Shocking surprise from Sister-in-law: The film 'overthrows' stereotypes about Vietnamese family films!

The movie Chi Dau, released at the end of 2024, has created a big wave in the Vietnamese cinema community. With the perfect combination of family elements and inevitable conflicts, Chi Dau is a big surprise of 2024.

Sister-in-law revolves around a family with complicated relationships and no shortage of conflicts. The story begins when sister-in-law Kieu Nhi (Viet Huong) organizes a memorial service for her mother-in-law and decides to renovate the family temple. Originally the most powerful woman in the family, Kieu Nhi has to deal with mixed reactions from her brothers-in-law, causing long-simmering conflicts to explode. From here, private stories and secrets that have never been revealed in the family are gradually revealed.

Although the plot is not a completely new idea, with family conflicts that are familiar in many Vietnamese films, Sister-in-law still makes the audience feel interesting thanks to the way it exploits situations and conflicts in the sister-in-law - brother-in-law relationship with a mix of humorous and tragic elements.

The anniversary of the mother’s death becomes an opportunity for family members to express their jealousy, calculation and personal suffering that they cannot share. Each character has their own story, different thoughts and emotions, creating a multi-dimensionality for the seemingly simple family story. Everything revolves around consensus and facing inevitable conflicts in the family.

The strength of Sister-in-law is the depth of the characters. Each character is clearly built, thereby creating psychological reactions and actions that are very natural and easy for the audience to sympathize with. Kieu Nhi (Viet Huong) is a powerful wife, but she is also the only one in the family capable of keeping everything stable. Despite her independence and determination, Kieu Nhi cannot escape family conflicts and loneliness.

The cast of Sister-in-law is the key factor that helps the film succeed. From veteran names like Viet Huong, Hong Dao to young faces like Ngoc Trinh, the actors all fulfill their roles well, creating memorable scenes. Viet Huong, with her emotional acting ability, has very well portrayed the role of a woman standing in the middle of the family, having to shoulder great responsibilities. Together with Hong Dao, she created dramatic, tense but also emotional dialogues.

Le Khanh is the highlight of the film, with the role of Nam Thu, she brings charming humor, making the audience unable to stop laughing. Le Khanh's character is a spiritual medicine that helps reduce tension in suffocating family situations. Dinh Y Nhung and Ngoc Trinh, although somewhat inferior, also expressed the emotions of the characters correctly, especially in heavy psychological scenes.

In particular, Ngoc Trinh's performance, although not the main role, still left its own mark, making the audience see her maturity in acting after many years of absence.

In terms of script, Sister-in-law can be said to be a work that follows the familiar motif of Vietnamese family films, when the conflict between sisters in the family is gradually aroused and pushed to a climax. The situations in the film are quite simple and predictable, but there is depth in the small details, reminiscent of situations that the audience may encounter in their own family.

Although the first half of the film may be light-hearted and fun, the second half of the plot begins to get tense and emotional as secrets are revealed. However, the ending of the film still feels a bit contrived and lacking in surprise to some. Some of the plot twists seem a bit forced and unnatural.

As a director, Khuong Ngoc has taken a rather simple and uncomplicated approach. The camera angles and images in the film are all taken care of just right, creating a close, easy-to-feel space for the audience. The director does not delve into overly complicated details but focuses on the relationships between the characters, making it easy for viewers to approach and empathize.

However, the handling of the situation is a bit lacking in innovation. Although the audience can easily predict the ending, the emotions that the film brings are very strong, especially the confrontation scenes between the characters.

Sister-in-law is an easy-to-watch yet emotional family film. With impressive performances from the cast, especially Viet Huong, Hong Dao and Le Khanh, the film brings hours of profound entertainment. Although there are no breakthrough elements in the plot, Sister-in-law still deserves to be one of the big surprises of Vietnamese cinema in 2024.

Hong Dao revealed Ngoc Trinh's secret, affirmed 1 thing, and even shouted Viet Huong's name Tuyết Ngọc14:41:16 15/02/2025Hong Dao had the opportunity to interact with Ngoc Trinh more, as well as understand her junior's true personality when they participated in the film Chi Dau. She just had some interesting shares.