Fantastic Fest 2008

Brief summary:
Director Fabrice Du Welz' controversial and harrowing journey into the spiritual darkness that envelops two grieving parents as they search Thailand and Burma against all hope for their son, whom they believe may have survived the giant Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

Full summary:
Rarely has a film come to us so highly anticipated as VINYAN. Director Fabrice Du Welz's CALVAIRE stunned us a few years ago with its nightmarish, atmospheric look at rural Belgium. Think what he could do with the impoverished jungle villes of Burma and Thailand!

And sure enough the viewer is transported into the heart of exactly the kind of darkness that none of us hopes to ever encounter. Emmanuelle Béart and Rufus Sewell star as the parents of a boy lost in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

Suspecting against all hope that he may still be alive, they embark on a dangerous and desperate expedition into the lowlife-infested red-light districts of Thailand and the extreme poverty and lawlessness of the Thai/Burmese border. The atmosphere is hostile and unfamiliar to the westerners and the film leads the viewer into the kind of resolution that will shock, offend, terrify and delight in no particular order.