Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. This movie belongs to LEGEND-PICTURE Hmong Intertainment.
SPOILER ALERT: If you plan on buying/watching this movie (which you should to support our Hmong film industry), and does not wish to be spoiled then please don't read on.
Part 2 opens with Nkauj Hli's maternal first cousin, Pov, and his relatives negotiating with Nkauj Hli's parents for her hands in marriage. Nkauj Hli comes into the room, only to have her father tell her that he has given his approval for a wedding between Pov and her. Her elder uncle reminds her to accept the outcome because as a Hmong girl, whether it be today or another day, she will leave her family to marry into the family of another clan so she shouldn't object to Pov's marriage proposal.
Nkauj Hli looks upset and her mother tries to comfort her by telling her that her father is only doing what is best for her future. Nkauj Hli cries, not wanting to marry Pov. She tells her mother that if she is forced to marry Pov, she would rather die. She charges out of the room in tears.
Nkauj Hli leaves to find Yeej. He senses that she appears troubled and inquires after her wellbeing. She asks him to take her away or else she will die. He provokes her about her situation. She is reluctant to tell him initially, but eventually reveals that her parents are forcing her to marry a man she has never loved. He tells her not worry, and that perhaps her parents are not serious about the marriage. She responds by saying that her parents have been behaving oddly since the day he asked her mother that question, acting as if she is no longer their daughter. She knows for sure that they won't change their minds about Pov's marriage proposal.
Understanding Nkauj Hli's dilemma, Yeej tells her that he will take her to meet someone. He calls Zeb to come finish his work, and leaves with Nkauj Hli.
On their way back to Vientianne, Nkauj Hli falls asleep in the car and Yeej stops by a cliff to reminisce about Nkauj Hnub. He feels distressed.
Nkauj Hli wakes up, and follows Yeej to the cliff. She asks him why he is not continuing the trip. He answers that before taking her to meet his mother-in-law, he wants to tell her something that will change what she knows about her life. Yeej then informs Nkauj Hli that his late wife resembles her in exact physical figure and appearance. He believes that she may be her older or younger sister.
Yeej takes Nkauj Hli to his mother-in-law's house. The woman shed tears upon seeing Nkauj Hli, agreeing too that she looked identical to her late daughter, Nkauj Hnub. Nkauj Hli looks at Yeej bewildered, and speechless.
At the same time, Yeej's daughter runs out from the house and embraces Nkauj Hli, calling her "mother." Thinking it is her mother returning, she asks Nkauj Hli why she has been away so long. Nkauj Hli tells Yeej's daughter that she must missed her mother very much.
Inside the house, Yeej apologizes to his mother-in-law for abruptly bringing Nkauj Hli over without notice but he has acted so because he wants to know the truth about Nkauj Hnub and Nkauj Hli. Are they sisters?
Yeej's mother-in-law reveals that neither she nor Nkauj Hli's parents are the biological parents of the girls. It has been a long time so she doesn't remember much, but knows only that Nkauj Hnub and Nkauj Hli's mother is a mute woman. The mother-in-law and her husband were childless, and heard that someone in the countryside was given away a pair of twins so they went there and adopted one. The other must have been Nkauj Hli, but the only ones who know the truth is Nkauj Hli's adopted parents.
The background story sends Nkauj Hli into tears. Yeej's mother-in-law reassures Nkauj Hli not to feel regretful nor disappointed because although her current parents may not her biological parents, still, they love her very much.
Yeej takes Nkauj Hli to his home. She finds a picture of Nkauj Hnub, and weeps--feeling regretful that the two sisters never got the chance to meet. Nkauj Hli then asked Nkauj Hnub to come meet her in her dream if they are truly twin sisters. (This is the part where Nkauj Hli refers to Nkauj Hnub as the elder sister. I'm not sure when or how she knew that she was the younger sister?)
Nkauj Hli sits quietly under the open night sky. Yeej comes to sit next to her. She asks him what will he do next if he was in her shoes. He says that he is just as perplexed as she, but the best thing to do now is to go back home and ask her parents for the truth. However, whether she decides to seek the truth or not is up to her. She can return home to find the truth about her birth parents, or forget everything and live as if all of this never happened. But if she does choose to search for the truth then he will accompany her to locate her biological parents.
Yeej and Nkauj Hnub return to her home. She asks her parents whether they are her biological parents, and they don't deny it. She turns to her father for the truth, but he too keeps on insisting that he and his wife are her real parents.
A dejected and disappointed Nkauj Hli pulls out a picture of Nkauj Hnub, and shows it to her parents. She tells them that if they really did give birth to her, then who is the identical twin in the photograph. Nkauj Hli leaves the picture in her mother's hands and runs outside.
Her mother follows her and tells her not to be sad anymore. She will be enlightened with the truth.
Yeej and Nkauj Hli embarks on a trip to try to locate her birth mother, but after many searches their efforts are futile.
While washing her feet one afternoon, Nkauj Hli's friend stops by and tells her that her cousin Pov is indulging himself in alcohol everyday. She needs to go and talk some sense into Pov.
Nkauj Hli meets Pov and asks him to stop drinking. He brushes her off, telling her not to come bother him because the person he loves is in love with another man. She is now a nobody to him. Frustrated and angry, she takes up two cups of beer. Feeling guilty, Pov tells her to stop and agrees to go home with her.
Back at home, Nkauj Hli's father works hard to locate her birth mother. After many phone calls, he finally attains her birth mother's address and hands the paper to Nkauj Hli.
Yeej accompanies Nkauj Hli once more to search for her mother. The two arrive at a hut and meets a woman. They ask her if she knows a man named "Tsav Lis Xyooj" who has a mute sister who gave birth to a pair of twins many years ago. Instead of answering, the woman questions their identity. Her response makes Yeej and Nkauj Hli assume that she doesn't know who they are looking for, so they dismiss her and move onward.
However, after Yeej and Nkauj Hli turn their backs to the woman, she then calls after them--revealing that Tsav Lis Xyooj is her brother. The mute woman they are looking for is her older sister.
Estatic, Nkauj Hli finds her birth mother around the corner, who is still hanging up some laundry to dry. When they approach her, Yeej explains to the mute woman that Nkauj Hli is one of her twins who was taken away as an infant.
Nkauj Hli and her mother share a tearful moment together, with Nkauj Hli expressing grief and feeling apologetic for her mother's impoverished state. She promises to take care and make a better life for her mute mother.
Overwhelmed with tears of happiness, the mute woman faints.
While Nkauj Hli's birth mother remains unsconscious, her maternal aunt explains the situation to Yeej and Nkauj Hli.
When the aunt was still a child, her mute older sister became pregant--infuriating her brother. After giving birth to a pair of twins, whose father was an unknown man, her brother made an announcement to give up the twins for adoption.
In the end, two couples came and each took a child away. Since her sister was a mute, they lost communication with the pair of twins and their respective adopted family for all of this time.
After her mother regains consciousness, the mother-daughter embraces and Nkauj Hli tells her that she will take her mother home.
Yeej comes to see Nkauj Hli for the last time. He tells her that his work in town has finished and since she has also found her birth mother, it is time for him to return home. She asks him if he must leave, and he replies that he must. He gets into his car and drives away. A heartbroken Nkauj Hli burst into tears afterwards.
While Yeej leaves, Pov arrives in his motorbike to find a tearful Nkauj Hli. He asks her what is wrong and tells her that even though she doesn't love him, he is still like a brother to her so she can share her sorrows with him. She tells him that Yeej has left. Pov tells Nkauj Hli that he understands, and promises to bring Yeej back.
Pov chases after Yeej. When Pov catches up to Yeej, he tells Yeej to return to Nkauj Hli. Yeej tells Pov that a relationship with Nkauj Hli is impossible, for he is already her elder brother-in-law. Pov tells Yeej that Yeej is just spurting out non-sense. Yeej knows that Nkauj Hli loves him very much. If she was willing to give Pov a fraction of the love that she gives to Yeej, then Pov would be willing to die any time.
Hearing Pov's words makes Yeej change his mind, and he turns his car around. When he returns to Nkauj Hli's home, she runs towards and embraces him. In a tearful voice, she reveals that she loves him dearly.
Yeej wipes Nkauj Hli's tears away, and apologizes for making her cry. He promises that from now on he won't let her shed another tear.
And that is the end of the story. Hope everyone has enjoyed this recap.
My thoughts:
I thought this movie had so much potential, but left many gaps for improvement.
In terms of cinematography, this film doesn't provide much, if any, breathtaking scenes. The quality of the pictures is very average of a Hmong film on a conservative budget. But the one factor I find most irritating about this movie (as with many Hmong produced fims) is the usage of unoriginal music score. I really believed that Hmong producers should invest in creating original musical score for their films; since they have already invest a lot in the motion aspect, they might as well invest in original music production because adding the appropriate music to a particular scene will help to heighten that film to another level (and my next project will prove that music is very important in conveying emotions to the audience). It is most bothersome for a viewer like me to hear a popular American song instrumental being played throughout the film, especially if that instrumental is a christmas song!
As for the story line, twins are explored a lot in other Asian films/dramas but this must have been a first for a Hmong movie (anyone correct me if I'm wrong). Therefore after viewing the trailer to this movie, I was actually quite excited about where this film might take its audience members. However, the actual film took the story totally tangent to my high anticipation.
First of all, it was never explained why Nkauj Hnub, Yeej's late wife, died. There were at most two scenes throughout the movie showing Yeej reminescing about his late wife, but other than that, he didn't seem to struggle with life after her death--in fact, he seemed emotinally fine. Secondly, Nkauj Hli seemed to be interested in Yeej from the time that she first met him but he never really acted like he had any feelings for her aside from the fact that she resembled his late wife. Thirdly, Nkauj Hli was unhesitant to give her heart to Yeej even though he had married her older sister. I wished the screenwriter would write Nkauj Hli's character in such a way that she would question Yeej's love for her to ensure that he really loved her for who she was, and not because she looked identical to his late wife.
Overall, the film was kind of short and filled with many draggy scenes. Nkauj Hli's character was tolerable in the first part, but I believed they made her cry too much in many unnecessary scenes in the second part. Yeej's character seemed confused at times about his objective in the film. He wasn't interested in anything else (like healing a broken heart due to the death of his wife) but to find out whether or not Nkauj Hnub and Nkauj Hli were twin sisters. I don't understand why this particular point is so important to him when the title of the film is "Hlub Zaum Ob" or to be given or receive love a second time. Sometimes, I don't think Hmong screenwriters understand that each character should have a purpose in the story and that the main characters should grow and mature, or come to some realization or climax in the film. The only "climax" we received from this film is Nkauj Hli's reunion with her birth mother.
I would recommend this film if you are bored, and if you are someone who would like to show their support to the Hmong film industry so that it may grow and mature to a new height in the future.
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