'Dao, Pho and Piano': The unprecedented craze of Vietnamese cinema, why?

The film works Dao, Pho and Piano created a rare box office fever of Vietnamese cinema, suddenly burst into prominence despite not being much attention before. Many people began to look for reasons why the film created this unprecedented craze.

Why say the audience's craze for Dao, Pho and Piano is unprecedented? Of course, in recent years, since films produced by private companies took the throne, Dao, Pho and Piano are rare films invested and ordered by the state, so sought after. Besides, the genre of historical films and war scenes is still often considered difficult to watch, picky audiences in the Vietnamese market.

Yet the unthinkable happened. The ticketing website of the National Cinema Center, the only state-owned cinema facility to distribute Dao, Pho and Piano, crashed due to an overload of visitors. At the theater, people wait in line for hours to buy tickets, the meager screenings of Dao, Pho and Piano are always full. So much so that the Center had to increase screenings, the audience demanded that the theater cut the screening of another Vietnamese film screened at the same time to make way for Dao, Pho and Piano.

The filmmakers themselves, such as director Phi Tien Son, also felt extremely surprised, or the National Cinema Center also struggled with this unprecedented situation. Private film distributors cannot buy films for distribution because the state does not have sanctions or distribution funds for ordered films. The craze was therefore so intense, that there began to be cases of "faction" of black market tickets at sky-high prices, or reselling tickets online and then defrauding each other. These realities make those outside the craze ask: "Is Dao, Pho and Piano so good?"

Back to the content of Peach, Pho and Piano. The story is set in a Hanoi Old Quarter in 1947, when the battle with French colonialists went down in history. The film of choice tells the story of Dan, a suicide militia fighter, and his love affair with Shu Xiang, the daughter of a family living in the old town. After evacuating and getting lost to his family, Shu Xiang returns to the neighborhood — which has become a battlefield — to find Dan. Their love story is told in parallel with the stories of other supporting characters such as Soc - a patriotic shoe shining boy, the story of cooking pho of an elderly couple who refused to evacuate, the story of the old artist using all his red color to paint the Vietnamese flag for the martyrs, the story of a Western gentleman who is pro-French on the surface but wholeheartedly patriotic of Vietnam. All these stories form a panorama of the tenacious resistance of the Hanoi militia in the war against French colonialism.

The highlight of the film is the focused setting, not too spread out like some other war-themed films, besides the use of the stories of a few individuals to talk about the fierceness of war. Not to mention the shaping and some frames of the film are meticulously invested and good-looking. The characters more or less left their mark in the hearts of the audience.

However, if only the director did not include too many characters to be able to dig deeper and portray more clearly the main characters. People are a protagonist who can become a favorite character of many people if invested. He was considered a rearguard, useless on the front line but very eager to fight, volunteering to get weapons for the platoon. Until the end, Dan still couldn't accept that he was so useless. Could it be that if we gave People a mission, a purpose, and a journey, the film would be more structured and engaging?

Talking about the Peach, Pho and Piano craze, many people think that the film suddenly attracted attention due to luck. This statement is not necessarily wrong, but to confirm whether it is true or not still takes time and a lot of analysis. Just know that up to now, the opinion stream about the film is still divided into two camps: those who praise all the words, those who criticize incessantly. But shouldn't we still rejoice, because a work of art is made, as long as it gets feedback from the audience, better than being estranged?

I think it's time for us to be fair in all matters. Good movies are praised, bad movies must be criticized, not yet coming, they must be commented, so that filmmakers can draw experience for the next works. The audience themselves, they are smart and fair, whether with films by private producers or ordered by the state. As long as the film is engaging, there will be an audience. And in the case of Dao, Pho and Piano, the film has its own appeal to a segment of the audience, which is indisputable.

Doãn Quốc Đam không nín nhịn, phản bác gắt khi CĐM chê "Đào, Phở và Piano" vô lý Đức Trí09:35:59 28/02/2024Nam chính của Đào, Phở và Piano Doãn Quốc Đam vừa khiến dân tình xôn xao, khi có màn đáp trả cực căng trước loạt bình luận chê bai một cách vô lý phim mà anh tham gia. Có thể thấy, anh đang làm hết sức để bảo vệ phim khi đang công...