Holiday Movie Theater: How is Detective Kien different from Lat Mat 8?

Detective Kien and Flip Side 8 will be released in theaters on April 30 and May 1.

Detective Kien shows Victor Vu's maturity in the genre that this director loves: historical detective combined with spiritual colors. Meanwhile, Lat Mat 8 continues to show Ly Hai exploiting the psychological themes of family love and the aspirations of today's young generation.

Detective Kien

A series of mysterious murders took place in a mountainous village that the people thought was caused by supernatural forces. Next, Nga - her niece suddenly disappeared, causing Aunt Hai Man to write a letter asking Detective Kien to come to the village to investigate and find the murderer. Hai Man and Detective Kien are two characters played by Quoc Huy and Dinh Ngoc Diep who appeared in the movie The Last Wife (2023) by Victor Vu.

The stern detective Kien, representing justice, and the "push-pull" Hai Man reluctantly become a duo to investigate the truth of the murders and clues of Nga. They face unexpected suspects from the shady wife and children of the district magistrate named Liem to the vagabond blackmailer who has a secret relationship with the maid. Detective Kien also meets a shaman with mysterious whereabouts and he himself often has nightmares that can affect his health.

The story is built in "layers" of true detective style, twist on twist (surprise interwoven with surprise), the image quality, meticulous set design and sound of the film make it difficult for the audience to take their eyes off each frame. Quoc Huy is very suitable for the image of detective Kien, Dinh Ngoc Diep shines thanks to her charm and brings humor to the film. "Muse" Minh Anh, 17 years old, in her first film role, plays the role of a Russian girl with a pitiful fate.

Detective Kien in the new movie of the same name played by Quoc Huy left an impression on the audience.

Detective Kien criticizes prejudices against women, the tyranny of men, and class distinctions in feudal times. The film also shows how superstition leads people astray. In the dark context, Hai Man's love for Nga (whom she considers her daughter) or the "unmatched" love story between Nga and the young master Thac are bright spots.

Above all, the message about a law-abiding society is conveyed through two lines of detective Kien in the film: "Evil must be punished, that is the eternal law" and "Crime cannot be paid for with crime".

Flip Side 8: Father's Love and Son's Aspiration

When the series Lat mat reached its 8th film in the past decade, Ly Hai continued to "embrace" many versatile roles as screenwriter, director, editor and played a small role in entertainment. The huge success both professionally and in domestic and foreign market revenue (nearly 500 billion VND) of Lat mat 7: Mot giau uoc at the April 30th film season last year prompted Ly Hai to continue making films about family psychology.

Two films by Victor Vu and Ly Hai released in theaters during the April 30 holiday season create a necessary comparison and open competitive environment for filmmakers in their efforts to present quality entertainment films to audiences.

Ly Hai showed that he understood the audience very well. He was also sensitive when combining two familiar and easy-to-understand topics for the new film. First, the generational conflict between parents and children, between the somewhat "imposed" expectations based on old concepts of parents and the desire to prove themselves of the young generation Gen Z. Next, the young generation is passionate about expressing themselves and wants to succeed in the artistic path, which is very suitable for the "idol culture" that the community has known in recent times.

However, the way the problems are solved in the film is not new, the "inserted" situations are almost all quickly and easily ended to move on to other "inserted" situations. The film's flow is therefore not smooth and too much. The simple father named Phuoc (played by Long Dep Trai) initially strongly opposed his son Tam (played by Doan The Vinh) and his group of friends practicing dancing and singing, but later quickly supported him, even willing to sacrifice his life to keep his promise to help his son compete. Meanwhile, in reality, there are many ways to solve the problem better, more reasonable and more amicable.

Fortunately, the lack of persuasiveness of Lat mat 8 is compensated by the very sympathetic and profound acting of the veteran cast combined with the innocent, youthful, and lovely energy of the group of young and very young people (including Ly Hai's two biological children, Cherry Hai My and Rio Hao Nhien, also participated in the role to demonstrate their singing and dancing skills in the film).

The technical production of Ly Hai's film is still admirable and, in any case, the overall message of the film's content is very welcome: "Not everyone is good at saying words of love, but everyone deserves to be loved properly". The film also captures the warm sharing of family affection between the grandmother (representing the previous generation) and her grandson Tam (representing today's young generation) when the grandson asks: "When will I be able to choose my future, grandma?", the grandmother answers: "When will I be ready".

Khanh Kien

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202505/rap-xem-phim-dip-le-tham-tu-kien-khac-biet-lat-mat-8-ra-sao-85d36e4/