Set in 1980s Saigon, well before the U.S. embargo on Vietnam was lifted in 1994, Song Lang depicts a gritty underworld whose only source of brightness comes from the gorgeous stage productions of a local opera troupe. A hunky, brooding debt collector forms an unlikely friendship with the charismatic lead actor of the struggling company, and their friendship, to their surprise, awakens feelings in both men.

Song Lang is a percussion instrument used to control tempo and phrasing in Vietnamese modern folk opera. In the Vietnamese language, it also means “two men.”