Alarming news for Quynh Thy and Quoc Truong.

TPO - From its release, "Once Upon a Time We Loved" was promoted as a nostalgic romance, targeting audiences who appreciate themes of youth and poignant love stories. However, in reality, the film left no impression in terms of script quality.

Alarming news for Quỳnh Thy's film.

After a boom during the April 30th - May 1st holiday period, the Vietnamese film market in May showed clear signs of cooling down. At the box office, foreign films continued to dominate in both screenings and revenue, while many newly released Vietnamese films quickly lost momentum and fell to the bottom of the rankings.

Notably, the film "A Time We Loved" by director Nguyen Xuan Nghia stands out. Despite featuring familiar faces like Quoc Truong and Quoc Huy, the film has yet to achieve the initial success it had hoped for.

Released in theaters on May 15th, the film has only grossed over 1.8 billion VND after nearly 10 days. This is considered a modest figure, especially since the film was screened over the weekend – a period considered a golden opportunity to attract audiences to theaters.

The film starring Quynh Thy, Quoc Truong, and the billionaire actor Quoc Huy is at risk of becoming one of the worst-grossing Vietnamese films of the year.

With fewer than 500 screenings per day and low theater occupancy rates, the film only ranked around 10th in box office revenue, surpassed by many Vietnamese films such as "Heo nam mong" and "Phi phong: Quy mau rung thien ," even though these films had been released nearly a month earlier and were preparing to leave theaters.

From its release, "Once Upon a Time We Loved" was promoted as a nostalgic romance, targeting audiences who appreciate youthful themes and poignant love stories. This is a theme that appeals to a wide audience. The previous success of the film about first love, " I'll Meet You on the Day of the Eclipse," showed that audiences still prefer slow-paced romances. However, in reality, "Once Upon a Time We Loved" failed to leave any lasting impression in terms of script quality.

At the time of its release, director Xuan Nghia believed that the Vietnamese film market was still limited and hoped to create a work that would allow audiences to access a wider variety of products. However, with his debut film, the director experienced failure as he hadn't truly grasped the audience's tastes.

Awkward script

In "Once Upon a Time We Loved ," the romantic relationship between Quynh (Quynh Thy) and Bao (Phat Dat) is rushed, lacking the necessary development to create a convincing effect. Bao is almost immediately captivated by Quynh's appearance and pursues her relentlessly, but the film doesn't clearly explain what fuels his intense infatuation. Conversely, Quynh, having just met Bao, constantly asks him for favors, making their interactions feel rather forced.

This illogical sequence of events makes it difficult for the film's central relationship to develop emotional depth, and also makes it hard for the audience to empathize with the characters. Furthermore, the rushed storytelling and poorly structured plot contribute to the film's overall disjointed feel.

The cast's performances weren't convincing enough to salvage the flawed script.

A readily apparent weakness of "Once Upon a Time We Loved" lies in the way the characters' psychology and actions are developed. Many situations are escalated to a climax but lack a logical foundation, making the plot seem unbelievable.

The scene that sparked the most discussion on social media was the one where Toàn (Quốc Trường) and Bảo climb down the cliff to pick flowers for Quỳnh. The scene takes place right after the two male characters first meet in front of the female lead's house, so the bond between the two male characters was considered too abrupt.

Toàn quickly became friendly and proactively invited Bảo to join him, while Bảo lacked the motivation or commitment to undertake such a risky act. The climax of the scene became even more unconvincing with Bảo letting go of Toàn's hand at the cliff.

Instead of evoking tension or emotion, this segment made many viewers laugh due to the exaggerated acting and unnatural dialogue of the female lead. The scene was even ridiculed across social media platforms for its naive lines and Quoc Truong's comical flower-picking antics.

The cast's performances weren't convincing enough to salvage the flawed script. Despite playing his signature handsome and sophisticated gentleman, Quoc Truong's acting style was criticized as monotonous and lacking emotional impact. Meanwhile, Quoc Huy and Quynh Thy lacked the box office appeal to generate significant media attention.

In today's film market, star power still plays a crucial role in attracting audiences, especially to romantic films. The cast of "Once Upon a Time We Loved " lacks names that can truly create a media sensation or possess a large enough fan base to guarantee box office success.

Furthermore, the way the film recreates the setting of the 2000s doesn't make much of an impression. While the film attempts to build a nostalgic feel, the art direction and atmosphere of the era aren't outstanding enough to become a clear plus point. This makes it difficult for the film to compete with many successful coming-of-age films that previously achieved a sense of familiarity and authenticity.

A period of stagnation for Vietnamese cinema.

The film's lack of momentum also reflects the increasing pressure on Vietnamese cinema in direct competition with foreign films. With audiences having more choices, content quality, script authenticity, and media appeal become decisive factors in a film's survival at the box office.

Not only did it face internal problems, but "Once Upon a Time We Loved" also encountered an unfavorable release time. Last week, the top four positions at the Vietnamese box office were all held by foreign films. Most notably, "Doraemon: Nobita and the Castle Under the Sea" and "Goodbye Gohan" - a romantic film from Thailand about the life of the dog Gohan. While "Doraemon" is nearing the 100 billion VND mark, "Goodbye Gohan" has already raked in nearly 30 billion VND after more than a week in theaters.

There was a time when Vietnamese love was completely overshadowed by foreign films.

Following closely behind are other international films such as * The Village of the Dead* , * Star Wars: Mandalorian*, and *Grogu* , as well as the South Korean horror film *Ma Da : The Man-Eating Lake *.

Not just the film " Once Upon a Time We Loved ," the Vietnamese film market in May generally showed signs of stagnation. During the month, only two new domestic films were released: "Underworld Beauty Salon" and "Once Upon a Time We Loved ," but both faced setbacks.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/bao-dong-cho-quynh-thy-quoc-truong-post1845921.tpo