war. In 'Monsoon' Kit, who as a child in the late 1970s left the country as one of the boat people, returns for the first time to scatter his parents' ashes. But as he explores Sài Gòn and meets relatives last seen thirty years ago, he finds much of the modern country does not resemble the distant memories of his childhood. Relief from this confusion comes in the muscular arms of Lewis, an American entrepreneur struggling with the ghosts of his father's involvement in the war.

Kit's bewilderment at the modern face of a country long ago left behind reminded me of many British expats I have met during my travels - pining after a country that I doubt ever really existed as they remember it. Unfortunately writer/director Hong Khaou portrays this by filming many sequences of Kit staring glumly at buildings (although to be fair, sometimes he gets closer to them and we get instead a shot of Kit staring glumly at a door, which at least adds a bit of variety). Lead actor Henry Golding does not help: I like a subtle performance, but there is a difference between subtle and simply sounding uninterested in the lines you are delivering. Parker Sawyers puts a bit more oomph into his portrayal of Lewis and thus creates a more interesting character. I also found interesting the character of Linh, a young and modern local woman under pressure to join her family's tea business which she finds hopelessly out-of-date and inefficient, even if it provides a quality product. In her scenes Khaou explores, in a balanced way, the disagreements between modernity and tradition, between the young and their elders.

Unfortunately, though, there is not enough of either Linh or Lewis to rescue this film. I can say it was worth seeing once, but I will not be troubling myself to watch it again.