Two Halves: Film Analysis

I am a filmmaker from Perth and son of Vietnamese migrants from war-torn Vietnam. Ever since I was a child I was fascinated and influenced by story. Story has shaped my life and has helped me to become a filmmaker, and in other instances become obstacles in my life.

The traditional story for the son of a refugee is to build a life better than his own parents who were less fortunate than he has been. That narrative saw me study engineering, then politics with a view to be a lawyer. I certainly did grind away at those subjects achieving excellent marks in engineering and competent marks in politics.

But surprisingly to my parents the stories that interested me most were the nuggets of information about their past lives. I vividly remember trying to coax my

I began to try and understanding my family’s life lessons and life anecdotes to provide lessons of my own. As featured in my concertina exercise, worrying of old age, remaining relevant, and holding onto family that are slowly leaving are collective emotions I feel from my parents and grandparents. I also relate to the struggle of duty to family, or a code, or something other than myself that presents an obstacle to my own personal life. I’ve expressed this through the film Two Halves which I directed as my thesis film at WA Screen Academy.

I feel that creating films that express a personal perspective gives a film a depth or gravitas that transcends the ho-hum. I feel a want to create a feeling of importance in the stories I tell. I also aim to try to sort out these issues in my films as they are going on in my own life. I think that if I don’t have a stake in the film then why should the audience?

I have a good grasp of visual language and emotion in actors; I have a good grasp of lighting and camerawork from my experience as a DP and gaffer; I have a good sense of structure, humour and what makes a good