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The Third Wife, 2018
Ash Mayfair
In her directorial debut, Mayfair transports viewers to rural northern Vietnam in the late 19th century. The story follows a young 14-year-old girl who is sent to to become the third wife of a landowner whom she has not yet met. The film’s scenery—verdant mountains blanketed in fog and still rivers—is as sumptuous and the traditional silk garments worn by the cast.
Crazy Rich Asians, 2019
Jon M. Chu
The glitz and ritz of Singapore was on full display in Crazy Rich Asians. The movie adaptation of Kevin Kwan's best-selling novel spurred a travel craze to the island city state, where filming locations included the storied Singapore Raffles Hotel, the teetering-in-the-clouds pool on the roof of the Marina Bay Sands, and the gothic-revival-style church of Chjimes, where the big wedding took place.
Eat Pray Love, 2010
Ryan Murphy
In Italy she eats, in India she prays, and in Indonesia she finds love. So goes the story of Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir which was adapted to the screen by Ryan Murphy starring Julia Roberts. Come the end of the film, Roberts is in lush Bali, practicing yoga in Ubud where she meets an affable Brazilian man played by Javier Bardem. And in some ways, the story just begins.
Heaven and Earth, 1993
Oliver Stone
Based on a trilogy of autobiographical books by Le Ly Hayslip—which tells of her experiences during and after the Vietnam War—Heaven and Earth stars Hiep Thi Le and Tommy Lee Jones. The film was shot across Vietnam (and sometimes Thailand), and though it shows the horror and grief caused and left behind by the Vietnam War, sunrise scenes over the Mekong River, and the vivid and dense green of the terrain shine through.
Sang Penari, 2011
Ifa Isfansyah
Based on the epic literary trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk by Ahmad Tohari, Sang Penari (or The Dancer) tells the story of two impoverished teenagers (Rasus and Srintil) who come of age in the Indonesian village of Dukuh Paruk in the late 1950s. It’s Srintil’s fate to become a great ronggeng—a traditional Javanese dancer—but life, war, and longing create a difficult journey. Though it teems with sorrow and heartache, the film (shot mostly in Banyumas, Central Java) reveals the brilliant beauty of Indonesia.
Shirkers, 2018
Sandi Tan
This is a documentary about a movie lost—and found 20 years later—filmed on location throughout Singapore in the early 1990s. The story surrounding the young Singaporean student filmmakers who made the movie is a fascinating one, with twists and unexpected turns. Just as compelling is the footage of a bygone, pre-developed Singapore, a place that would be unrecognizable just a couple decades later.
The Beach, 2000
Danny Boyle
Despite the fact that Leonardo Dicaprio, Guillaume Canet, Tilda Swinton, and Virginie Ledoyen are on the palm tree-filled beaches of Thailand, it couldn't be farther from paradise. But even amid the drama—there's an island whose location is a guarded secret worth killing for, and cannabis farmers up to no good—the gorgeous scenery, from Bangkok to Koh Samui, and the mythical island and hidden beach filmed at Ko Phi Phi Lee in Maya Bay, is what Thai holiday dreams are made of.
The Lover, 1992
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Filmed between Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and Paris, France, this steamy film is set in French Colonial Vietnam in 1929. A young French teenage girl catches the eyes of a wealthy, older Chinese man and the two begin a forbidden affair. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Marguerite Duras, the country of Vietnam was very much involved in the production of this film, even requesting that the love scenes—which left little to the imagination—be filmed in a studio in France rather than on location.
Tomb Raider, 2001
Simon West
This action adventure film, based on the video game Tomb Raider, finds Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) in Angkor in the Siem Reap Province of Cambodia. It was the first major motion picture to be shot in Cambodia since Lord Jim in 1964, following the country's occupation by the Khmer Rouge regime. The action flick filmed at such national treasures as the Ta Prohm Temple, which has since been dubbed the Tomb Raider Temple.
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