Walk on the Wild Side

ບໍ່ມີວັນຈາກ The Long Walk
Mattie Do, Laos 2019, 116 min.

Trigger Warning: family abuse, corpses and gore

Set in rural Laos, the sci-fi thriller The Long Walk is a powerful critique of the violence enacted by so-called progress narratives and the sharp boundaries that exist between modern technology and traditional shamanic beliefs. The intertwined story – about a time-travelling killer, an innocent boy, and the company of ghosts – gives us a lesson on how generational trauma is cyclical.

Mattie Do was born to Laotian refugees and raised in Los Angeles. She returned to Laos to help the government create the infrastructure necessary to bring foreign co-productions to Laos. Her debut film Chanthaly (2012) was the first Laotian film to screen outside of Southeast Asia. Her second film Dearest Sister (2016) was Laos’ first submission for Best International Film at the 90th Academy Awards.