Surprise 'Wooden Fish'

According to data from Box Office Vietnam, after only 1 week of release (from July 15), the short film Wooden Fish by director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat has reached a revenue of nearly 4.5 billion VND - an impressive number for a short film and without any names attracting audiences (except for the familiar Lanh Thanh).

On the first day of its release, the film earned 2 billion VND, surpassing the two Hollywood blockbusters shown at the same time in Vietnam, Superman and Jurassic World : Rebirth . This is the first short film to be commercially released in domestic theaters.

Quoc Hung and Minh Ha in the movie Wooden Fish

Photo: Manufacturer

The Wooden Fish tells the story of Cuong (played by Nguyen Quoc Hung) - a coastal boy who is passionate about music but is prevented by his father. Although his father still buys him an electric guitar, the relationship between the two is always tense and complicated. When his father passes away, Cuong follows a traditional profession to support his young pregnant wife (played by Nguyen Minh Ha). However, the fishing profession is unstable, forcing him to choose: sell the ship to pursue his passion as his wife encourages or keep it to make a living? The name The Wooden Fish highlights the main character's difficult decision when he has to choose between "the guitar" - music, "fish" - the fishing profession and "wood" - the boat that is a souvenir of his father.

As the debut film and graduation work of Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat at the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema, Dan Ca Go won the 2024 Golden Kite Award in the category of Best Short Film. However, this achievement is not the main reason why the work is expected and welcomed when it is released in theaters, but the soundtrack. To date, the song "Miracle" composed by the band MAYDAYs (with male lead Nguyen Quoc Hung as the main vocalist) and performed by the duo Minh Toc & Lam has had more than 41 million views on YouTube, more than 15 million listens on Spotify as well as recorded "huge" numbers on many other streaming platforms. On TikTok, the song also became the background music for more than 30,000 videos . With simple lyrics and simple arrangement , "Miracle" attracts attention with its sincerity and full of emotions.

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat revealed that it was the success of the song and the music video that made him decide to release the film in theaters. However, when it was released, the fragmented reception of the audience only added to the attention. Accordingly, many people thought that the 30-minute duration of the film was too short to tell a complete story and the ending was quite confusing, while others thought that this was an art film, where the intention and message were expressed through images instead of dialogue. This created many interesting discussions, continued to arouse curiosity and prolong the appeal of the work.

Although this success is difficult to replicate, Wooden Fish has proven that short films can still do well at the box office if they "touch" emotions and have attractive music. In addition, film music can also be an effective factor in promoting independent, low-budget works.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bat-ngo-dan-ca-go-18525072721304953.htm