Vietnamese movies at the end of the year: Comedy "overwhelms"

Looking at the list of nearly 10 films that have been and are being released in the last quarter of 2013, comedy still dominates. It seems that comedy is still the “lifebuoy” that many film studios want to cling to to swim in the “small river” of Vietnamese cinema?

In October 2013, two films that “changed the throne” in release date, Temple Money and High Heel Conspiracy, were still on screen, with a lot of comedy, well-made, but not very popular. If we look at ticket sales, Vietnamese films in 2013 (except for Tet) have not made a splash, and some films have even been less popular than expected, such as Race Track, Buddha Fire...

Genre difference

In November 2013, there will be two Southern-style comedies, Tia oi…! (Director: Xuan Phuoc) and Dai nao hoc duong (Director: Le Bao Trung), released in theaters; both starring comedian Hoai Linh. With his success with television dramas, Xuan Phuoc doesn’t know if he can make a splash with theatrical films, we’ll have to wait. As for director Le Bao Trung, he’s been able to maintain his form, as he’s never known what it means to make a loss in a film, even though the recent movie Biet chet lien had poor ticket sales, he said he still broke even.

The movie Teo Em is predicted to make a splash with the comedy genre.

Along with these two comedies, the audience will be able to "change the menu" a bit with a social psychological film about young people, because And I Will Return (Director: Dinh Tuan Vu) will be released on November 1 and Idol (Director: Quang Huy) will be released in early December. It is said that the film exposes the bad habits of Vietnamese showbiz, but according to some unofficial information from the film crew, Idol is not lacking in comedy. It is not known whether the social psychological film The Inheritor (Director: Kim Quy) and the horror film Bloody Heart (Director: Victor Vu) will be released on this occasion. If they do, the balance will be a little less lopsided.

The year-end comedy season is even more overwhelming, because through the released teaser, it is clear that Bride Wars 2 (Director: Victor Vu) is very funny; especially when it was made to continue the humorous atmosphere of part 1. The other two comedies are Nam Sau Con Se Ve (Director: People's Artist Tran Ngoc Giau) with the participation of Hoai Linh, Le Khanh, Meritorious Artist Viet Anh, Thanh Thuy, Quy Binh, Nhat Cuong... and Hai Lua (Director: Le Quang Hung) with the participation of Thanh Nam, Tran Thanh, Tan Beo, Don Nguyen... That is not counting the one-episode comedies shown on television during the New Year 2014.

Some stars are "overloaded"

At the end of 2013, the most "overloaded" movie was Hoai Linh. After the resounding success of Nha co 5 nang tien (Director: People's Artist Tran Ngoc Giau), this comedian had 3 comedy films, in Tia oi…!, in addition to the main role, he was also a co-producer with Xuan Phuoc.

The next “overloaded” director is the hard-working director Victor Vu, who has two films in theaters simultaneously: one comedy and one horror. He is the most sought-after director today, because his films are highly skilled, often sell well, and he works very disciplinedly, with the crew rarely having to endure many unexpected problems.

The next “overloaded” is Thai Hoa, he plays the main role of Teo Em in the movie Teo Em (Director: Charlie Nguyen) and the role of Cu Hu in Qua tim mau, which is his own popular horror play. Confident with the high comedy quality in Teo Em, Thai Hoa did not accept the sky-high salary, but contributed a little more money to the production, hoping to increase his income many times over.

Finally, the biggest “overload” is that Vietnamese films still think around the end of the year and with comedy material, and it is not certain that all of these films will be successful in terms of ticket sales. Even if they are not successful, many producers still accept the “overload”, because the intention to recover capital has blocked the path of exploration and adventure. Moreover, in the context of imported films being shown all year round, with superior quality and diverse genres, the path of exploration and adventure for Vietnamese films will be narrower, because the fear of losing investment money will be greater. Therefore, the problem of finding a unique identity for Vietnamese films - like Korea, Thailand, and now Cambodia have done with ghost and horror films - is still “overloaded” with effective ideas. This “overload” is the most worrying.

According to TT&VH - HQ