The secret of guavas in the movie "Guava Season"

Based on the short story "Old House" written by director Dang Nhat Minh, first published in 1993 in Van Nghe Magazine, adapted into a film and released in 2001, "Guava Season" lives in the hearts of viewers because of its profound messages from life.

People's Artist Bui Bai Binh and his relationship with the prototype character Hoa

"Guava Season" revolves around the story of Mr. Hoa (played by People's Artist Bui Bai Binh), a middle-aged man whose mind stops at the age of 13 after an accident falling from a guava tree. Mr. Hoa always lives in his childhood memories, especially the old house where he used to live. The film depicts the image of a Hanoi interwoven between the past and the present, between changes and traditional values, and at the same time shows Mr. Hoa's special love for the house, for memories and for the people around him.

Released in 2001, the role of Hoa played by People's Artist Bui Bai Binh left a deep impression on the audience and brought him the Golden Lotus Award for Best Actor at the 13th Vietnam Film Festival.

In the film, Hoa lives in a collective housing area and is considered a family member by everyone in the area. He is always willing to help people, even though he is sometimes taken advantage of.

Bui Bai Binh's role successfully portrayed Hoa's innocence, purity and kindness, while also depicting the complexity of the relationships between the characters in the apartment complex.

Participating in the program "Cine 7 - Vietnamese Film Memories", broadcast on June 21, 2025 on VTV3 - Vietnam Television, People's Artist Bui Bai Binh said that he and the prototype of the character Hoa in real life have a special relationship. In the 90s, People's Artist Bui Bai Binh's family opened a small coffee shop on To Hien Thanh Street. At that time, there was a customer who occasionally came to drink coffee without saying anything with round, innocent eyes and often looked out onto the street and sat there smiling.

He also had a talent for arranging flowers beautifully. Later I found out that he was Mr. Hoan, the brother-in-law of Director and People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh. Since then we have been very close, every time he went to work as a model at the Fine Arts School, he would bring a bouquet of flowers and arrange them himself at my coffee shop.

Much later, in 2000, when I learned that Minh was making a film based on the story “Old House”, I immediately thought of Hoan. He was the prototype for the character Hoa in the film “Guava Season” that I played.

“The day I received the invitation to participate in the program “Cine 7 - Memories of Vietnamese Films”, I felt very happy and moved. I would like to thank director People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh. Back when I was still studying at the film school in 1973, my teacher, Ms. Phi Nga, taught us that: The most important thing in doing art is three things, the first is to have talent, the second is to work, to cultivate, practice and accumulate that talent and the third is to have the opportunity. And thank you director Dang Nhat Minh for giving me the opportunity to play the role of Hoa in the film”, People's Artist Bui Bai Binh.

People's Artist Lan Huong used to be very afraid of camera lenses.

Few people know that People's Artist Lan Huong, who played Thuy (Hoa's younger sister) in "Guava Season", won the "Best Actress" award at the International Film Festival in Singapore, was once very afraid of the camera lens. Coming from a stage background, cinema was something very far away for People's Artist Lan Huong. When she went to the casting for the role in the movie "Guava Season", she did not think she would be accepted because at that time there were many outstanding actors. When she heard that she was accepted for the role, she was both happy and worried, did not dare to talk much with director Dang Nhat Minh but only worked diligently.

Every time she heard the phrase "Machine, machine running", actress Lan Huong had to take a deep breath to do what the director wanted.

When mentioning the movie “Guava Season” and director People’s Artist Dang Nhat Minh, People’s Artist Lan Huong always wants to show her respect. Especially there are scenes that she asked permission to re-enact because she herself felt unsatisfied. The scene when Ms. Thuy (played by People’s Artist Lan Huong) took from her brother’s pocket (played by People’s Artist Bui Bai Binh), even though it was just the moment she looked at the guava and looked around the room where her father’s figure was. Then the beautiful memories came flooding back.

However, to get that scene, People's Artist Lan Huong asked to re-act it to make it more accurate and was approved by director Dang Nhat Minh. People's Artist Lan Huong said that this was the scene that influenced her career later on with the motto "If you don't do it, then don't do it, if you do it, you have to do it as well as possible" and being serious about her acting career.

Deep message from "Guava season"

Sharing about the special things in the film, the father of "Guava Season", director, People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh said that because when filming was in winter, which was not the guava season, the team of artists could only buy guava trees about 3-4m high, 40cm in diameter, and only brought back the trunk. Every day, they bought leaves and grafted fruits. When the leaves withered, they replaced them with new leaves. Because the fruits were out of season, they were still green, so they had to use paint to create yellow fruits like in the film.

In the film, the image of the guava tree and guava fruit contains many messages about life. “In the scene where the younger sister takes Mr. Hoa home, she discovers a guava in her brother’s pocket. She understands that he jumped in to pick the guava, and that is his memory. At that time, Ms. Lan Huong acted well and was very touching. The scene at the end of the film where the guava tree is cut down is heartbreaking for many people, but that is the reality. Through that detail, I also want to awaken everyone to cherish people’s childhood memories,” said People’s Artist Dang Nhat Minh.

Also according to director Dang Nhat Minh, in the film there is a lawyer character, the father of the characters Hoa and Thuy, few people know that he is not a professional actor, but a journalist Pham Khac Lam and former General Director and Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Television. At that time, to find someone to play this role, director People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh needed to find someone who exuded the appearance of an intellectual during the French era. When he invited Mr. Pham Khac Lam to act in the film, he laughed and said, "I have never acted in a film before, but anything that the world can do, I can do too."

For People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh, each film is a personal message of the author, requiring him to do his best to win over the audience, with emotion and sincerity. Therefore, most of his films are scripted by him, to fully express his ideas.

Perhaps that is why his films rarely feature villains, scheming and scheming characters. Most of them are people with good natures, pure and noble souls. For example, in the film “Guava Season”, the character of Mr. Hoa has a pure personality, symbolizing goodness, the instinct of goodness is never lost.

“I also convey the philosophy that in the life we ​​are living, there are kind people who we consider abnormal. We suspect him (Hoa) of losing everything, do whatever he is wronged, do whatever he is asked to do. He lives a very kind life. We consider too kind people abnormal. So we should think again. I don’t know if what I am struggling with can be conveyed to the audience or not? But I have that awareness,” People’s Artist Dang Nhat Minh shared.

With its special values, at the end of 2001 at the 13th Vietnam Film Festival, the film “Guava Season” received the Golden Lotus Award. This was also the third Golden Lotus Award for director Dang Nhat Minh.

In addition to the two awards in Locarno (the “Don Quichote” Award of the International Association of Cinema Clubs and the Young Jury Award), “Guava Season” also received a number of other international awards such as: “Special Award” of the International Film Critics Association at the Oslo Film Festival (Norway) in 2001, Special Certificate of Merit at the Namur Film Festival (Belgium) in 2000.

Cine 7 - Memories of Vietnamese Films is a program broadcast on VTV3, where we will enjoy together the famous cinema works of the past, chat with veteran actors who laid the foundation for Vietnamese cinema. The program promises to bring to the audience many emotions, nostalgia as well as great gratitude towards the previous generation. The program airs at 9:00 p.m. every Saturday, starting from February 15 on VTV3 - Vietnam Television and the national digital television platform VTVgo.

THANH THAO

Source: https://nhandan.vn/bi-mat-cua-nhung-qua-oi-trong-phim-mua-oi-post888465.html