Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Steineded How sad is this?

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

jeffrey-luz-ishoy The Rocket is a movie that will make your soul weep once or twice, unless you are a rock or an iceberg. A young boy, Ahlo, sets out to build a rocket to earn the family enough money to buy some land. Being a twin, he is seen as bad luck to the family and becomes a scapegoat for all bad that happens: His mother's death, a short-circuit in the electricity in the small place they live in among other things. Having been moved from their old place (due to a reconstruction of a dam that will flood their habitat) little Ahlo is forced to move away with his father.As they find a new place, they are evicted with a short notice of two days. Coincidentally, there is a rocket festival going on – a competition about building the greater rocket that will go far enough to "hit God in the ass" and hence make it rain. Little Ahlo ceases the opportunity to redeem his scapegoat reputation and to save the family, planning to win the competition, winning the money that will buy his family the heavily needed piece of land. This is a must-see movie for those who have enough empathy to spend 90 minutes of their lives, watching a little boy and a little girl, wandering through a difficult life of laughter and tragedy, hand in hand.

billcr12 A little boy has the misfortune of being the surviving twin in Laos, where tradition holds that he has 50/50 chance of bringing bad luck to all those around him. Ahlo lives in a village with his mother, father, and grandmother, when news of a new hydro electric dam disrupts their lives by uprooting them to another, supposedly better place. While dragging all of their possessions up a steep hill, tragedy strikes, and of course the young boy is blamed, especially by his superstitious grandma. They amble on to a town which holds a rocket festival every year with a cash prize. Ahlo decides to build a rocket to prove that he isn't always the messenger of doom. The actor playing Ahlo is tremendous, as is the little girl, Kia, his best friend in the film. Check IMDb credits for their long and difficult names. Rocket will have you jumping up and cheering for this underdog to finally be accepted. One of the ten best movies of the year, and severely overlooked.

jdesando Tired of the Oscar race and its obviously-baiting nominees? The Rocket, set in Laos, is more unusual and imaginative than anything you will see, even Her, under the Oscar umbrella. Ahlo (Sitthiphon Disamoe), a surviving Laotian twin at birth and therefore potentially bad luck for his family, travels with his family and two friends to find a new home after being displaced by plans for another dam.Not only is Ahlo played by a new young actor who keeps your sympathy, but also Kia (Loungnman Kaosainam), his girl friend (he can't be more than 10 and she about 9) is equally charming and intelligent. Their journey is plagued by setbacks, yet Ahlo remains intrepid and creative as he finally plans to nix this curse and become a hero.So far the film is filled with bizarre adventures, mostly suggesting he is a curse on the family as bad luck plagues it (It's not Little Miss Sunshine's pleasant turbulence; however, Rocket's family is an eccentric crew). One of the most interesting fairs to be seen ever in film is the Rocket Contest, held each year to send missiles to the clouds to induce rain, to "poke the gods' arse," or something like that. This event is the Holy Grail of the family's journey, a way to gain prize money and to counter the bad karma of Ahlo's birth.The natural performances of Beasts of the Southern Wild echo in The Rocket, both leads believable as intrepid young, underprivileged waifs of pluck and imagination. The relationship between Ahlo and his loving but too vulnerable father, Toma (Sumrit Warin) is reminiscent of father and son in Vittorio DeSica's Bicycle Thief. Caitlin Yeo's original score, never obtrusive, like the film itself, tells the story with dignity and respect for the characters. Writer-director Kim Mordaunt has balanced the disparate elements perfectly. And best of all, it is not some exploitative tome about the emerging third world. It's about family! Its formulaic nature and slight drift to the sentimental do not keep it from being an original work of merit.The Rocket, winner of the World Narrative prize at the Tribeca Film Festival, is one of the year's best movies with a plot as imaginative as anything else out there.

gregking4 The debut feature film from acclaimed documentary filmmaker Kim Mordaunt, The Rocket is a disarmingly charming coming of age film set in war ravaged Laos. Mordaunt previously made Bomb Harvest, which followed a bomb disposal expert training a new team to deal with the unexploded bombs from the US's secret war against Cambodia from the 70s still littering the landscape. Obviously Mordaunt has drawn elements of this fictitious story from that film. According to local lore, when twins are born, one is blessed and one is cursed. Ahlo (played by 10-year old newcomer Sitthiphon Disamoe) is the survivor of twins born to Mali (Alice Keohavong) but his grandmother believes that he is cursed. A number of incidents seem to bear this out - his village is due to be flooded to make way for a new dam; his mother is killed in a freak accident while relocating; he causes his house to be burnt down by angry neighbours. The only people who believe in Ahlo are the young girl Kia (Loungnam Kaosainam) and her uncle (Thep Phogam), who styles himself after the great blues singer James Brown. A bond develops between these outcasts. Ahlo competes in an annual rocket building competition, the winner of which receives money and great respect, hoping to change his family's fortunes. Can Ahlo change his family's fortunes, or is he indeed cursed? Beautifully filmed on location in Laos by cinematographer Andrew Commis (Mabo, The Slap, etc), The Rocket looks superb and provides an engaging insight into this exotic land and its rich culture. Mordaunt draws naturalistic performances from the small cast of largely non professional actors.