Who harmed 'Closing the deal'?

Closing the 112 minute running time, the film's credits Close the deal Appearing to pay tribute to the cast of Quyen Linh, Hong Dao, Le Loc or Mai Bao Vinh... The original female lead Thuy Tien was not mentioned, because she was replaced by AI, given the beautiful name Hoang Linh.

It's not the movie, it's the problem. Close the deal The most controversial thing in recent days is the use of artificial intelligence to replace the female lead - something unprecedented in the history of Vietnamese cinema, even in the region or the world .

This is the effort of the director and producer duo Bao Nhan - Namcito and the crew. Close the deal back to theaters, after a period of time when it seemed like it had to be "shelved". In recent days, the film crew has also been active in cinetour and media activities... AI Hoang Linh, which is controversial, has even been made public as a way to promote and attract the attention of the audience.

But Closing the deal , after a series of efforts, is showing less than promising results. Up to now, the film has recorded revenue of more than 4.2 billion VND - an extremely modest figure for a project with a large investment, which according to sources of Knowledge - Znews up to tens of billions

The script is the biggest minus point

The film tells the story of two characters with completely opposite family backgrounds. Hoang Linh, a newly-emerged livestream warrior, is currently the director of a company with dozens of employees. Engrossed in work, she neglects her family, becoming increasingly distant from her husband.

In parallel, Mr. Binh An (Quyen Linh) is a technology driver in his 50s, struggling to make a living. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is taking care of an abandoned child. By chance, Mr. An was pulled into supporting a livestream because Hoang Linh company needed someone suddenly. The sales session had high revenue so he was officially hired.

From here, many troubles happened, pushing Mr. An and Hoang Linh's lives to unexpected turns.

According to the director, the scenes with Thuy Tien were almost kept the same, only the face and body were intervened by AI. But in reality, the change was not significant, viewers could still easily recognize the figure of Miss Grand International. AI also made the character stiff, the expression was sometimes unclear. Even some segments of mouth movements and dialogue did not match.

But these are not the only limitations that make Close the deal losing points. Putting aside the AI issue, what disappointed viewers the most about the film was the quality of the script. With a new idea when exploiting the story behind livestream sales sessions - one of the hot topics, receiving a lot of attention today, the scriptwriting team showed clumsiness in developing situations, characters and even the ambiguity in the message that the work conveyed.

Typically, films about specific occupations will aim to explore both the bright and dark sides, from noble values and ideals to pressures, conflicts and hidden corners that few people see. From there, the work both reflects reality and evokes contemplation, helping the audience understand, sympathize or have a more multi-dimensional view of the mentioned occupation.

However, these factors appear to be quite ambiguous in Close order. No one knows the beauty or positive side of billion-dollar livestreams, while the dark side appears with too much drama and chaos. And there, the rare thing that remains in the audience's mind is the noise and lack of professionalism of the entire company system - which, according to the story, are racing for "hundred-billion-dollar livestreams".

The fact that a demanding boss like Hoang Linh was willing to “sacrifice” himself to find a technology driver, recruiting him with a salary of 30 million, seemed awkward. The way the company operates or the basic daily tasks of the employees were also superficially portrayed. Viewers only saw employees chatting and gathering to gossip. Even the young people were portrayed as “unskilled”, lazy and often making mistakes, not even knowing basic computer tasks and needing a technology driver to teach them.

Despite setting a “huge” sales target and competing closely with competitors, Hoang Linh’s company has not outlined any specific plans. Instead, there are only empty slogans, reeking of “multi-level marketing” such as “Are you confident enough?” or “Just do your job well”...

The rare person who actually “goes to work” is Mr. An. The character is built in the image of a fairy in everyday life: gentle, hard-working, does whatever is asked of him, even proactively helps others. He takes Hoang Linh to the market or home, sees her house has a clogged drain and proactively offers to help even though no one asked. Even when he finds out that Hoang Linh has fired him, Mr. An still enthusiastically says, “Please let me take you home”…

However, despite being proficient in technology, for several years Mr. An only knew how to find relatives for the child he was carrying by... distributing flyers.

Such obvious "flaws" make the film's story rough because of many loopholes and poor persuasiveness.

Ambiguous message

When the screenwriters are not confident enough, they decide to make the audience laugh with… excessive comedy. But in reality, the comedy of Close the deal ineffective, even awkward because of the overuse of vulgar lines like "Put it on and your eggs will fall out immediately", "Do you think mom still has eggs left to fall out"...

If only the screenwriter, instead of getting stuck in noisy drama formulas, had focused on delving into the characters' psychology after the incident, the film could have ended more neatly and sympathetically.

In reality, the screenwriter's attempt to cover all the details and drama, spread across three storylines, made the film both confusing and lacking a specific message. Ong An and Hoang Linh's storylines were almost completely separate, without any points of intersection, causing the film's emotional flow to constantly be interrupted.

The average closing price is only 3 tickets/showtime in the opening week.

Hoang Linh appeared with a lot of feelings and confidences, from being hated by her subordinates, gossiping behind her back to her broken marriage with her rich husband. Linh devoted herself to work and neglected her family. However, she demanded that her other half sympathize when she did not take the initiative to connect, only thinking of her husband when she needed something.

Both of them had no reason to hide their feelings, but they had never faced and resolved their conflicts frankly. So the debate about who was right and who was wrong was pushed to a climax that seemed somewhat forced and awkward. Because Linh could not blame her husband for "Being less indifferent to me", when she herself lacked responsibility and enthusiasm in that marriage.

In another development, the confrontation between Hoang Linh and his rival Gia Ky appeared dark. Both were on the same page but not in agreement, secretly competing or finding ways to trip each other up. Gia Ky was cunning, vicious, ready to act behind the back to surpass his juniors, even not afraid of "dirty media" to ruin his opponent's reputation. However, Hoang Linh, in a counter-balance position, was also willing to borrow other people's personal stories to "attract views", saving the declining livestream session.

Regardless of whether the action was intentional or unintentional, there was no sincere explanation or apology given at the end of the film, making the livestream profession appear negative. Not to mention, no one had to pay the price after a series of dirty tricks, even signs of violating the law. Perhaps, the screenwriter intentionally portrayed the livestream sales industry with a series of dark corners of fighting, making people become scheming, ready to achieve success at all costs.

But the way it is presented is sketchy and ignores the consequences, which can easily distort the message, rather than create empathy.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/ai-hai-chot-don-3371493.html