The house in the movie

"Wow, that's strange, why is it only raining here?" My friend and I jumped off our rickety bicycles, staring wide-eyed at the curious crowd. Ahead, the rain poured down, flooding the corner of Ngo Gia Tu and Le Quy Don streets. Two men were fighting, their Honda motorcycle lying on the road. "Cut!" a voice, hidden in the crowd (I later learned it was the director), shouted. "Oh! A movie!" a group of people exclaimed excitedly. "That's it, that's it. Everyone go on," someone said, trying to disperse the crowd. My friend urged us to get back on the bike and continue our journey, while I still tried to look back at the beautiful street corner and the house that was now soaking wet.

Scenes from the movie "Nightingale in the City".

That was 40 years ago, when Le Quy Don Street was a dirt road, starting from a bend beside Le Thanh Ton Street and running parallel to Huynh Thuc Khang Street down to To Hien Thanh Street. On both sides of the street were single-story houses, mostly set back behind small gardens within hedges of trees and vines, looking very peaceful, even though the Xom Moi market was only a few dozen steps away. The house at the corner of Le Quy Don and Ngo Gia Tu streets was a single-story tiled-roof villa with a wide balcony and many double-glazed windows, a type of garden villa quite common in Nha Trang before 1975. The house was hidden behind the garden trees, surrounded by two lush green hedges that were always neatly trimmed, running along the sides of the street and intersecting at a small gate. Above was a trellis of bougainvillea, always letting its yellow flowers sway in the breeze. The gate of the house is usually closed, but it's like painting a picture that always attracts the attention of everyone passing by this street corner, especially since it was chosen as the filming location for key scenes of the movie "Nightingale in the City" (script by Nguyen Khac Phuc, directed by Khanh Du) in 1986.

The film tells the story of teenagers solving a case. Thanks to the film, I was able to see the beauty inside the garden and the house. The scenes showed a semicircular porch supported by stylish round pillars, a facade with small round windows overlooking the courtyard, and a living room with large windows connecting to the lush garden. From every angle, the house exuded an elegant and tranquil atmosphere.

Years passed, I left Nha Trang for many years and returned, to find the house in the film had become the Tuoi Ngoc Cafe. I remember, one morning more than 10 years ago, my colleagues used this cafe as a meeting point for the whole group on a distant assignment. Afraid of being late, I arrived early and waited alone. As I waited for the coffee to drip, my mind was suddenly drawn back to those distant years, following the road ahead. At the end of the road, on the To Hien Thanh side, was Tan Lap Primary School, which before 1975 was the Le Quy Don Semi-Public School. When we enrolled in 1985, many of us were taken there by rickshaw and only then realized it was the old Le Quy Don school, while our new Le Quy Don school was at 79 Tran Nguyen Han. Coincidentally, the first principal's house was also at the end of this road. To this day, I still can't remember why the group who stayed in the boarding school during the summer of our final year of high school went to his house. I only remember that my teacher's house was very beautiful, with a small yard and a lovely fence. And on this street, there was also the house of a college friend with whom we occasionally gathered whenever we came back from Da Lat for summer vacation.

The house as it is now. Photo: NVX

Until recently, by chance, a colleague introduced me to a relative of the owner of the house in the movie. He was an elderly teacher, over 80 years old, the respected principal of a secondary school in Nha Trang, beloved by generations of students. He recounted that the original owner had emigrated abroad many years ago. His sister bought the house and lived there for a while, but with its advantageous location on two main streets, it was turned into a business. The house became a computer center, before becoming the famous Tuoi Ngoc coffee shop for many years, and then the Phuc Long Coffee & Tea as it is today. Other nearby houses with lush gardens have disappeared, giving way to high-rise buildings jutting out onto the bustling street with flashy signs. Most of the owners of the old houses no longer live there. The family of my school principal, and the family of my university friend, have all moved far away and no longer live on this street.

But the tiled roof of the house on the street corner in the film is still there, even though the house has been renovated many times. It holds a story, as if waiting for us to pass by so it can tell it again.

NGUYEN VINH XUONG

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/nhung-goc-pho-nhung-con-duong/202605/ngoi-nha-trong-phim-e2042ab/