Once upon a time, there was a love story competing for the Hanoi International Film Festival, the only Vietnamese work

The opening of the 7th Hanoi International Film Festival took place with the only Vietnamese film work competing for the award is Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story. proudly selected to be screened on the first day.

The 7th Hanoi International Film Festival (LHP) will take place from November 7-11 in Hanoi, with the slogan "Creative Cinema - Take Off". The film "Once upon a time there was a love story" directed by Trinh Dinh Le Minh, produced in 2024, was selected to be screened on the opening day. This is also the only work of Vietnam to compete at this year's Film Festival.

"Once upon a time there was a love story" officially from November 1, the film has now achieved revenue of more than 30 billion VND (as of the morning of November 7), according to Box Office Vietnam. The work is currently temporarily leading the revenue on November 7 with more than 296 million VND thanks to 3,911 tickets sold, over 1,547 screenings.

In the first week of release, the film ranked 2nd with a revenue of nearly 27 billion VND - behind the blockbuster "Venom: The Last Deal" with a revenue of 2.5 times higher (nearly 70 billion VND). "Once upon a time there was a love story" is a film adaptation of the long story of the same name by writer Nguyen Nhat Anh - a work that was very popular at the time of its release in 2016.

Therefore, the project attracted attention right from the moment it was announced, promising to generate hundreds of billions in revenue similar to "I see yellow flowers on the green grass" (2015), or "Blue eyes (2019). However, with the current growth rate, the film is considered difficult to achieve as expected.

The content of the work revolves around the story of friendship and love between two boys and a girl from childhood to adulthood, facing the challenges of fate. In the context of the Central region in the late 1980s - early 2000s, the trio of Vinh (played by Avin Lu), Phuc (played by Do Nhat Hoang), and Mien (played by Ngoc Xuan) fell in love together, suddenly entered life, stumbled and overcame.

Compared to the original story, the film has not changed much in the storytelling. Director Trinh Dinh Le Minh keeps the sequence of events intertwined between the present and the past, opening with the scene of Phuc returning to his hometown after many years of exile. The plus point of the movie version is the descriptive and flexible camera angles that contribute to portraying the story content and character personality.

For example, in the scenes with the psychological characteristics of the three main characters, the director focuses on the frontal and clear camera angles, capturing each of the characters' eyes, smiles, and tears. The full corner is used to capture the vast and poetic natural scenes of Phu Yen village, dotted with distant human figures.

Director Trinh Dinh Le Minh said that he and his crew spent many months surveying and finding the right context to stick to the spirit of the original story when depicting the atmosphere of the countryside in the 1990s. "In the end, we realized that only Phu Yen brings a sense of nostalgia as the name of the film suggests," he said.

During the production process, the team invested in fine arts to depict rural life. For example, with the scene of students cycling to school during the flood season recorded in Hoa Tan Tay commune, Tay Hoa district. The director chooses villages that are architecturally identical, depicting a group of characters playing in a ripe rice field, under the sunset.

In addition to staging the setting, the director also takes advantage of pristine locations. For example, the dating scene of Phuc and Mien was made in Han stream, Hoa Xuan Nam commune, Dong Hoa town. The film crew had to move equipment and personnel in many locations to complete the film in just 35 days.

Critic Le Hong Lam also had to praise the work: "In the past, there was a love story that looked good and was so pleasant. It makes viewers believe in the story, believe in the characters, and believe in their choice to write a tender and beautiful love triangle like a fairy tale... A gentle, simple but touching enough film to remember our time not far enough."

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