The reason why Quoc Truong is being ridiculed all over social media.

"Once Upon a Time We Loved" has sparked controversy due to its awkward, cheesy scenes and unnatural dialogue. Quoc Truong has been criticized for his stiff acting and limited expressiveness.

After "I'll Meet You on the Day We Meet " became a box office sensation, bringing a rare victory for the romantic genre in the Vietnamese market, "Once Upon a Time We Loved " is expected to replicate that success. This is especially true since both romantic projects share many similarities, from their historical setting and music to their bolder approach to exploring love, a perspective rarely seen in domestic films.

However, in contrast to the project released a month earlier, "Once Upon a Time We Loved" quickly received negative feedback regarding its quality; the film's revenue was also meager, falling into a slump. To this day, the only thing audiences remember about "Once Upon a Time We Loved" seems to be the cheesy romantic scenes and a series of absurdly funny dialogues. And among them, one cannot fail to mention Quoc Truong's individual performance.

The film was ridiculed all over social media.

Once Upon a Time We Loved tells the story of a complicated love triangle spanning two different periods of life. The film begins in the summer of 2006, when 18-year-old Bao (Phat Dat) experiences his first romantic feelings after meeting Quynh (Quynh Thy), a charming and experienced woman.

In the film, Quoc Truong plays Toan, Quynh's long-time boyfriend. Toan is portrayed as a calm, romantic man willing to sacrifice for the one he loves. Quoc Truong's character plays a central role in the love triangle and is a crucial link connecting the conflicts between the past and the present.

There was a time when we went viral on social media because of many awkward scenes.

In fact, "Once Upon a Time We Loved" has a relatively good premise, with plenty of room to deliver an emotional and interesting story. However, ultimately, due to the clumsy handling of director Nguyen Xuan Nghia, the film is plagued by awkward and cheesy scenes. For example, the scene where Toan and Bao climb a cliff to pick flowers for Quynh.

In this scene, Quynh sees and is captivated by a flower on the cliff, which motivates Toan to climb down and pick it for his beloved. However, in reality, the flower is just a wild plant growing by the roadside, not as vibrant as the praise suggests, creating an awkwardness in the segment. Bao's thought of letting go of Toan on the cliff also feels forced, as the character's motivation isn't truly strong at that point. Instead of feeling suspense along with the characters, the audience laughs at the contrived approach, the awkward dialogue, and the unnatural acting.

The climax is the scene where Toan falls into the ravine, filmed in slow motion with a stiff editing pace, outdated camera angles, and somewhat exaggerated movements. The clumsiness in the staging is clearly displayed, causing the scene to lose its necessary suspense and romance, while creating a comically awkward feeling.

The dialogue in "Once Upon a Time We Loved" is one of the reasons the film received criticism on social media. Many of the characters' lines were irritating to viewers due to their unnaturalness, awkwardness, and sometimes incomprehensibility. For example, lines like: "That flower is so beautiful," "You only want to use this toy, right? You're showing me off like you're showing off your car"; or when Bao asks why she likes reading, Quynh replies: "Because I want to prove to someone that I'm educated ."

Many dialogues in "Once Upon a Time We Loved" are heavily formal and lack the naturalness of everyday language. In fact, quite a few sentences feel like they were directly translated from English to Vietnamese, resulting in disjointed and unfluent dialogue. Combined with the actors' uncoordinated delivery, many segments become awkward and completely lose their emotional impact.

After its release, awkward scenes from "Once Upon a Time We Loved" quickly went viral on social media, garnering thousands of shares and comments. Numerous parody clips and memes emerged, sparking lively discussions about the film. However, in reality, this viral effect didn't improve box office revenue, as the majority of reactions were mockery and criticism.

After more than a week in theaters, the project has only grossed 1.7 billion VND , facing the risk of heavy losses.

Quoc Truong and Quynh Thy in a scene of picking flowers.

Quoc Truong's forgettable performance

More than six months after the film "Sister Falls , Brother Helps," Quoc Truong returns to the big screen with a familiar image: a mature, successful man, paired with a strikingly beautiful female lead who has experienced many hardships in her life. This image is a strength of the 38-year-old actor, as he has played similar roles in many previous works. To a certain extent, his mature appearance, calm demeanor, and masculine style also give Quoc Truong an advantage when embodying this type of character.

However, in "Once Upon a Time We Loved ," that familiar advantage wasn't translated into a sufficiently convincing performance. With a total screen time of less than 30 minutes, only about a quarter of the film's running time, Toàn clearly doesn't have much screen time.

Moreover, even in the crucial scenes given to him, Quoc Truong failed to capitalize on the opportunity to portray the psychological depth of the character. Toan's emotional shifts were rather vague and lacked depth, making it difficult for viewers to feel the love, remorse, or despair that the character should have experienced.

Compared to Quỳnh Thy and Phát Đạt, Quốc Trường has more acting experience. However, his performance wasn't particularly outstanding among the cast. His acting in the film still bears many familiar traces from previous projects: his facial expressions are not very varied, his expressions aren't diverse, and his dialogue sometimes feels unnatural. In scenes requiring emotional tension, he fails to create sufficient depth; while in scenes requiring outbursts, the character's reactions are somewhat merely illustrative.

In particular, in some emotionally charged scenes, Quoc Truong's performance failed to evoke the necessary empathy. Instead of portraying the passionate, reckless nature of a man in love to the point of disregarding everything, his performance felt unrestrained and somewhat out of sync with the overall emotional rhythm of the scene.

In the scene where Toan and Quynh dance in the middle of the street, Quoc Truong's body language is stiff, and the emotional interaction between the two characters is ineffective. Throughout the film, their gazes and actions lack emotion, preventing viewers from feeling the love between them.

Quoc Truong was quite awkward in "A Time When We Loved."

Therefore, the situation where Toan decides to give up everything to run after Quynh after his family forbids their relationship becomes unconvincing. When the emotional foundation is not yet firmly established, the character's extreme choice easily feels abrupt.

Even more unfortunately, Toan's fate is also handled hastily, almost closing with a piece of information revealed through dialogue at the end, making the character's journey even more anticlimactic.

Clearly, "Once Upon a Time We Loved" has many weaknesses in its storytelling and development. In fact, with these limitations, it's perhaps not an exaggeration to say this is a forgettable project in the career of the 38-year-old actor.

Source: https://znews.vn/ly-do-quoc-truong-bi-che-cuoi-khap-mang-xa-hoi-post1653523.html