The word "cyclo" is the name for the pedal-driven cabs so common on the streets of Vietnam. Our young protagonist is a cyclo driver who turns to a life of crime out of pure disillusionment. After his cyclo is stolen, he seeks revenge by hooking up with one of the many street gangs of the city. He certainly can't win in a city riddled with crime, so he might as well join in so that at least he may endure. Meanwhile, in a parallel storyline, our hero's sister is forced to become a prostitute to please her money-loving boyfriend (Tony Leung of John Woo's The Killer).

The modern day city of Ho Chi Minh is saddled with poverty and sin. The society breeds an endless cycle of hedonistic thrills inspired by a depressed economy. Every act of crime is ruled by money. It passes through the hands of the characters in Cyclo like a wicked virus. As a result, the characters become disenchanted with their squalor as they slowly find that it never amounts to happiness. Sadly, they have sunk so low into their harsh reality that they find themselves unable to escape with any dignity. As in Taxi Driver, when the world starts to spin out of control, they--like Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle--find that the only appropriate response is to act out in an insane manner. This is what finally seems to brings peace to their frenzied world.

Cyclo relies more heavily on its picturesque cinematography to tell the story than on its intermittent dialogue--a convention that some viewers may find difficult to follow. Still, Cyclo is an astonishingly rich film that portrays a dark world on the brink of destruction, a world where innocence has become forever lost. Hung's hovering camera eye captures the dreary reality with stark rich colors, continually reminding the viewer of the beauty the characters will never see.