Ru

Charles-Olivier Michaud's 2023 Canadian film follows a Vietnamese family who settle in Montreal after a dangerous sea crossing and a stay in a camp in Malaysia. Tinh, the young daughter, has to learn a new language, a new school and an unfamiliar winter at once. The film does not present refuge as a narrative of rescue. The family is safe but the loss of class, language and standing continues; the difference between how quickly the children adapt and how slowly the parents do creates a new distance inside the family. It is adapted from Kim Thuy's novel and the structure follows it; the sections are short, the chronology skips and memory is fragmentary. Chloe Djandji plays Tinh. Who it's for: those who like dramas about migration and adaptation. Who it's not for: viewers expecting linear narrative; the film keeps jumping backwards and forwards.