The Taste of Pho (2019)
Review of The Taste of Pho (2019), directed by Mariko Bobrik
I found this movie on the recently added section of Kanopy, and, after finishing my Korean gangster film on this day, knew that I had to watch something more wholesome and relatable to cleanse my palate. I was particularly interested in this film because of it depicted the immigrant experience of the Vietnamese diaspora in Poland, which I found out was one of the largest ethnic groups in the country. That’s so fascinating to me, as someone who knows nothing about diaspora communities in European countries outside of, say, France and Britain.
We follow a Vietnamese chef who is struggling to find remnants of home in Poland, as his half-Polish half-Vietnamese daughter wishes she was completely Polish. There’s some pretty heartbreaking parts about identity coming up, but I don’t want to spoil it in the intro!
With that being said, let’s just jump right into it.
Content
Our main character in this film is a Vietnamese chef who specializes in pho. Every day he makes a classic Vietnamese lunch for his daughter, who, in turn, dumps it into the dumpster outside of her school. While her father struggles to fit into Polish society, she has completely assimilated, as she has had a Polish mother. Each night, under the covers of her bed, she whispers prayers to bring her mother back. At the same time, a new owner buys the restaurant her father works at and he is now forced to make sushi, which he protests to because it is not a Vietnamese dish. He is forced to do so anyways for an income.
With a run time of 84 minutes, this is a pretty-straightforward film. The conflict is fairly clear: it’s the struggle to fit in and assimilate into this new culture. Or, as the daughter’s case, the struggle of being in-between cultures. She is neither properly Vietnamese nor properly Polish, despite having been born and raised in Poland. She, however, as a child is a bit cruel, as she tells her father that she wishes he died instead of her mother so that she didn’t have to eat Vietnamese food every day (or, well, as she specifically states that she didn’t want to eat rice).
The acting could’ve been better, it’s a bit rusty at some points, but considering they had to specifically find a mixed girl and a Vietnamese man presumably in his mid-forties that could speak Polish and Vietnamese, I imagine that the options were slightly limited in finding trained actors. I do think this adds a level of authenticity, though, despite it falling flat at some points. It is a bit slow at times because of this, but because it’s a shorter movie it’s bearable.
Overall Thoughts
I found this to be an overall insight into Vietnamese immigrant culture in Poland, and I think my key takeaway is that it fed my curiosity on immigrant survival through food in new cultures. I enjoyed the film as a palate cleanser, but I wouldn’t take it as something seriously hard hitting. It warms the heart at times, teaches us a valuable lesson on our parent’s struggles as kids of diaspora, as well as the impacts it has on the kids that are stuck in-between cultures. It’s a cute movie that has good insight.
