The movie '56cm Waist' tells the story of Ngoc Trinh changing her life thanks to a tycoon

Behind the tear-jerking movie story, Ngoc Trinh did not hide the fact that she escaped a life of poverty thanks to her rich lover who provided her with a house and a billion-dollar car.

After nearly a year of nurturing the script and starting to make it, the film 56 Waist by director Vu Ngoc Dang has just been released to audiences in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Since announcing the project based on the life of model Ngoc Trinh - who was once considered the "scandal queen" of the Vietnamese entertainment industry, the film crew has been under a lot of pressure. Many people even think that the name of the film shows that Vu Ngoc Dang's new work only revolves around "hot" scenes, sensational showbiz stories...

But through more than 90 minutes of film, 56cm Waist brings the audience many emotions surrounding the story of escaping poverty of a country girl named Ngoc Trinh.

Ngoc Trinh with actor Petey Majik Nguyen (plays Hung, the rich lover of the female lead).

Model Ngoc Trinh said that 70% of her life story in the film is true, the rest are just a few elements added and fictionalized to create a cinematic work. Through many details, she wants to indirectly answer public opinion about what happened during her turbulent time entering the entertainment industry.

The real Ngoc Trinh is always surrounded by questions: why did her manager lie about her age to find her in the "village beauty pageant"? Why did she receive curses and humiliation from everyone? Why was her rich lover willing to give Trinh a 4 billion VND house after 10 days of dating and why did her boyfriend give her a luxury car on every birthday? Why did she love a married man... These curiosities are partly answered through the film's plot. The affirmation "I'm not a prostitute", "I'm not a prostitute"... comes back again and again in the film clips as a way for the female model to express herself in the face of gossip.

The character Trinh lived a poor childhood with her sick father - who could only make a living by driving a motorbike taxi and selling lottery tickets, helplessly watching the whole family struggle in misery. A mother who loved her children but did not know how to make money to support the shabby, leaky house, and did not dare to look up at the creditors when they were demanding payment...

The feeling of "being poor is not a crime, but being poor is humiliating" was vividly portrayed in the film. Those very real details remind us of the countryside of the Southwest, where there is no shortage of such situations. Despite their poor family circumstances, the character Trinh and her sister escaped the situation of "marrying a Taiwanese man" thanks to the love and determination of their poor but not cowardly father to protect their family. Family affection, brotherly love, neighborly love... are described in the film quite simply.

In addition to the countryside, the film also brings a glamorous world of the city with the world of modeling and fashion full of temptation. There are models who always desire to work honestly, but there are also people who are willing to "sell themselves" to change their lives.

Ngoc Trinh's performance is a highlight of the film.

The model had no difficulty expressing a part of herself on screen. She was comfortable and natural with her typical Western accent, with her rustic, elegant and seductive demeanor. Shocking statements like "no money, no food" were put into the film to make the audience sympathize with her more.

Not only is she outstandingly beautiful in her modeling scenes, Ngoc Trinh also moved viewers when she turned back time to become a girl in the countryside. The image of a schoolgirl hurriedly carrying a bowl of noodles to her father in the stormy rain, the scene of her absentmindedly throwing her bicycle when she saw her father being chased by gangsters for debt, and the scene of her cycling to school on the dike with a gentle joy on her face... made people understand a part of the character's life and circumstances.

However, Ngoc Trinh's performance could not have stood out if she did not have a cast of artists who performed well: La Quoc Hung, Ho Vinh Khoa and Tu Vi as Trinh's siblings, Bich Hang as her mother, artist Cong Ninh as her father, Minh Trieu as her evil, scheming female colleague... These faces contributed greatly to creating the plot and emotions for the main character's personality to emerge.

Waist 56 is a simple film in terms of cinematographic techniques, focusing on how to tell a good, touching story. The life story of a scandalous girl like Ngoc Trinh has helped Vu Ngoc Dang have a fertile ground to promote his strengths in the romantic film genre. As both director and scriptwriter, he brings dialogues that are close and natural like life. To some extent, the film depicts the nakedness of the modeling profession.,depicts the poverty of a rural family.

Movie poster "56cm Waist".

The film has a good setting, providing beautiful scenes. The soundtrack is good, especially the song Ngay em xa que by musician Viet Anh, creating great emotional resonance. The color scheme that the director brings to the film always has a combination of light and dark, in which the lighter color scheme shows the crew's optimistic view of life. But as someone who likes to create "fairy tale in real life" and "beauty and the frog prince" films, Vu Ngoc Dang was criticized for being too "pink" for the female lead character.

Vu Ngoc Dang is not confident in handling the film's plot and flow.

The change in life of the character named Trinh happened too quickly, too quickly, just from the infatuation of a rich guy who was willing to spend money without hesitation on a beautiful girl. Meanwhile, the desire to be independent, to rise up by her own strength, ability and love for the modeling profession of the female main character was superficially portrayed. In the end, the audience could only see that the girl named Trinh had property and a house for her parents thanks to her beauty and the love of the rich guy. This made the change in life of the character Trinh only among the lucky few, and could not be the common denominator for the efforts to rise up of determined people.

Due to being too dependent on the real-life Ngoc Trinh model, the director was not decisive in giving the character Trinh an independent life in the film. The film's ending caused even more disappointment for the audience. The ending of the film left open the conflict in the love story when Ngoc Trinh on screen discovered that her lover had long hidden from her the fact that he had a wife and children before coming to her. The poor country girl once dreamed: "I just want to go to Saigon to earn money to pay off my parents' debt, then go back to my hometown to get married, have children, and live with my parents...". But perhaps like real life, that dream is a big challenge for the girl named Ngoc Trinh.

The movie opens April 6 in theaters nationwide.

According to VNE