Mai - the third film directed by Tran Thanh is still dominating the theaters with overwhelming screenings and ticket sales 10 times higher than the second most popular film at the box office today.
In many movies, actors are the "guarantee" for the success of the movie. However, for Mai , actors are not stars, but Tran Thanh is the name that has the most weight with the audience.
In a conversation with VTC News , director and cultural researcher Ngo Huong Giang commented that the success of Mai affirms the position of Tran Thanh's films as well as Vietnamese cinema.
"Mai" - the perfect piece that defines "Tran Thanh style" filmmaking style
- Tran Thanh's movie "Mai" is setting a revenue record, far surpassing other movies on the market. How do you rate this achievement?
Mai 's current box office revenue is 400 billion VND. Analysts say this figure could reach 500 - 600 billion VND, breaking the all-time revenue of Vietnamese cinema. Clearly, these telling numbers confirm the position of Tran Thanh's films as well as Vietnamese cinema.
To create the above numbers, in addition to the "communication skills" of a professional PR "machine" behind Tran Thanh, the uniqueness of the films of this "Godfather" cannot be denied.
- In this project "Mai", many people think that Tran Thanh has clearly "improved" compared to the previous 2 films. What about you?
Tran Thanh's way of making films is still the same, still the way of narrowing the scope of social description to the hidden corners of everyday life in alleys, street food stalls or massage parlors, still the way of "feeding morals" to "rustic, illiterate" characters, still the witty style of a calculating comedian, with complex psychological developments, instead of the technological social amplification like in blockbusters or horror films.
Tran Thanh's film is a socio-psychological rewind focusing on ordinary people, with a narrow but aspirational lifestyle.
Personally, I don’t think that Mai’s appearance in the theaters confirms Tran Thanh’s filmmaking career. In fact, Mai is the perfect piece to shape a very unique filmmaking style, bearing the “Tran Thanh style” identity, alongside two premise pieces that once made the box office crazy, Bo Gia and Nha Ba Nu.
"Mai" was successful first of all because it hit the psychology of Southern people.
- In your opinion, what is the factor that makes the movie become such a fever? Is it because the content is truly excellent or is it simply because the audience is curious about "a movie by Tran Thanh"?
Audiences today are all “smart consumers”. I don’t think audiences spend money just to satisfy their curiosity about Tran Thanh’s movies.
Mai was successful first of all because it hit the psychology of Southern people, including Southern culture, touching the emotions of young women in the "navel of the country", who had to endure many childhood traumas as well as the burden of family on their shoulders.
I used to think jokingly that if Mai was a film that was only shown in the North or Central region, it would be very difficult to earn hundreds of billions in revenue, because regional cultures are different and social psychology is also different. To put it bluntly, the Southern film market segment has taken on all the "heat" of the film and contributed to spreading it beyond the Central and Northern regions like a wave of effects.
It cannot be denied that Tran Thanh has a very deep, complex yet unified way of exploiting character psychology. That is Tran Thanh's talent, not every filmmaker has it.
Another point that makes Mai especially successful in the Vietnamese film industry is the professionalism of a professional media team. It is not an exaggeration to say that Tran Thanh has been very successful in bringing this "media machine" to participate in the "war" of the film industry right from the beginning of the script until the premiere. A perfect strategic calculation!
- Many people believe that Tran Thanh won big thanks to his ability to choose film topics and choose a way to tell stories that appeal to the psychology and tastes of the majority of the audience. Do you agree with this?
This is true! Amidst the chaos of movies in theaters and on Netflix, with too many boring topics, Tran Thanh has taken a different path, entering the minority to break away from the majority.
Tran Thanh's films, as I discussed above, do not describe society in a fantasy or macro sense, but go into every small aspect of life to describe and exploit the psychological problems of ordinary people to open up social awareness.
The subjects of Tran Thanh's films are scattered "lives" that appear commonly in society, such as a father driving a motorbike taxi in an alley, a woman selling noodles, a prostitute in a massage parlor... but they all have a complex inner life, many torments and obviously many big dreams and ambitions that have not been realized.
Tran Thanh's way of naming films is also very literal, simple, not colorful or ornate, it can be a half-classic, half-realistic ambiguous wordplay like "Godfather" (inspired by the movie Godfather ), or simple like Mrs. Nu's House , short to the point of being abrupt like Mai. This is what makes Tran Thanh's films feel more real, more real and more edgy.
Although always controversial, Tran Thanh's movies are always successful.
Tran Thanh is a comedian who has made successful dramatic films.
- It can be said that Tran Thanh has always been a controversial name in every aspect. He himself once admitted that any film with his name on it is controversial. How do you view this issue?
A controversial issue or character means that the issue or character is influencing society, public opinion. And public opinion or society is trying to dissect why that character or phenomenon is causing controversy. That is a manifestation of a positive artistic movement.
Obviously, Tran Thanh's movies have something to argue about, something to dissect, from which there will be different schools of love and hate, praise and slander about this actor, director and film producer.
"Without flour, how can you make glue?" So whether the audience loves or hates Tran Thanh, they cannot "obscure" the truth about a comedian who has made extremely successful psychological and social drama films.
Tran Thanh at the age of 40 is more quiet, profound and realistic.
- However, it is clear that Tran Thanh has accepted the audience's opinions and knows how to be more receptive to restrain his works?
From a media perspective, I think that Tran Thanh at the age of 40 is much different from the young Tran Thanh on the comedy stage! More calm, profound and realistic!
Tran Thanh, when making films, brings a breath of life that is much more dusty and nooky than the time when stage lights and professional halo obscured his real "self". And perhaps this change makes the audience sympathize and love him more.
The films that Tran Thanh participated in producing or acting in have deeply penetrated his thinking, psychology and way of life, giving birth to a new type of Tran Thanh.
- In the current Vietnamese film market, is it more difficult to make a film that is praised for its quality or to make a film that makes huge profits like Tran Thanh, in your opinion?
I think that in any field, although not absolute, revenue is the measure of capacity and product quality. We cannot lull public opinion with the view that this or that actor's film is very good but has no audience and low revenue.
A good movie must have an audience. The value of the product must be shown through sales, not the usual psychological reassurance. Therefore, a movie with huge revenue and profit often implies quality. The issue of the quality of that movie is viewed through which cognitive prism.
- When Tran Thanh made a movie that achieved huge revenue, there were many controversial opinions. Some people criticized it as a purely entertainment movie, without artistic value. A screenwriter once advised Tran Thanh not to dream too far of making an artistic movie. With what Tran Thanh has achieved through his 3 movies, do you think he has the ability to make this happen?
“The great is often invisible”. Often, public opinion-oriented views such as “films must have artistic value”, commercial films are often bland “entertainment” films, are just a way to hide a “capacity gap” of the person who expressed that view. Because once you step into the field of film production, you have entered the art world .
Art is a multi-layered, multi-meaning "pie" that is often exploited so that one opinion can be used to refute another opinion or product.
I think that any product that is skillfully made, touches the audience's emotions, makes the audience linger, always remembers it, then that is a quality art product. There are tens of millions of viewers watching Tran Thanh's movies, so obviously, his movies are a product of art.
Director, cultural researcher Ngo Huong Giang.
- People say that filmmakers rarely praise each other. However, with Tran Thanh, it's different. Many directors still give him a lot of compliments. Why do you think that is?
Not only in the film industry, but in art in general, artists rarely dare to openly admit the true abilities of others.
"Civilization is the wife of others", so those who dare to acknowledge the products and abilities of their colleagues are those who live fully with their passion for art and dare to admit their own shortcomings.
Tran Thanh deserves to be recognized and praised by film professionals. Because he has lived his passion to the fullest, daring to break his own limits to achieve the success he has today.
- In your opinion, what limitations does Tran Thanh still have when making films and what needs to be changed?
If I had a straightforward suggestion for Tran Thanh's films, I would hope that Mai's next films would reduce the redundant moral dialogues hidden in the souls of the characters at the bottom. Maybe that would be more perfect!
- Thanks for sharing!
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