In search of a place to graze and to grow

The shimmering aquatic panoramas that dominate writer-director Minh Nguyen-Vo’s impressive feature debut, “Buffalo Boy,” are loaded with both visual power and symbolic meaning. Set toward the end of Vietnam’s French colonial period, this coming-of-age drama quietly follows a young man’s trials as he painfully moves toward maturity.

The low-lying lands that annually flood during the country’s rainy season create a vast liquid backdrop for this handsomely shot film. However, the rains also force the region’s inhabitants to scramble to survive. It’s a micro-economy based on rice, fish and the ability to maintain a limited amount of livestock, and the family of 15-year-old Kim (Le The Lu) depends on its two water buffaloes for subsistence. During a particularly bad season in which all the nearby grassland has been flooded, Kim takes the animals in search of land they can graze on.

Headstrong and determined, Kim sets out alone but soon joins a group of herders led by the fierce, indomitable Lam, who will figure prominently in Kim’s journey. Brutal reality sets in as the party moves from one tiny patch of land to another in search of food for the animals.

This section of the film resembles a western in plot and theme as the herding of the buffaloes takes on the mythic qualities of a cattle drive.

The boys and men who form Lam’s gang attempt to evade representatives of the colonial government and outrun a dangerous rival crew.

When they meet up with the latter, violence erupts, underscoring the macho elements of the milieu. That the events take place in these watery environs -- the extreme opposite of the dry plains and desert of the American western -- only emphasizes their iconic connection through contrast.

Away from the buffalo herders, Kim encounters two surrogate families. Kim and his friend Det (Kra Zan Sram) decide to make a go of things on their own with Det’s woman, Ban (Nguyen Thi Kieu Trinh), and young son. Kim befriends the boy but falls in love with Ban, causing a rift in the partnership and forcing him to leave.

Kim also meets an elderly couple who help him carry out a ritual that is essential to his passage into manhood. The importance of these encounters lies in Kim’s contentious relationship with his elderly father, Dinh (Nguyen Huu Thanh), and the revelations involving their family that leave the young man alone and adrift.

Director Nguyen-Vo elegantly uses water as a metaphor for life and death, and captures some stunning images in the verdant, wet surroundings.

Though the events that drive the story are emotional in nature, Le consistently underplays his scenes and Nguyen-Vo successfully avoids the melodramatic. “Buffalo Boy” mines a particular culture and time and discovers universal themes in its subtle drama.

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‘Buffalo Boy’

Where: 7:30 tonight

Where: James Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall, UCLA campus

Info: gsa.asucla.ucla.edu/melnitz/; available on DVD, First Run Features, $25