The maturity of this young film maker was startling to me. The obviously gorgeous and varied visual feast for one's eyes combined with small subtlteties such as the nipple of the whore's breast showing through the pink nightgown that the cyclo driver gave her.. just a second.. but a revealing moment since all the clothes she dressed in as a whore never revealed her as much. Another example was in the story of the lotus flower girl and the leper.. the more she wrote his poetry the more his face appeared out of the shadows and became lit. The marriage of the visual and lighting movement reflecting the feelings of the characters is rare to see and something to be studied again in this film. And a moving performance by Keitel clearly searching for his humanity. And a perfect bit of casting with the woman who played his grown daughter. The director's sense of timing- not rushed, letting each story unfold, carrying one on the precarious wave of the confused mix of the country's old and the new, the thought provoking issues of the various different kinds of love portrayed..parental love,romantic love, poetic love, the love of beaty where it realy lies....all rare in film making today. Profoundly disturbing scenes of the street children. Nothing like this from a young American film makers that I've seen. And as a worldwide distributor of film, TV and video who tries to support new filmmakers I've seen a fair amount. I would like to know where the poetry came from and how to find it for myself to read and savor it even more.Bravo Tony Bui. Bravo Timothy Bui.