The box office fall and the cry for help from the beauties Xuan Lan and Mai Thu Huyen

The price of revenue

Producer Xuan Lan plays many different roles in the film project "The Price of Happiness".

Xuan Lan not only contributed ideas and stories to the script, but also acted as producer and played the role of Duong in the film.

The fierce debate between Xuan Lan and film critic Le Hong Lam was expected to bring curiosity and certain attraction to “The Price of Happiness”. However, according to the reporter’s observation, during the 2-day holiday of April 30 - May 1 in Hanoi , the film had very few screenings, each showing sold only a few tickets.

“The Price of Happiness” brings up many dark corners in showbiz, as well as the dark corners that pile up in a seemingly happy family.

“The Price of Happiness” tries to create an effect, when “following the trend” of many topics that have caused a storm on social networks. The film even named a character “Hien Ho”. “The Price of Happiness” takes great care in staging scenes of fierce jealousy, exposing stories that always attract attention in showbiz such as beauty queens and runners-up having affairs with married tycoons...

Xuan Lan was the one who came up with the story idea for the script “The Price of Happiness”. Photo: Producer

However, the script of "The Price of Happiness" revealed many weaknesses, immaturity in building situations and loopholes in exploiting the characters' psychological developments.

The script is too comprehensive, so every story and detail is developed quickly, not giving the audience time to absorb.

The audience had not yet had time to feel or cry when the characters took turns crying and cried a lot.

The psychological development of many characters is also not properly exploited. For example, Mr. Thoai - described as a completely miserable, scheming, calculating man, but after only a few photos (sent by his hateful wife), Mr. Thoai immediately believed that it was his daughter, without the slightest doubt.

However, to be fair, "The Price of Happiness" compared to Mai Thu Huyen's "Fragile Flower" is still superior in terms of its approach to the subject as well as the acting of the cast.

“Fragile Flower” was withdrawn from theaters with only 400 million VND in revenue, the project suffered a miserable loss, before Mai Thu Huyen complained about “being forced to show”.

Xuan Lan and Mai Thu Huyen have different ways of calling for help when their two film projects are losing money. One side laments "being forced to release screenings", the other side claims to be harmed by "malicious criticism"... However, the biggest weakness of both projects lies in the script and the ability to research tastes when the film market has changed unpredictably.

Lessons from Ngo Thanh Van

“The Price of Happiness” or “Fragile Flower” are far inferior to Ngo Thanh Van’s “Thanh Soi - Wild Chrysanthemum in the Night” in every aspect, from script, acting to investment and meticulous staging.

However, "Thanh Soi - Wild Chrysanthemums in the Night" is still a bitter fall for Ngo Thanh Van at the box office.

"Hai Phuong" won big with 200 billion VND in revenue, "Thanh Soi" was praised for its investment and strictness, but "Hai Phuong" suffered heavy losses.

Experts say that Ngo Thanh Van has set herself a difficult problem when choosing the same action genre and the same angle to exploit the fate of women in the two works "Hai Phuong" and "Thanh Soi".

It would be difficult for two works with so much in common to both win big.

“Hai Phuong” was released in 2019, “Thanh Soi” was released at the end of 2022, in more than 3 years, the film market has changed a lot.

Mai Thu Huyen (left) continuously released films that were criticized as bad and lost money. Photo: Screenshot

After the pandemic, online movie platforms exploded, a series of film projects with new and unprecedented thinking, exploited by powerful film industries, created a global storm.

Vietnamese audiences are updating the world 's best cinema works in the simplest and easiest way. Therefore, the old way of making films with the old mindset will no longer have a place.

“It is time for Vietnamese filmmakers to sell what the audience needs, not what they have,” said Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, former Director of the Department of Cinema.

Source link