A child’s resilience and the kindness of strangers. Thuy is 10, an orphan, working in her uncle’s factory outside Saigon. He berates her constantly, so she runs away to Saigon. Over five days, we watch her survive on the streets selling flowers, while her uncle looks for her. She encounters Hai, a reserved zoo-keeper whose fiancée has jilted him. She also sells a flower to Lan, a flight attendant in the city for a layover, unlucky in love, who buys dinner for Thuy and offers her a place to stay that night. Thuy, who thinks of Lan as a sparrow and Hai as an owl, determines to bring them together. If she succeeds, then what; and what about her uncle?

Cu va chim se se (2007)
  • Rating: (519 votes)
  • Tagline:An orphan girl plays matchmaker to a flight attendant and lonely zoo keeper. »
  • Runtime:97 minutes
  • Director: Stephane Gauger
  • Countries:Vietnam, USA
  • Actors:
    Lan
    Cat Ly
    Hai
    The Lu Le
    Thuy
    Han Thi Pham
    The Captain
    Trong Hai
    Thuy
    Pham Thi Han
    Uncle Minh
    Nguyen Hau
    Bartender
    Teresa Michelle Lee
    Soup boy
    Hoang Long
    Orphan director
    Bui Thi Noan
    Dancer
    Danvy Pham
  • Genre:Drama
  • Producers:
    Timothy Linh Bui
    executive producer  
    Nam Doan Nhat
    producer  
    Van Quan Nguyen
    producer  
    Jimmy Pham
    executive producer  
    Ham Tran
    executive producer  
  • Plot: A child's resilience and the kindness of strangers. Thuy is 10, an orphan, working in her uncle's factory outside Saigon. He berates her constantly, so she runs away to Saigon. Over five days, we watch her survive on the streets selling flowers, while her uncle looks for her. She encounters Hai, a reserved zoo-keeper whose fiancée has jilted him. She also sells a flower to Lan, a flight attendant in the city for a layover, unlucky in love, who buys dinner for Thuy and offers her a place to stay that night. Thuy, who thinks of Lan as a sparrow and Hai as an owl, determines to bring them together. If she succeeds, then what; and what about her uncle? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
Cu va chim se se
  • User's comment:Blew me Away by jonathanmhoffman

    As the adoptive father of a Vietnamese orphan, I was absolutely blown away by this film, about a little girl, orphaned, who is living with/working for, her verbally abusive uncle and runs away to Saigon, where she lives on the street, selling post cards and roses, until she befriends a young adult woman and becomes the matchmaker between the woman and a young man. It's charming, but also heartbreaking because of the honest portrayal of children living on their own on the streets of Saigon, left to survive for themselves. There, but for the grace of God, could go my own lovely daughter. How rare it is to have four characters who are each so honest and genuine.


  • Also known as: Lovely Rose (South Korea), Owl and the Sparrow (International - imdb display title, English title),

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